Stephen’s Square Dance Blog

Monday night was a late night as I filled in for Dave Knien at the Toe Stomper lessons.

I didn’t know what had been taught or needed to be reviewed, so I just gave it my best shot.

I took an informal poll of what people knew and/or remembered and went from there.

I reviewed, in depth:

Spin Chain the Gears
Coordinate
Relay the Deucey
Crossfire
Teacup Chain

There were others, but they didn’t need any additional instruction/attention.  The, I taught Spin Chain and Exchange the Gears.

In this, I only taught it from parallel ocean waves and only with the boys on the end and the girls leading across.  I’m always tempted to show it more ways, but I’ve found that it is much more important to gain the muscle memory before expanding the calls usage.  For a (short) while, I was brainwashed into thinking that if I just taught it from every conceivable position, the dancer would be better/stronger.  What I’ve found, over the years, is that dancer get better when the dance.  Forcing them to learn too much too fast doesn’t help anyone, and, in fact, drives a large number of people away.  Yes, there are those that can’t get enough of the choreography.  They want it harder/faster.  If we had more dancers, those folks would be easy to identify and I could have a dance just for them.  Most folks, want to learn it, pun intended, one step at a time.

Hey, that will be my suggestion for the 2009 Callerlab convention theme.  “One Step at a Time.”

Until next time, keep dancing!

The weekend did not go as planned. 

Friday, at work, I could feel the beginnings of a head cold.  By the time I got home, my head was just pounding.  I felt bad, but I just didn’t feel up to dancing.  Martha and I were headed to the Samena Squares’ student dance to support Susan Morris. 

Saturday, I felt marginally better, but now Martha was catching it too.  No dancing was scheduled this day due to the fact that we were headed to our nephew’s 2nd birthday party.  On the way there we took a small detour so I could get some shoes.  They were spendy at $140, but they’ll be well worth the investment.  (My last dance shoes lasted 10 years.  I hope to do the same with these.)

Sunday, Martha and I were supposed to head over to the final day of the Puddletown Halloween Fly-In.  Sadly, neither one of us was up to it.  Ugh.  I was more than disappointed, but considering how under the weather we felt, it was better if we stayed home and didn’t infect the community at large.  We really missed everyone. 

Got my Footnotes magazine.  There was a great article/essay by Dave Harry about caller preparation.  I’ll try and add it to my web site this week.  (I’ll get it in the blog too as it is worth talking about.)

Friday, Martha and I are headed to Portland to attend the “Royal Romp” headlined by Tony Oxendine and Jerry Story.  I always get a wealth of material dancing to these guys.  Lots of energy, and, even though it is a Plus dance, there is lots of Mainstream material to be culled.

Until next time, keep dancing!

I lost my dance shoes.  Which, in itself, is no surprise given the state of our condo.  You’d think that 1,000 square feet would be enough space for two people and two cats.  Wrong.  However, I don’t think they’re lost inside the house.  I must have forgotten them somewhere.  Tomorrow morning I’m headed to Petticoat Junction to get a new pair. 

I got confirmation via the phone that I’ve got my requested hotel for the 2008 national square dance convention.  The reason they called me was that they wanted to know why I was going to be there so long.  I don’t think it should matter but, I’m planning on attending the caller’s school the week before.  It is limited to 60 people.  I know a (large) number of callers that seem to think they know everything about calling and wouldn’t attend a school on a bet, but the class work is only half of it.  Networking with the other callers and comparing notes is, in my opinion, the best part.

I’m continuing my caller education on another front as well.  I’m starting to prepare to become an accredited caller-coach.  I helped teach last year with Daryl Clendenin and Jerry Junck at the Cascade Callers’ School.  I’m trying to figure out where to go next.  I’m thinking about asking Ken Ritucci in New England if I can come observe and/or help.  I just don’t want to impose.

I’ve not seen it in any fliers, but I’m calling on New Year’s Eve for the Rainier Council.  I’m really looking forward to it.  I’m probably going to make some of my own fliers to have around.  It seems that there are a lot of clubs having dances on New Year’s. 

