Stephen’s Square Dance Blog

Since Martha has been working, I went to Valley Singles alone. Like usual, everyone asks about her. One of my mentors, Chuck, told me once about the importance of spouses. (This was before I was married.) I assumed that he was talking about how important it was to have a supportive spouse. What I’ve learned is that people look forward to seeing her as much as they do me. It is just different. Now, it will make her visits that much more special.

I had, at one point, four squares. However, most of the evening I had three dancing. Two stayed until the end. There was some stragglers that were cleaning up as well.

I got there later than I wanted. I avoided the freeway as I was not HOV, but got stuck in some traffic on the side roads. I’m not sure if there was something messed up with the lights or not. I know that emergency vehicles through the light cycles out of their normal sequence, but I swear that it took me 10 minutes to get through one light. Next time, I’ll leave earlier.

I worked a couple of different calls, but nothing too complicated. I played a little with Explode and… from Right Handed Ocean Waves with Boys in the center of the wave. I also called Wheel Around a couple of times. From Two-Faced Lines is where people have the most trouble. It sounds too close to Wheel and Deal, so dancers hear what they want to hear sometimes.

All in all, everyone had a good time. Next month, Christmas music. (There are two radio stations in the Phoenix area that are playing Christmas music 24/7. To me, that is just wrong. The Christmas season is Advent through Epiphany. Period.)

Until next time, keep dancing!

Wednesday, I headed back to the Mainstreamers but it was just me as Martha was a her new job (thank goodness) and couldn’t get home before I had to leave.

It started out a little rough. One of the dancers was upset with me because I ended the dance early the week before. Lessons are supposed to go from 6-7:30 and we’re supposed to dance the Mainstream Program from 7:30 until 9:00. Usually, though, we don’t have a full square of experienced dancers. So, one of our couples that’s taking lessons fills (they took lessons a long time ago and are taking mine as a refresher) so that we can dance. Last week was no different, but I was told that I should call tips until we don’t have enough.

Lessons went well, though. I covered a couple of things new things and really worked what we knew. Last week, we learned Right and Left Thru. So, I really worked it. I found that the helper words “Right Pull By, Left Courtesy Turn” did wonders. I remember one of Jerry Junck’s teaching hints… Right pull by, LOOK at your partner, Courtesy Turn.

The other *big* call was Dive Thru. So now I can do one of the most popular traffic patterns in square dancing:

Right and Left Thru
Dive Thru
Centers Pass Thru
Right and Left Thru
Dive Thru
Centers Pass Thru
Allemande Left!

On top of this I taught something that I’ve been doing directionally for a few weeks… Do Paso.

Since Do Paso starts with a Left Hand to Partner, it was easy enough to add Walk Around your Corner and See Saw your Partner to the evening’s teaches.

Next week is Thanksgiving, so no lessons. The following week, Martha and I are taking a small (and much needed) vacation to Disneyland in California. We’ll be visiting some friends along the way. While I’m gone, Barb Haines has agreed to fill in for me. (Thanks Barb!) I’ll probably have her just teach Square Thru 4 and review the rest.

Until next time, keep dancing!

Martha and I had an amazing night in Tempe doing a “taste of square dancing” event for a group staying at the Tempe Mission Palms.

About a month ago, I got a call from a Kathy Nord asking if I’d be willing to do some square dancing at a conference that she was being held in Tempe. The conference/banquet was from 6-8 and then she’d like some square dancing from 9 to Midnight.

We played phone tag, and then I didn’t hear from her again… until last monday. She apologized and said that she didn’t get my last message as her husband had heard the message, and written it down but had neglected to get it to her. No big deal.

We had a blast! The group was COCA-I, the Children’s Oncology Camping Association, International. Kathy is set to retire from her camp, Camp Rainbow.

There were probably 200 hundred people in attendance. Of which, I think, at one point, we had 6 squares on the floor dancing. After about two hours, I still had 8 people that wanted to dance, so I gave them an hour to themselves. I felt as if it were a rock concert where people were chanting “One More!” I’m a little hoarse today as I abused my vocal folds just a tad. I’ll rest them before my dance tonight.

