Stephen’s Square Dance Blog

While you may or may not do the “New Year’s Resolution” thing, I believe a good party is always a great way to celebrate your friends, no matter what day it is.

Thankfully, in January, I’ve been blessed over the last couple of years to call a dance in Portland, OR, for the Rosetown Ramblers on the first Saturday of the month. This was, if I recall correctly, my 4th Black and White Ball.

This dance, like so many others I’ve called for the Ramblers, was electric. It was a high-energy dance with a great deal of overall excitement by all the attendees. I’ve called numerous dances where, if the dancers are not dancing, they’re sitting on the sidelines (maybe) making smalltalk with their neighbors.

The flight to Portland was uneventful. (I was even fortunate enough to be able to move my seat on the play to row 6, right behind first class. Score!) The lovely and delightful Shawn Ferguson picked me up at the airport and was my host for the day.  (Thank you for the 4 Star accommodations!)

The dance started with an hour and a half of Advanced dancing. We weren’t sure we were going to have enough for a square, but, as the buzzer sounded, we ended up with 2 squares the whole time. The dancers, overall, did well. I have a working theory about A2 dancing as I think that it requires a slightly different philosophical style from Basic/Mainstream/Plus dancing. With B/M/P, my goal is to keep you dancing with the “wind in your face” as much as possible. At Advanced, especially A2, this is a noble aspiration, but not required. I’ve learned, over the past 14 years doing this, that if squares break down because you’re pushing them harder, it is okay. Just don’t let it happen more than 10% of the time. (Dancers still need to be successful.)

After the A2 portion of the evening, there was a potluck dinner that was absolutely FABULOUS! I’m working at getting my “girlish figure” back so I took it easy, but I did sample quite a bit.

The Ramblers dance started promptly at 7:30 and we everyone just connected. It was great. Since it was the new year, I started the dance with Auld Lang Syne, did some patter, and then another singing call.

I started the dance with some high-energy music and just kept it going. About halfway through, I brought it back a notch or two, but then we kicked it into high gear for the rest of the night. It was great. I love to be able to call dances like that. I think at one point, we had four squares on the floor, but most of the night we had three, with three on the floor at the last tip.

There were, at first no new students, but when 3 walked in the door, I opted to alternate tips between student level and Plus. (I don’t like the term “level” because the dances are usually about content, not ability. However, these were beginners and this requires some special handling.) Not that I took it easy on the students. They got just as much energy and attention as the Plus dancers. I just had to modify my delivery a bit.

I had some requests for some Round Dances, so thankfully, I had some cue sheets in my bag. Mostly Phase 2 Waltzes and 2-Steps. Nothing too complicated, but I had a number of people dancing which was great.

There were visitors from Eugene, from San Francisco, and from the Seattle/Tacoma area, so there were lots of familiar faces and a number of new ones. I had a blast!

I was asked if I’d do next year’s first Saturday dance in January. The issue there is that it is New Year’s Day. I agreed to it, but will have to have them add a rider to my contract so there is pork and saur kraut served at the pot luck. (It is my traditional “good luck” dish for the new year.)

Thank you Ramblers for a great dance! I loved it.

Happy New Year!