This was my second of two Taste events.  It was a blast.  A couple of new people.  We’re hoping they stick around for lessons.  (That’s always the hope, right?)

 I treated it very much like a Square Dance ABC event.  I taught the basics… Circle Left/Right, Forward and Back, Heads/Sides, Boys/Girls, Do Sa Do, Allemande Left/Right, Star Left/Right, Right and Left Grand.  Then, I taught Grand Square, Courtesy Turn, Pass Thru, 2/4 Ladies Chain.  Those calls made it a busy night and we all had fun.

There is so much that can be done with those basic calls and it nearly always provides food for thought.  I’ve heard the arguments along the lines of “if you used the Basic program and all its variations, no one would want or need Mainstream or Plus.”  I’ve also heard that this is why you should teach all positions and formations from day one.  The trouble with this world view is that it is very narrow.  Yes, if I did use these calls listed above, I could entertain for weeks.  (Perhaps even months.)  This is how, I think, clubs got started.  They learned a few calls, then added a few more, then added a few more.  The result was that clubs learned a lot.  Today, we want to teach all of that material in a very short time.  It is like baking a cake at twice the required temperature to cook it half as fast.

No wonder we lose dancers both in the learning phase as well in the clubs.

I am of the opinion now that new dancers should only see “Standard Applications” as their learning but be aware that there are other possibilities.  Yes, bad habits are hard to break as are calls that are always done the same way.  I’d much rather have a full floor of dancers than one square that gets all the permutations.

As an example, I taught arm turns last night as well as Courtesy Turn.  So, I didn’t call it by name, but walked dancers through Do Paso.  (Turn Partner Left, Corner Right, Partner Courtesy Turn.)  All but one dancer got it.  That one dancer really struggled.  We’d been doing Corner Left and Partner Right the whole time.  The shift came hard.  However, it wasn’t impossible.  Let’s get dancers through the motions first, let them know that there are options and, when they’re ready, expose them.  Fun first.

I’m now off for two weeks on vacation.  So, once I get back SD season will be starting and I’ll be posting lots more.

Until next time, keep dancing!

The article was very good, I think, all the way around.

Some observations.

You want younger people?  Then, those younger people need to feel invited.  This is different than an actual invitation.  To feel welcome and invited, any outside group would have to be catered to in some manner.  In the context of square dancing, it means using music that is much newer and a clothing style that is less costume and more accepting.

In the multimedia presentation, Wes Morris sings, “You’re 16, you’re beautiful, and you’re mine.”  Great Ringo Starr song, but it’s from 1973.  Not that this is bad.  I’ve heard a number of callers do music that is much, much older.  Still, if you truly want young people, give them a song to sing with you.

Much has been said about the dress code needing to disappear, so I’ll not harp on it too much.  For those that are unwilling to let go of the clothes but still want new dancers I’ll ask just one question.  Do you want new dancers, or do you want new dancers, wearing your clothes, listening to your music?  You can one or the other, not both.

Until next time, keep dancing!

There’s an article in the Florda newspaper the Herald Tribune about square dancing.  I’ll include the link as well as the text to the article.  (I’m never sure how long anyone keeps an archive.)  I’ll post my comments in another blog entry.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070821/FEATURES/708210647

There’s also a multimedia presention.  It requires a free plugin from Adobe for Flash 9.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070821/MULTIMEDIA0102/70820023/0/SPORTS

The article:

Where’s the square?

BY CHRISTINE HAWES CORRESPONDENT

Henry Ford championed it.

Schools across the country required youngsters to learn it.

Some states have even declared it their state dance.

Square-dancing, a tradition that stretches back to the 1800s, has fallen on hard times.

Especially in Southwest Florida, where about half the population disappears for half of the year, square-dancing is struggling to find its legs.

“I wish I knew why,” says Mike Cox, one of the

area’s most popular callers, about the drop in square-dance interest. “Sometimes I sit there and wonder if it’s something I’m doing, or not doing. But it’s happening everywhere.”

The declining interest is difficult to fathom considering the pastime’s benefits.

An evening on the dance floor can burn off up to 800 calories. It also provides a mental challenge, featuring more than 140 calls at advanced levels, compared with about 48 moves in line-dancing.

Most of all, square-dancing is a great social opportunity, with such an emphasis on mingling and smiles that it has come to be called “friendship set to music.”

