Stephen’s Square Dance Blog

It isn’t just a new look. I’ve updated the version of my blog’s software (WordPress) to the latest version.

I’d experimented in day’s past with other themes (how you see the page) but I got some… er, feedback …that it made it too hard for some to read. I’m nothing if not accomodating. I like the new look. I think it is very clean and very bright.

WordPress has the ability to manage not just the blog aspect of a website, but will allow me, if I choose, to manage my whole site. I’m considering doing this because I’ve got a lot of updating to do, and being able to do it within the site itself intregues me. Though, I might just sit down and start doing the rewrite.

So, let me know what you think of the updated look and…

Happy New Year!!!

Martha and I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and exciting 2009. After all, life should be anything but boring!

Until next time, keep dancing.

So, I got a note from a club in northern Arizona that is a 3+ hour trek for me. They’ve had to lower their caller fee from $150 to $130 because they’ve not been able to make ends meet. They also want callers to come an hour earlier to workshop/teach the Plus program because, as it was explained to me, they want to have their dancers “go to the next level.” (Their words, not mine.)

The conversation continued with me learning that they charge $3.00 per person to dance. I had four squares my last time there. So, that math still doesn’t quite make sense to me.

Then, a conversation I had with my Grandmother popped into my head about her favorite recreation (not that SD is strictly for grandparents, but there is a strong representation by that demographic) and how she loved playing bridge.

I did some checking… in my area (metro-Phoenix) one bridge club charges $50 for FOUR weeks of lessons. They have three levels… beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Then, a regular meeting of the local club, not a tournament, is $10 for a 3 hour game.

That whole “fixed income” argument doesn’t really fly with me any longer. Maybe if dancing was a $50 event per person… I could see it. However, over in Mesa, one of our dance halls is being sold we’re out of luck finding a replacment. Why, they’re all too expensive.

The answer is not to immediately raise prices, though that’d be fine with me. The best thing is to ease people into regular cost increases. In the 1950s Coca-Cola was a nickel a bottle. It didn’t jump to $0.75 a can overnight. My time as a dance leader is worth something. Your dollar, or ten dollars, should buy something of value. A ten dollar dance (to name a round figure) should be more entertaining than a three dollar dance, don’t you think?

With low costs come low standards. I don’t know about you, but when a dance is “cheap” I don’t expect much. Yes, being a square dance caller is a labor of love, but do you really expect me to put together a creative and innovative dance experience for $30, $40, or $50? When I’m paid a premium price, I deliver a premium product. Costumes included.

On Saturday, December 13th, Martha and I headed north to Cottonwood so that I could call for the Roadrunners. There’s a lot of construction on the roads there, so we got an early start. There was a storm front headed in so we wanted to get ahead of that as well.

The trip was uneventful. Though, there are a lot of people that seem to find joy in just pulling in front of me for no apparent reason. While I describe myself as an agressive driver, I don’t mean it in a speed demon sort of way. I like doing the posted speed, and will get there as quickly as possible. I guess I’m one of the few.

The dance was a mix of Mainstream and Plus tips. I was asked to mix alternate them, and I don’t care for this. Why should anyone only get half of what they paid for? Dances, in my mind, should be a set, single program. Then, after that dance is done, have another one.

I did all Christmas music. Good thing, too, as it was advertised as their Christmas dance. The cuer did 30 minutes of pre-rounds. One of the songs she did was, “Take it Back.” I told her that this song was an “after Christmas” tune. She laughed. I have the same song as a square dance record, I’m going to see if I can right alternative words and make it a Christmas song about gifts gone awry.

I had four squares all night. Saw some old friends and made some new ones. I learned that Mile-Hi Squares lost the sponsorship of the city to do dances downtown in front of city hall after over 50 years. The city will pay for insurance, but they won’t pay for the callers. So, they’re not sure what to do. I told them that we could work out a deal if they still wanted to do a couple.

The dance was fun, and we had some visitors that just wanted to watch. (New students that wanted to see what a dance looked like.) There was also a young man there that was visiting his grandparents. He danced, a few years ago, with the Rocking Teens in Tacoma, WA. Small world.

On the way home, there was no storm. Thank goodness. And, by driving after 10:00 p.m. most of the traffic was gone so it made the construction zones a breeze.

Martha and I saw our first, honest to goodness, real-life tumbleweeds. A couple of them were small; about the size of a basketball. Though, at one point I nearly ran into one (or it nearly ran into me) that was taller than the hood of my car. Wild!

Until next time, keep dancing!

On Wednesday the 10th, the Desert Mainstreamers celebrated their first ever Chirstmas Holiday Dance. We hope that this is the first of many. It was a student dance and class members were invited from the Checkmates, Bucks and Bows, and a couple of others.

Martha had to work late, so she couldn’t join me. Probably just as well because she caught the cold that I got when we were in California the week before.

Dinner was a potluck and there was an abundance of food. We also had an abundance of dancers. The final tally was 54. A far cry from our average of 16-20. Some thought it was the food. Others thought it was because it was a Christmas Dance. I’m sure that the reason people came out in force was because of two things. It was well publicized and that student dances have fairly low expectations. (By low expectations, I mean that people aren’t so worried about being right or making mistakes. They come out to have a good time.)

I didn’t workshop anything. I only had to review a couple of things. Walk Around Your Corner/See Saw Your Partner and Do Paso.

It was all Christmas music too. A lot of people came up to me to express their appreciation for that.

We had a great time and a number of people said they’re going to join us in the future. Bonus!

Until next time, keep dancing!

Last Saturday, Martha and I went to Show Low to enjoy a night with the Rim Rompers. Though, I’ve also heard of them being called the White Mountain Rim Rompers… I’m not sure which is correct.

It was an all Mainstream event and I used all Christmas music. I made the comment that I believe that Christmas music should start after Thanksgiving and end in January at Epiphany. There were some that disagreed with me, but while Christmas should be in our hearts year-round, if the music is over-played, we get tired of it and it loses its special feeling.

The trip up was uneventful, just long. It’s about 3 hours coming from Tempe and our hosts for were Chuck and Mary Ellen Bittorf. Thank you!

We got into town with some time to spare, so we grabbed bite to eat at a local restaurant. We found out there that there was a parade that evening. People were outside sitting in chairs all bundled up with blankets over them. All I could think was “no thank you.” Sitting outside in freezing temperatures is not my idea of fun.

We had two squares for the evening. That is, IF Martha danced. For the last three tips, we danced three squares.

I had a couple of things I wanted to workshop, but decided, in the moment, to stick with a fun dance.

I’m not sure when we’re headed back, but I’m looking forward to it.

Until next time, keep dancing!