The telling thing, to me, in the numbers, is that we had a large group from which to draw people (200), of that one forth chose to participate (48-50), and from that one square (8 people) wanted to go all night. The same is true of our overall square dance population. From a large group of people, we get our square dance classes, many quit, and a few want to just keep going. The trouble comes, I think, when the few that want to keep going use peer pressure to get their friends involved.

What did I teach? I didn’t use a written program, so, from memory (and not in this order):

Circle Left/Right
Boys/Girls/Heads/Sides – Right/Left Hand Stars
Allemande Left/Arm Turns
Dosado
Right and Left Grand
Sides Face Grand Square (one tip only)
Promenade

With the above calls, I entertained people for about two hours. With the square that stayed, I added…

2/4 Ladies Chain
Courtesy Turn (for the Ladies Chain)
Star Promenade
Ladies Center, Men Sashay

I used mostly pop tunes for my hoedowns, not because it is better, but because I find that there are a number of songs that people connect with. When I said, “I’ve got a traditional hispanic hoedown” and started playing it, one of the women on the dance floor said, with a look of surprise, “Jennifer Lopez!” Too funny. I did a singing call after every teach and used mostly high energy music. They were clapping, and sometimes singing, along.

These people were of all ages, but mostly young, and I had a lot of positive feedback. One man from Canada asked me about leaning how to call what I was doing, so told him to get in touch with me and I’d send him some information. He’d be a perfect candidate for an ABC Program caller. Martha heard people saying they wanted to learn more about square dancing when they got home. Our fear is that they’d find some old guy that plays vintage 1950′s music and specialized in bolo ties. Still, if they have a good memory of square dancing from this evening, it should carry on and they can spread the good word.

It was a really fun evening for both me and Martha. We’re also going to look to see if we might be able to help with Camp Rainbow in some capacity as a volunteer.  We’ll see what happens.

Until next time, keep dancing!

Wednesday, we were back to the Mainstreamers.

It was a good class. The president has been trying to get the angels to participate more during the lesson time, bless her heart. She seems to feel that everyone should dance with an angel. Trouble is, people like to come and dance with their partners. Who am I to split them up? Still, in some ways she’s right. Having a helping hand really aids the learning process. Sort of like thowing a dry towel in the dryer along with wet clothes. (They dry faster.)

I covered, I think, a lot of material, but no so much that it couldn’t sink in to people’s brains. Most of it was because it is material that I’ve been calling directionally for a while. I added California Twirl. Up to this point, I’ve been calling it “Face Your Partner and Star Thru.” I did some goal posting routines with Pass Thru/Separate/Around 1(or 2) that turned out well. It is a nice way to introduce other forms of Lines.

By having a He, He, She, She line it helps people to recognize same sex couples. Also, it helps with Centers and Ends. I had the Centers do a Right and Left Thru and Rollaway to sent up Normal Lines. Very nice!

I still have two men that just seem to stand there when the Ladies Chain. I don’t know what to do about it shy of a cattle prod.

I have room at the front of the hall for two squares and I had both of them dance next to each other. The bonus here was that one of my strongest couples saw how one of my weakest couples was doing and you could see sort of an Aha moment for them. (I get the feeling they were frustrated at the pace of the class but now see better what I’m working with.)

Graduation has been scheduled. I’m not sure that I like that because it is a very unrealistic date. However, I think what we’ll do is graduate them and turn the club into a workshop to get the rest of the movements. There is no other Mainstream club local to the Phoenix valley. I’ll talk to the guys on the trail and let them know what is going on so that if my guys and gals show up, they’ll be ready.

I’ve got other news, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Until next time, keep dancing!

In Square Dance Land, there is a tightrope that callers walk. It is system of finding balance between various factions in any club and at any dance.

There are always two distinct groups in any class. One group gets whatever is being taught/workshopped every single time on (or near) the first time. The other group paid their money and wants to learn but doesn’t see it that fast.