“The first thing people do when they come into my office is give me a ‘yellow rock,’” says Mary Dow, a Realtor in Arcadia who has been square-dancing for more than 20 years, referring to square-dancing slang for hugs.

And yet, numbers of participants are dwindling. A square-dance workshop in Venice that once consistently drew more than 60 people every week is now attracting half that number, with the lowest attendance occurring at the basic, or starter, levels, says Gayle Fazzalaro, workshop founder.

Dennis Gries, who unsuccessfully tried to start a square-dancing club in Sarasota several years ago, has many theories on why square-dancing is losing its appeal.

“The dancers are getting older, and there’s little or no replenishment of the dancers,” says Gries. “The public has a lot of different things they like to do, and our society is not geared toward spending 20 weeks, two to three hours a week, taking lessons.”

The vast majority of people participating in square-dancing in Southwest Florida are 60 to 90 years old. That’s the only population group that has the time to devote to learning the many “calls,” or steps, featured in square-dancing.

Dow says it is also the only group available to attend classes in the daytime, which is when most square-dancing lessons and workshops are held. Venice’s group, for instance, gathers on weekday afternoons.

Square-dancing’s emphasis on tradition may also be a discouragement to newcomers, especially younger adults, says Gries. Dress codes, which are derived from square-dancing’s rural roots, call for women to wear ruffled shirts and skirts, and for men to wear long-sleeved shirts and dark pants. Jeans are strongly discouraged.

“I would guess that of the general population, 90 percent would look at the clothes and say, ‘I don’t want to wear that!’” Gries says.

Until recently, square-dancing has also always required a couple because of its strictly defined dancing roles for men and women. “I can remember going to a dance and hearing the caller say to the women, ‘You gotta have a man!’” Gries says. That approach forces many women who otherwise would join the fun to sit out because they are widowed or single.

Another dancer, who asked her name not be used, says square-dancers can be a “cliquey group,” especially at the advanced levels. Dow says advanced-level square dancers have no choice but to expect a certain level of competence among dancers, because one underexperienced couple can ruin the experience for the group.

“I’ve seen couples who weren’t at the right level break down a whole square,” Dow says.

The future isn’t all bad news, however.

For one, square-dancing has a history of going through cycles of popularity. In the early 1900s, it nearly died out until automaker Henry Ford took an interest, began hosting and encouraging square dances and helped create worldwide standardized calls and inclusion in public school curricula.

Gries says the strict dress code is also loosening up ever so slightly. The traditional ruffled skirts for women are being replaced with prairie skirts. And finally, dancers are learning the parts of both men and women so that single people can participate equally with couples.

Allamande left.

From the Complete Quadrille Call Book and Dancing Master, by Prof. A.C. Wirth, Ex-President of American National Association Masters of Dancing, published in 1902:

Quadrille:
quad-drille [kwuh-dril]
1. A square dance for four couples, consisting of five parts or movements, each complete in itself.

Etiquette For Ball and Drawing Room

• Avoid slang phrases
• Do not contradict
• Give your opinions, but do not argue them
• Dancing is subject to abuse by the thoughtless acquirements of bad habits
• Never take part in a quadrille without knowing something of the figures
• While dancing, endeavor to wear a pleasant face
• Never seem to be conscious of an affront, unless it be of a very gross nature
• Never become involved in a dispute if it be possible to avoid it
• Nothing charms more than candor
• Never repeat in one company any scandal or personal history you have heard in another
• Contending for a position in quadrilles indicates an irritable and quarrelsome disposition
• The most obvious mark of good breeding and taste is a regard for the feelings of our companions
• Be careful not to speak too freely on subjects of which you are ill informed. Allow those who are better informed to lead the conversation
• Never seem to understand improper expressions; much less use them
• If you have in any manner given offense do not hesitate to apologize
• Loud conversation, profanity, stamping the feet, writing on the wall, using tobacco, spitting or throwing anything on the floor, are glaring vulgarities
• It is very indecorous to be laughing, sneering, or commenting at those present. It shows a lack of refinement
• True politeness costs nothing, but yields the largest interest and profit to the possessor of any know securities.

I had the honor of being the caller for last night’s “A Taste of Square Dancing.”  It’s a first nighter event for their club and it was a fun time.  I really enjoy this club and wish I could dance with them more.  Alas, my schedule really doesn’t allow it. 