I got a call from some homeschooler types that want to learn to square dance.  The only day I’ve got to help them is Saturday.  So, I might be teaching one more set of lessons this season.  I’m already feeling a little over extended, but Saturday morning should be doable.  I’m out late on Wednesday and Thursday nights teaching.  I try to get out the door to get home, but it is an hour home from each one.  (If there’s no traffic or construction on the way.  I’ve yet to figure out why there are so many people on the road at all times of the day and night.)

Until next time, keep dancing!

Two squares of students and angels.  Thank you all for coming.

Some were back from a vacation and others were felling better after illness so it was good to have everyone there.

Mostly review, but we covered some ground by filling in some gaps between calls. 

Calls worked/taught/re-taught included:

Walk around your Corner
Rollaway
Do Paso
Star Thru
Right and Left Thru

Funny thing about the Star Thru teach.  I saw one of my dancers be less than gentle about his arm movement at the end of the call.  During the break, I asked him about it.  He said it was due to a rotator cuff issue.  So, we talked about just touching hands, doing the move, then reforming the hand connections once the call was over.  The result was astonishing.  The dancer got the move much better than he ever has and didn’t look like he was uncomfortable at all.  It isn’t easy to address issues like this, but it is so worth it.

The Samena Squares are having a level dance tonight.  I told the FBS folks about it.  Martha and I plan to attend, but it depends my health today.  I’m not sure if I’m dealing with allergies or just sleep deprivation but I don’t feel 100%.  We’ll see.

Until next time, keep dancing.

Again, this class is the largest and among the best I’ve ever had.  I can’t really tell who’s having more fun them or me.

I don’t have my notes handy, so I can’t remember exactly what I taught.  Truth is, I enjoyed using just those calls they know.  Leo Catt did a fine job, also of teaching.  I gave him a number of things to cover.  Maybe too many in the scheme of things.  (Not for him, but rather, just the amount of material might have been too much.) 

I remember that we covered “All around your Corner” and “See Saw” as well as “Do Paso.”  These calls lend themselves to each other nicely.  In addition, Leo also taught “Couples Promenade Halfway,” “Boys/Girls Promenade inside,” and “Weave the Ring.”

Leo also used a Sicilian Circle to do his teaches.  This is a great technique.  It requires at least 3 squares worth of people to do effectively.  Nice job!

I’ve got a new Basic singing call figure that works fairly well:

Heads/Sides – Promenade Halfway
Down the Middle and Star Thru
Same Four – Pass Thru
Right and Left Thru
Rollaway
Pass Thru
Girls – Turn around and tap that boy on the Shoulder
He’ll turn Around
Swing/Promenade

Any Square Thru equivalent will work for the begining.  “Then the Right and Left Thru, Roll Away, Pass Thru, U-Turn Back” is just a Zero.  Simple, but fun.

Next lesson day is Halloween.  This means we’ll be missing some folks, so I’ll continue to review.  I might teach one or two calls, but not too many.  They’re having a “finger food potluck” to celebrate the day. 

Until next time, keep dancing!

Arrgh!

So, I spent some of my lunch hour working on the overall content of my website.  It seems that html development is a “use it or lose it skill.”  I’m more than rusty, so it will take some time to get things rolling again.  I’m going to have to go through some of my tutorials again.

I have, however, added (with no frills) a new set of pages with new dancer dances.  I’m trying not to call them “student dances” but it is pretty hard.  However, my goal is to make people feel like dancers from day 1.

If you know of a dance in the area for new dancers, I will add it to my list.  When you send me the info, be sure to include time, place (with street address), caller, and contact information.  I’ll post it.

 Until next time, keep dancing!

The overall site is a little stale.  Sorry about that.  My schedule is a little full these days.  However, I’ll be using my lunch hour at work to update the content (other than the blog) with more details.

I’m going to start playing with online databases too as I want to create a choreography database for both my original material (as original as it can be) as well as material that I’ve “researched.”

Until next time, keep dancing!

What a fun night in Maple Valley.  It started out slow.  Nobody really came for the workshop.  I was going to teach some new things (calls from other programs) and use them at the dance.  However, we only had six people at 6:30 so that idea went out the window.  There aren’t many people that are interested in workshops these days.  Granted, for years I’ve just used the time to teach some All-Position type calls or just refreshed calls that might have gone “stale.”  My suggestion was that perhaps we should just do pre-rounds and forego the workshop.  We’ll see.