There are risks working with both. Go too fast, and you’ll lose the slower population. Go too fast and the strong dancers will disappear. I sometimes think this is why Angels (experienced dancers for those that don’t know the terminology) don’t come around the first few weeks (months) of lessons. These dancers know what is going on, but can’t say anything because the understand there can be only one teacher and frustrated that the new people don’t pick it up quicker. It is, after all, easy to forget one’s own roots.

Though, I’ve been in classes (as a teacher) where someone usually tries to to teach from the floor. Once, while teaching a Plus class, a woman shouted out “just do it!” Just do what? I asked the question (in error from the microphone) and lost control of the situation instantly.  We were doing Track 2 and I was explaining how the tracks worked and that it was a Tandem Partner Trade and that a Tandem can be though of like a bicycle built for two. This woman wanted nothing to do with how the move was done. She just wanted to “do it.”

So, how do we handle such situations? With diplomacy is the only answer I have right now.

I’ve got an issue right now where a couple, where I was calling, didn’t like one aspect of my teach. All I can say is “trust me.” I do, honestly, have the good of the activity in mind while I am teaching. It would be stupid of me to do otherwise. Is there a danger that we’ll lose someone. Absolutely.

However, everyone needs to remember where they are and where they once were. If we’re in a class of beginners and nearly everyone is 50 and older, don’t expect me to teach something once and assume that everyone got it.

Also, if I’m doing a workshop for experienced dancers, and I’m reviewing the finer points of a call (like, for example, Square Thru is a mini Right and Left Grand and that, if you turn, you always face in) then remember that some people may have never seen some of these applications.

A funny thing about square dancers is that nearly EVERYONE I’ve ever worked with thinks that they way that they learned is the right way. It takes a lot of time and energy to see that this might not be true. A common mistake for newer callers is to ignore the written definitions and think that the way that they learned was the best way. You get to be the best by careful study and understanding.

Doing something because you’ve always done it that way is the first ingredient in the recipe for disaster.

Will I be able to make (and keep) everyone happy? Probably not. Everyone seems to think that they know best. My goal is to do the best that I can and encourage people to trust me in that I know what I’m doing.

Until next time, keep dancing!

Wednesday, Martha and I returned to Mesa to teach and call for the Desert Mainstreamers.

Lessons have started at 6:00 and gone until 7:30, but this week I made an “executive decision” to run lessons until 8:00. We’ve not had a full square of Mainstream dancer show up in weeks. This is something that is not unique to this club. There’s something about the first couple weeks of lessons that seems to keep people away. I used to say “scare them away” but I don’t think it is fear. I’m sure that there are a fair number of people that just don’t enjoy starting at “square one.” (No pun intended.)

New dancers, especially in the first couple of weeks, tend to be, for lack of a better phrase, a little rough around the edges. So, experienced dancers tend to shy away. It isn’t that they’re not being friendly, though, I wish their desire for friendship would at least bring them to the dances for more meet and greet time. Somewhere, about week 6 or 7, experienced dancers start to come back and join us.

No one complained about the extra time spend on classes and I used it to reinforce what people knew. I learned, long ago not to teach anything in the last half hour of class. I used to review the first couple of tips and then teach after that. However, I’m modified my style just a bit so that I use my review time as a warmup. If there is something that I’m going to teach that has some sort of prerequisite, I’ll add it. The reason I do this is because I found that it doesn’t take too long before the review takes the best “learning time of the night” or, as time progresses, it is possible for a night of review that uses the full two hours of class.

Yes, I think that callers that say they use every call every night are full of baloney. It’s not impossible to call, in a three hour dance (with no rounds or maybe 1 round between tips) all the calls. However, you’ll only be able to see them in their standard positions with very LITTLE variety. Where’s the fun in that?

So, I try to review, or stagger the revew, but only as a warmup for the evening. Sometimes it is only to get the blood flowing.

I’m not going through my list… top to bottom so that if dancers go to a student dance, they’ll not be caught unaware. Though, the problem there is that I’m using the revised/proposed new teaching order from Callerlab. I’ve got no idea what others are going. (I REALLY need to fix that.)

Everyone had a good time… some of the rough spots are coming off. (Though, I’ve got a few guys that don’t seem to get that when the Ladies Chain they have to work too. Yes, the girls start, but the boys help finish the call. Two of my men stand there and the women are just stuck waiting looking lost for a moment. For now, I’ve added helper words, but I’m going to have to wean them of this crutch.

