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February 16, 2007 - A Quote
"We do not grow too old to dance. We grow old because we do not dance."
-Herb Greggerson, square dance caller, 1953
February 15, 2007 - YouTube
We went to the International Friendship Tour Dance last Sunday. Mac O'Jima, introduced as "the best caller in Japan", is touring with a group of Japanese dancers. Bob Baier and Ken Bower were also calling. It was a fun dance and there was a very good turn-out of dancers from all over the county. Held at the War Memorial Building in Balboa Park, the hall was so full, there were even a few squares dancing out in the foyer area.
KZSW TV Temecula was filming at the dance for a show to air in parts of Riverside County, but video has also been placed on YouTube for those with Internet access. You can watch it here. -
International Friendship Tour Square Dance
And I just found this clip from the San Diego Fiesta de la Cuadrilla last November on Youtube. This was taken in the Youth Hall, which we think has the most fun dancing of the festival. Scott Byars and Cindy Whitaker are calling.
Square Dancing at the 56th Fiesta de la Cuadrilla
February 7, 2007 - Room
While picking up the 4X8 boards used for the floor at the Jamboree, I said, "If we moved out all of our furniture and put these down over the carpet, we could probably fit two squares in our living/dining room."
"Yeah," Heidi said, "That's what Dave said, too."
February 5, 2007 - Jamboree
We had a fun time this weekend at the Jamboree by the Sea, held at the Del Mar Racetrack and Fair Grounds. There was an excellent group of callers this year; Mike Seastrom, Wade Driver, Phil Farmer, and Dennis Young.
Friday we had dinner with friends at Tio Leo's before the dance, danced the entire evening, and finished with ice cream at Denny's afterward with more friends.
Saturday we missed the morning session, but arrived in time to dance the "Thoroughbred Dancer Tip" outside in the Paddock. This is, they say, "the only event where you can dance at a major racetrack," though it was really just in the patio outside the dance hall. But I do now have my "Thoroughbred Dancer" dangle.
We spent the afternoon moving back and forth from the Plus and Advanced halls, mostly following Seastrom and Driver, who both call in a style that is fast and flowing and a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure they had the BPM turned higher than average because we were really moving. With the right caller and a group of dancers who are not inclined to take it too seriously, we've found that Advanced dancing can actually be fun and rhythmic and not so much like a drill movement, though I still prefer the Plus where there is much more style and flair.
Saturday evening started with an exhibition by the Heritage Dancers, followed by the Grand March, more dancing, more dancing, and more dancing. The after-party dance, hosted by Andy Allemao, was much better than last year's, (when hardly anyone attended and those who did refused to dance - what's up with that?) It was an "open mike" dance and several newer callers participated. Peter Gomez, a very good round dance cuer, also called a tip, proving that it is not as easy as it looks. It was absolutely hillarious and he had everyone laughing so hard they could hardly dance. (He had best stick with the round dancing.) The "mystery caller" at the end turned out to be Pat Herndon, a local dancer and General Chairman of the Jamboree Committee, who did a singing call and has a very nice singing voice, as it turns out.
Sunday we were back bright and early for more dancing, and then the festival ended with everyone in one hall where all four callers worked together doing an "hour of madness" of all singing calls, with no breaks and no rounds. After that we all helped to pick up the floor and load up the trucks. Then out to lunch again with friends, putting an end to a very fun dance weekend.
Both the Union Tribune and the North County Times had photo-journalists out on Sunday, so hopefully we'll get some good publicity, but it's too bad they didn't come on Saturday night, when the hall was really filled with dancers.
February 3, 2007 - New Students
From the Bows and Beaus club newsletter (in Los Altos) - "Over 86 enthusiastic new square dancers showed up during the first two weeks of the class!"
Now how did they do that? 86 new dancers! All the clubs here are struggling to get even six or eight students.
February 1, 2007 - Modern Name
Some think we should modernize and change the name of square dancing, because it sounds too old-fashioned and, well you know, "square." They want to move away from the traditional moves, music, and garb. - Update.
Now having danced some Advanced and watched the Challenge dancers, I would suggest the name
3-D Spacial Relation Geometric Pattern Walking - Sometimes With Music
3-D SRGPW-SWM -- (for short). Now that sounds modern. Yes?
January 31, 2007 - Back to Basics
An excerpt -
"There has been considerable talk recently about losing dancers because the type of dancing available is too cerebral, too dependent upon memorized terms, too apt to require more time than many people today have to devote to recreation."
[In early days], "the calls and dances themselves were quite simple. The number of basic terms was few; the variety came in how these terms were used. . . Along came choreographers who, without changing the known language of square dancing, added new and challenging "traffic patterns" that tested the ability and imagination of the dancers. All patterns were constructed from the basic movements, the basic language, of the day. . . Presently new terms began to show up in the same dances."
"In the guise of "challenge," movements bearing non-descriptive titles came forth by the dozens. Occasionally a term would tell the dancers what to do; more often the terms were non-descriptive and completely unrelated to the character of the square dance activity."