Continuing along with my “Halloween Theme” weekend, I told people, after the first tip, that for years people have asked me why I don’t wear more Western outfits, so I thought I’d dress up like a cowboy for this dance.  I reached behind me and put on my Dallas Cowboy jersey.  It got a good laugh.  (Thank heavens they won that day.)

We had a great time dancing and laughing.  Linda Nold did a great job on the rounds. 

The Cedar Grange redid their floors last month, and I’ve heard nothing but complaints about it.  It seems that they applied new Swedish Finish to it, but that’s all.  They didn’t sand the floor first to take out the rough spots.  Parts of the floor seem slick, while other parts seem a little sticky.  Maybe it just needs to be danced on for a while.  I don’t know.

Other funny things happened, but I’m not courageous enough to put them in print. 

Until next time, keep dancing!

I have mixed feelings about this meeting.  The last one I attended was great.  It was less of a meeting and more of a discussion about dancing.  This one was like a business meeting.  Yes, conducting business is important, but overall, I think it detracts from our purpose, making square dancing great and accessible.

Much of the news could be collected and distributed to membership via a newsletter or similar vein.  It would save time and energy.

Last meeting, there was a short discussion about putting a session together to teach clubs how to run meetings using Robert’s Rules of Order.  (Or, some other parliamentary system.)  I think it would be better to have a session on “how to deal with difficult people.”  It seems to me that if you can’t run a club meeting due to a personality conflict, it would be better to address the conflict *then* get down to business.

We talked about a lot of things under the heading of new business.  The two big issues were dances for next year.  We’re hosting the Washington State Federation Meeting next year.  So, we’re putting on dances both Friday and Saturday nights.  (In May, but I forget the date.)  The question is who is MCing what and when.  I’ve got to check my calendar, but I think I’m going to MC Saturday night’s dance.  My question to the group was “what does it mean to be an MC?”  The answer I got was “yes.”  I took from our discussion that it was up to me to decide what I want to do.  This was not the answer I was looking for, but I suppose I’m going to run with it.

The other big dance is that it is our turn to host the Mount Baker Council’s Fall Festival Dance.  We had three options.  Host it, pass on hosting it, or trade with another club.  The only 5th Saturday in the Fall is the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  This is, in my opinion, a bad choice of days.  People are out of town, with family, or <shudder> shopping.  However, if we go on any other night we’re going to compete with another club.  My thought on this is “oh well.”  I’ve called dances that have competed against festivals and other large events before.  It is part of life.  If a club wants to support us, they can cancel their dance and join us.  (Contracts can be adjusted to suit, if needed.  That’s one of the purposes of having contracts.)  I don’t know when the dance going to be, but we hope to figure it out soon.  Once we pick a date, we have to find callers too.  Who do we pick?  Do we all take a turn?  That would be the politically correct way to do it, but I don’t know if that would best serve the dancers.  Do we hire someone from outside our group?  I don’t know.  I know that putting inexperienced callers up in front of a large audience isn’t a good thing.  (Dancers remember bad experiences much longer than good ones.)

Okay, we’ll see what happens.  Until next time, keep dancing!

We had a really fun dance at the South Sound Singles on Saturday night.  I had 3 squares on the floor nearly the whole night.  At the end of the dance, for the Plus tip, I had 1 and 7/8. 

Lorainne Rouse did a fine job on the rounds.  (John was home resting after a long day of work.  That man has no idea of the meaning of retirement.)  Leo Catt did a guest tip and he did a fine job as well.

I tried to theme this weekend’s dances around Halloween.  For some of the tips, I had to stretch things a bit.  My “traditional folks song of the Tacoma Elementary School’s 4th Grade Class” was “Sugar Sugar.”  “With a Shillelagh Under My Arm” became “With a Skeleton Under My Arm.” (“I’ll be off to Transylvania in the Mornin’…”)

After the dance, we went out to Denny’s.  (Just like always.)

Until next time, keep dancing!