Also, I introduced square thru…  I won’t say that it was a disaster, but it was harder than it should have been. In an attempt to prevent the “Courtesy Turn” problem (where boys want to turn the girls on the second had of the Square Thru) I’m having just the boys and girls work in their own groups. The added benefit is that it helps teach them how (and where) to turn and face in. Funny thing is that I had a couple of people that would turn and go the wrong way. There’s something about “always” turning left or turning right that seems to appeal to people. I’ve seen it while teaching Wheel and Deal. There’s always a handful of people that want to wheel the wrong way. Once I figured out that it was due to the right/left issues that people were having, I started prefacing my calling with “look toward the center.” That helped immensely.

For now, I’m walking people through Square Thru and saying Right Pull By. Stop. Look In. Face in. Left Pull By. It is helping.

So, I’ll work on it bit by bit over the next few weeks.

Until next time, keep dancing.

On Friday, October 31st, Martha and I took a “road trip” to Vancouver, Washington so that we could go dancing at the “Royal Romp.” This is a weekend that is put on by some locals but features the calling talent of the owners of Royal Records, Tony Oxendine and Jerry Story.

What a FUN weekend. My legs hurt for a couple of days afterwards. Sadly, across town was another dance weekend we would have liked to have been able to attend/visit as the Rosetown Ramblers were having their Scares and Squares Weekend. The schedules of the two weekends just didn’t work out. Bummer.

We got an early start on Friday morning as the only flight out of town that would get us to Seattle (and our ride while in Washington) was at 8:00 a.m. Getting their early was a drag, but we made it. In Seattle, we were met by our dear friends, Susan and Larry Morris. The drive was nice and the conversation excellent.

Among the topics was a discussion about how square dancing appeals to an asocial crowd. Not anti-social, but rather asocial where people tend to avoid direct interaction, but don’t mind being in a room with others. It was food for thought and I’m still digesting parts of it.

The leaves were beautiful in Washington. Last year, just as the trees changed colors, a wind storm came and, overnight, the landscape was barren and gray. This year more than made up for last year. (Though, I’m glad I don’t have to rake any of them.

We stayed at the Rodeway Inn. Unlike past years, the hotel was excellent and the service delightful. (I’ll not stay at the Best Western in Vancouver if I can avoid it. I’ve had YEARS of poor customer service there with the worst being with a woman named Vanessa. That situation was never dealt with to my satisfaction so my business with them is finished.)

The dancing was FANTASTIC. Tony was delayed, but made it in time for the first tip. Tami Helms was outstanding on the Rounds. They played a number of their Platinum songs for 2009. I’m pretty excited about next years releases.

For those that don’t know, this dance is a level of difficulty harder than most dances. Maybe two levels of difficulty harder. I suppose it depends on how you look at it. I call it precision dancing. (Some call it DBD, Dance By Definition or APD, All Position Dancing, but neither of those terms really work. Every dance is done by definition and it is nearly impossible to get to ALL the positions.) Still, you have to know your stuff to be successful here.

Nearly every square we were in was great. There was one exception, and it was bad. However, I wasn’t about to give up on it. We had some weaker dancers with some brand new dancers. I can, by sheer force of will (Martha too) can keep a square running with a few weaker dancers, but it was just too much for us.

Oh, and the friends we saw!!! There are too many to name them all, but it was so delightful to connect with them. It made both Martha and I a little homesick for Washington, but after dealing with the traffic the pain of living there was brought back full force.

What else to say? Oh yes! I recorded the dance so I can “take it apart” for analysis. (One of the discussions with Larry and Susan was that Square Dancing was a meditative state. When you’re dancing, you can’t think about ANYTHING else. If you do, all is lost.) So, both Jerry and Tony picked up my recorder and left me a private message or two. Sorry, I can’t repeat them here because they’re not… well …entirely family friendly.

Still, it made me laugh.

We pre-registered for next year, and we’re already looking forward to it.

Until next time, keep dancing!