"At first the effect on the dancers didn’t appear too damaging but when it became necessary for the average dancer to attend two workshops and three dancing evenings a week to "keep up with the new language," the fun ended for many of them. The hardiest lasted, enjoying the friendship, the fun and the challenge. Undoubtedly some stayed on because of the new terms."
"However, where once it was possible for a new dancer to learn all the basic terminology in just a few weeks and then continue on into a club, now the number of weeks required in a learners’ class stretched and stretched. When it reached 32 weeks, it proved to be the "breaking point" for a lot of people who simply did not have time to spend bridging the gap from beginner to club."
"Now we have come to a point when many serious-minded square dancers, callers and teachers are considering a return to the type of program that would put the emphasis on a variety of patterns, using just a certain amount of square dance language. And so we arrive at our current project."
"The idea of an in-depth program of Square Dancing built around a limited number of proven, basic terms is not new. It is simply the updating of the highly popular and effective program which existed during square dancing’s greatest "boom" of several years ago."
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The ABC program? The One Floor program? -- No. This article was written by Bob Osgood in 1968, when he was compiling the Basic 50 Call List, which could be taught in nine weeks, and the Extended Basic List (basic 50 plus an additional 25), which is what I learned in a twelve week class in 1972.
Now teaching the 100 calls of Mainstream / Plus, once again our classes have "stretched and stretched," reaching even beyond 32 weeks, to 40-42 week classes.
And we are once again facing the same problems. I guess some things never change.
January 25, 2007 - More Scottish Dancing
We started back with the Scottish Country Dancers again this week, after the holiday break. I'd forgotten what a good work-out that is. It is much more active than square dancing and, unlike square dance, they have no breaks, no coffee, no announcements, no raffle tickets - just two solid hours of dance. This I can actually count as exercise. At a good, lively square dance I can get my heart rate up to my target zone by really dancing full-out, but those ten to fifteen minute breaks between tips are a killer for any aerobic benefits. Even if I dance the rounds, they're too slow to maintain the necesary heart rate.
I also like the Scottish dance because it is really dance, with emphasis on footwork, rhythm, and timing. The teacher will say, "This dance is 64 bars," or "this is a 16 bar sequence." Everyone understands that that means you have exactly that amount of time to complete the pattern and that each count of music is accompanied with a dance step while doing so - real dance.
Square dancing is feeling less and less like dance these days as the shift moves more and more toward simply walking in formation. When I tell people we used to learn styling and rhythm in square dance classes, they don't even know what I'm talking about, the idea of taking eight steps to every eight counts of music has never occurred to them. And since the square dance classes now are already way too long, they say there is certainly no time to add anything else to them; like rhythm, flair, style - dance.
January 21, 2007 - Surprised
Innocently I clicked on a link that said "History of Square Dancing" only to be connected to a porn site. - ??!!!?
I know we've been wanting to update our image, but that might be a little extreme.
January 20, 2007 - Two Callers
A friend and I were talking about how much fun it was to have two callers at the Ruffles' dance. We like the idea of a club with two callers, adding variety and excitement to the dance as the callers play off of each other, much like the atmosphere of a festival or special dance.
The Rustlers in Anaheim advertise they have two callers for all of their dances, but I think they also have rounds. We think the perfect club would hire two callers instead of a caller and a cuer, and keep the square dancing going nonstop, with no more than five minute breaks between tips. A round or a line dance could be added once in a while for variety, using a voice-over recording, (since the round dance choreography doesn't change and most of the cuers don't even watch the dancers anyway).
It wouldn't really cost the club any more to hire two callers than it would to hire a caller and a cuer, and since there are no other clubs offering this format, I think it would be a draw for dancers all around town who don't round dance but don't like the long breaks between tips, or for the dancers who only round dance in order to avoid standing around for long periods of time. Many people have told me that they only learned to round dance because that was the only way they could get a full evening of dancing. (We do promote this as excercise, after all.)
If the club really wanted to offer round dancing as well, they could hold a Round Dance Pre-Dance before the Square Dance. Then dancers could come for one or the other, or both.
January 19, 2007 - Last Tip
We haven't been dancing much lately as we were busy with the holidays and visitors and family activities, plus then I was sick for two weeks, followed by Lloyd being sick, as well. But things are beginning to settle down and get back to normal again.
We went to the Ruffles 'n Beaus on Sunday and had a great time. They had a guest caller, Charlie Robertson, a friend of Pat's visiting, and the two of them called a really fun, high energy dance. This was the best Ruffles dance we've been to in a long time. And, maybe because Monday was a holiday, more people showed up for the dance and more people stayed until the end.
Lately, it seems that so many are leaving early that we can hardly pull together one square for the final tip. It kind of destroys the atmosphere and it's got to be a little depressing for the caller, too. I mean, if this is supposed to be FUN, why do we have to BEG someone walking out the door to PLEASE come fill out our square so we can dance the last tip. I understand people have to get up early in the morning (so do we), but does fifteen or twenty minutes really make that much of a difference in getting a good night's sleep. I think it is a little rude toward the caller and implys that the dancers are not having a good time.
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