It took me a while to get there.  I drove to work so I’d have my car close as well as a ride home.  I’ve got a GPS in my car that gives me directions but it will only work if you have the right address.  NE 80th street is very different than 80th Street.  Oddly enough, both numbered street addresses took me to churches.

The evening was fun.  Lots of new faces.  Young (or younger) and energetic.  Nothing too hard.  The basics… of course.  Circle left/right.  Forward/Back.  Allemande Left/Right.  (I used Allemande Right to describe “Turn your Partner by the Right.”  It is silly that we describe an action very well but only use it once. )  Right and Left Grand.  Do Sa Do.  Stars.  (Left/Right with Boys/Girls/Heads/Sides.)  Sides Face Grand Square.

Yes, I like doing Sides Face Grand Square on my first night.  It is a simple call that gets EVERYONE working at once.  Take three steps and face the person next to you is hard as it gets.  (Except for remembering if you’re a Head or a Side.)

I did a number of singing calls.  I do this for two reasons.  One reason is that it is half of what square dancing is about.  (At least for the Mainstream and Plus programs.)  The other half is that this is a time for me to do something I enjoy, sing.  (I know I’m not the best singer in the world, but I do love it.)

I’ll be there next week as well.  I’m hoping that Martha can join us.  (Everyone asks about her as it is.)

Until next time, keep dancing!

We had another fun dance with the Solo Squares.  Three squares.  Not too shabby on a “school night.”  We had a number of visitors including one couple that had danced to my calling last night at the South Sound Singles.  She said that she enjoyed the dance so much, she wanted more.  That was probably one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten in my life.  I hope I didn’t disappoint.

From 6:30 to 7:00 I had two workshop type tips.  Sometimes I teach something new, but fairly frequently I review something that dancers might not see very often.  (Or, do see/hear, but don’t dance well/properly.) As a result, I worked Box the Gnat and Pass to the Center. 

Again, I’ve been working with the 4 minute rule for calling.  Dancers seem to stay refreshed and eager to square up for more.  As an experiment, it seems to be working.

Gunter Monroe was visiting, so I put him up for a tip.  His ability has improved immensely since he started.  He did a great job.  He was also the first caller I’ve seen use a Macintosh laptop.  (Which, by the way, will be my next computer.  I’m pretty much done with Windows.  Once mine is past its usable life, I’m off to the land of Macintosh.)

I even used some of my new hoedowns.  (Once I purchased from iTunes and edited a bit.)  I really like them.

 I need to start taking a few notes with me when I go to dances.  Well, less notes and more of a checklist.  I’ve got a number of modules and material that I prepare but forget to use.  It is pretty easy to fall back on older material or sight-calling/resolution and I forget.  I’m going to sketch out a format for such a list and put it on my website proper.  (I need to update the website with more content as it is.)

Anyway, Solo Squares is on the right track.  I hope we can build the membership to keep it thriving. 

Until next time, keep dancing!

I’ve got two words that make me very happy about this dance.  Six squares.

It was a great evening.  Our friend Thal called again and asked to car pool.  We were happy to do it.  Thal and I dance a lot together.  So much so that once she went to a dance and someone looked at her badge with a puzzled look and said, “You aren’t Mrs. Cole?”  Too funny. 

My big goal for this dance was 4 minute +/- patter.  It is much harder than it sounds.  Especially since it is easy to think of “one more thing.”  Again, it is like public speaking.  Do you like listening to a rambling speech that covers everything from Global Climate Change to the price of tea in China?  I think not.  So, I’ve got to prepare ahead of time what to say and how to say it.  If I’m going to “work” a singing call figure, I put it in up front to get it out of the way.  Even it if is just the “hard part” of that figure.  The patter part of the tip is the place to put “gotcha” choreography anyway.  I can’t think of anyone that likes breaking during down a singing call.  (Not that I like lots of “gotcha” gimmicks.  I do like being thought of as clever, but I think I’d rather be remembered through history as “fun.”)

I put Leo Catt and Mark Sebree up for a tip each.  They both did a nice job.  By keeping my tips short (and to the point), I was able to squeeze and extra tip in for me.  The last tip of the night was a Plus tip, and I had two squares for that.  (Lots of non-Plus dancers stuck around to be social.) 

Several of us went to Denny’s for an after dance snack.  A small group, and smaller than usual, but it was nice to chat and be social.

