Stephen’s Square Dance Blog

I think that’s the correct name for the club.  It’s in Prescott, Arizona, so it was a fair haul to get there from Tempe.  That said, it was well worth the drive.  Not in that there was a large crowd, but rather, it was a really fun group of people.

This was a last minute sort of thing as Elmer Claycomb emailed me a couple of weeks back asking if I could help him out with it.  He was traveling to Colorado that weekend and wasn’t going to make it back in time.  Even though it was on a Sunday evening (and I have to work the next day) I told him that’d I’d be happy to help him.

Dancing started at 6:30 so I figured if I left home by 3:30, I’d have plenty of time.  I did, but I was sweating it a bit (figuratively) as there was some construction that slowed me down.  (Not to mention the drivers on the road that seem to think that “slower traffic keep right” means everyone BUT them.)

I was early, so I stopped at Burger King for a quick bite.  I’ve been getting their kids meals because of two reasons.  One is that I don’t need much food right before a dance and the other is that I enjoy toys.

I got to the hall at about 6:10 and set up my gear then did some meet-and-greet.  This was less of a dance and more of a workshop.  Sunday is there class night with dances on Saturdays.  As such, there was no Round Dancing.  My tips were a little longer than I normally like them to be, but no one complained.  (Yes, I asked.)

I was to do a Mainstream dance/workshop from 6:30 to 8:00 and a Plus dance/workshop from 8 until 9:30.  As we had a number of students, we did the Mainstream workshop until 8:30 and danced Plus for an hour.

Mary, their president, told me that usually, when Elmer’s off, they announce it.  This time they didn’t because people won’t come.  She said they made a conscious decision to not say anything and continued by telling me that they were glad they did.  Everyone enjoyed my calling and my interaction.

It was fun.

For the Mainstream workshop, I worked on Half Tag, Tag the Line, Scoot Back, and Recycle.

For the Plus workshop, I continued the Mainstream workshop and added Follow Your Neighbor.  (I had the girls looking in instead of the boys.)

I had a really great time.  I just wish it wasn’t so far away.  (And that gas wasn’t so expensive.)

Until next time, keep dancing!

Stephen

Truth be told, I wasn’t calling this dance.  I just went to dance.  A friend called me and asked if I wanted to go, so we went.  Don’t let this word get out, but there were more men then women.  Go figure!

Chuck Meyers is a very talented caller.  He can call some really great stuff and I wish I’d remembered to bring a pencil and paper to take some notes.  He did some great things with circles and stars.  I need to make some time and see if he’ll coach me a bit or, if I’m lucky, give me some tips over lunch.

Chuck let me call a tip which was very kind of him.  I really appreciate the floor time.  He even asked me to share a tip with him at the end.  That was a lot of fun too. 

For my tip, I used a couple of things that “researched” from Jerry Junck.  Here was my opener:

Heads – Pass the Ocean
Explode the Wave and Cloverleaf
Sides – Pass the Ocean
Explode and… Start a Dixie Grand

It was great!

Chuck liked my “alternative” hoedown… Jennifer Lopez’s “Una Noche Mas.”  The English version is “One More Night.”  I like the Spanish version as it avoids *and* issues with her words and mine.  To end the dance, Chuck had me pick another alternative hoedown, I chose “Quando, Quando, Quando.”

I’ve learned to guage success a number of different ways for various aspects of square dancing.  A reading of the success of an evening is how many squares are dancing at the end of a dance compared to the beginning.  We had three at the beginning and four at the end.  Not too shabby!

Until next time, keep dancing!

Last weekend I had a blast visiting Tucson. Friday, after work, I drove down to visit my new friend, Rick Gittelman and, while there, do a meet and greet with one of the clubs he calls for, the Tucson Twirlers. Rick was having some work done on his car in Casa Grande (some city between Phoenix and Tucson) and I met him half way. I followed him to his place (with a trip through Saguaro National Park to get there), changed clothes, and went to the dance.

The dance was a small affair. There were (I think) twelve couples. They use cards to mix and mingle. This is something somewhat unfamiliar to me at a Plus dance, but it does have its advantages. I think Rick’s plan was to have me meet/greet and dance. However, we shared the stage all night. I had the second to last tip all by myself and he did the last one alone. It is fun to work with someone like this. We did some back and forth calling as well as some alternating calls and sang some songs together. Fun, fun fun!!!

After the dance, we went out to Buddy’s (I think that was the restaurant) for half-price appetizers. There were 7 of us. At one point, the conversation turned towards politics and I nearly got what’s left of my hair torched off. Note to self: don’t talk politics! Still, I had a great time.

That night, Rick let me crash at his house and Saturday we talked shop and had a nice lazy day. That night, we went to a Southern Arizona Callers and Cuers’ Association (SACCA) dance that was a benefit for the 2009 Tucson festival. Before the dance, Rick (who is the president of SACCA) had a dinner meeting with the other callers in the association. Mostly it was brainstorming for the festival but some other business was taken care of too. I decided to join the association and paid my dues.

The dance was fun. Everyone got a chance to call and Rick and I did two tips together. I can’t remember the songs we did… one of them was “One More Town” and that was a lot of fun.

After the dance, I drove home to Tempe as I didn’t want to be away from the cats too long.

Sunday, I went to the Desert Valley Squares. Seth, one of their callers, planned an 80th birthday celebration for his mom. Who can turn down free food? We sang happy birthday, danced to Seth Levine and Linda Harry, ate lots of food, and enjoyed some cake.

Life doesn’t get much better.

Until next time, keep dancing!

This was actually my second time calling for Valley Singles.  Not long after I moved to Tempe, and shortly after my first visit t the club, their caller, the talented Chuck Meyer, had taken ill and I was asked if I’d like to fill in for him.

The same was true on the 27th.  Chuck had come down with the flu and Virgil, the club president, called me and asked if I’d fill in for him.

We had a nice turnout.  I think we had four squares and we kept three of them until the end.   (Two dancing, one socializing.)

I tried to provide a little something for everyone.  Easy and hard, fast and slow, smooth and choppy.  It isn’t easy trying to make everyone happy, but everyone seemed to have a good time.

It was their “Easter Bonnet Dance” and sadly, I don’t have any Easter music.  So, I did two singing calls in the middle to commemorate Saint Patrick’s Day and to “spirituals” to commemorate Easter.  It was fun.

Until next time, keep dancing!