Until next time, keep dancing!

I’ve got a friend who believes that the men shaking hands is sexist.  She’s probably right.  Not sexist in the “honey get me some coffee and iron my shirts” way, more of being sexist in a “throwback to an earlier time” way.  That said, if someone (male or female) offers me their hand, I will shake it.  When in Rome, do as the Romans do.  I mean no disrespect to anyone and I won’t snub anyone on principle.  I will, however, with try to shake hands with the ladies too.

Now, with that said, there are more than a few “gentlemen” (and I use the term loosely) that seem to “combat” this sexism image by going out of their way to hug the ladies.  Hugging to the point that it might not be appropriate.  Good touching vs. bad touching.  It is hard to confront folks about this, but I’ve done it a few times.  At the last callers’ school I attended, one of the wives of one of the new callers spoke about someone at their club they call “Mr. Creepy.”  Not the first time I’ve heard such a claim.

To get back to the issue… sorry for the tangent …square dancing is a social activity and, I think, it affects/impacts individuals differently.  People connect with each other, and I suspect, in the USA, that men might need that handshake as part of that “bonding” experience.  It might be, and I’m no expert in social dynamics, a simple method of providing some closure.

Personally, I’ve been athletically declined most of my life.  However, I know that baseball players still high-five or “bump” (closed fist touches), basketball players pat each other on the behind, and football players will jump in each others arms.  Considering this behavior, the handshake is harmless.  If it keeps people, specifically men, coming back to dance halls, I’d leave it alone.  (Though, could you imaging seeing, at a square dance, men jumping in each others arms like the football players do after a touchdown?  That’s a distrubing image.)

Anyone in square dance land have other thoughts?

Until next time, keep dancing!
 

Susan Morris and I had fun calling for the Mount Baker Teachers and Callers’ Mainstream workshop.

My personal goal, walking into the evening, was to keep it as close to a natural/normal dance format as possible.  Alas and alack, it was not to be, as we struggled out of the starting gate.  However, I did stick to my overall principals and kept my tips to 8 minutes.  This is what I would have were I to call patter and a singing call.

I don’t think I used sight resolution once last night.  Come to think of it, I did use it once, while talking/working Star Thru.  (I attempted to use the teach that Jerry Junck showed me about point your hands out (away from the body) and using this as a reference point as to where you’re going to be facing when you’re done.

My only other workshop was with Separate.  I called it from the rather unusual formation of a static square.  As in: Heads – Separate and behind the Sides, Star Thru.  It took a few tries, but, in the end, became very comfortable.

Some dancers were struggling with Swing Thru if they weren’t already in a wave.  So, I tried to work that into my dance routines.  I had mixed success.

I used some new hoedowns that I bought off of iTunes.  There aren’t many songs that you can just buy and use, and these were ones I had to edit to remove either silence or passages that had no discernable beat.  However, there were pretty high energy tunes.  Fun stuff.  (If you use iTunes,  I create iMixes with songs I’ve purchased with the intent of using for SD.   I’ll post links later.  I’ve got no idea how to search for them inside iTunes.)

Finally, I gave the dancers some advice.  If you want to be successful at a dance, then square up in the front, or as close to the front as possible.  Yes, it means the caller can see you and, in so doing, see your mistakes.  However, by being seen, the caller can help you, if needed, and the other dancers up front will be strong enough to help you.  Avoid, as much as you can, squaring up in the back and trying to hide. 

I’m not sure the message got through.  However, I’ll keep trying.

Until next time, keep dancing!

I’ve been thinking about my dance for the Toe Stompers last Friday.  Someone asked me what made it great, and while there is no one thing that really made it a stand out night, there is something that I did notice.  I purposely kept every tip to a fairly rigid length.  Four minutes for patter/hast plus a singing call. 

No matter what, after four minutes I was done.  Observations about this:

It requires me to have something to say up front.  Like any public speaking engagement, you have to say what you want to say, then stop.  If you don’t have a road map, then you could wander for hours. 

Dancers, in general, like a great number of short tips as opposed to a few long ones.  They don’t tire out as fast.

Shorter tips mean more opportunities to use more music.  This is true of both patter and hash.  I might just “lay down the law” for new callers that are call guest tips at my clubs.  One time through the record.  It seems draconian, but it starts a good habit up front.

Until next time, keep dancing!