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"I have learned that our Thursday night group is a bunch of comedians. They got me good. We often have an odd number of couples show up, so we rotate dancers at the end of every other sequence or so, about 3-4 minutes. This keeps everyone dancing. But as a result, corners change frequently. My nickname has become 'Half-out Dave' because I routinely get the heads home, but the sides half out. (This is my excuse anyway :-) )Well, last night we only had 4 couples show up and I thought I had a pretty good beat on who was dancing where. So at the end of the first sequence, the side two couples did a right and left through. OK, no big deal, I goofed, it happens. I took note of the corners, and after I resolved, the sides did a right and left through, again! I am a bit gullible sometimes, so I went with it. I took note of the new corners, and called another sequence. This time it was a fairly short sequence that I knew would come out right. At the end, the side two couples promptly did a right and left through. I just about hit the floor laughing. It was at that moment I knew they were playing a joke on me. The other caller was in the square and not part of the joke, and he didn't notice either. Or at least that is what he said. I am still cracking up about it." |
That would be us as side dancers. Lloyd came up with the idea and recruited another couple to join us in the joke.
June 14, 2007 - County Fair
Last Sunday we square danced at the County Fair. The last time I danced at the fair was in 1973. The square dancing was scheduled to last four hours and we were signed up to dance for one hour. There were four or five squares on the floor the whole time and, of course, we knew just about everybody there. It was fun.
We spent the rest of the day just enjoying the fair. We went through the garden displays, the fine arts and photography buildings, the home arts and collections exhibits, and the woodworking building. We ate fried potatoes, bought a cool chopping/dicing kitchen gadget thing, stopped for dinner on the way home with friends, and had a very nice day.
June 13, 2007 - Scottish
We couldn't talk Raymond and Sara into going contra dancing with us, but we did take Kimberly to the Scottish Dance class last week. Everyone was impressed by how she could just walk in and pick up the steps without taking any lessons. It didn't surprise me.
May 28, 2007 - Contra
So what do square dancers do when there are no square dances? --- Go contra dancing, of course.
May 25, 2007 - Tap Dance Day
Today is National Tap Dance Day, a day honoring tap dance and the birthday of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
May 9, 2007 - Scottish Dance
We had a fun time at Scottish Dance last night. I almost considered not going since it was so hot. There were only about half the number as usual there, probably because of the heat, but I think it was one of our best classes. Gillian wanted to work on some dances that were a little more complex. They had lots of alternating reels and interesting choreography, and as usual were fast and lively; a lot of fun.
April 17, 2007 - California State SD Convention
We decided at the last minute to drive up to Riverside on Saturday to attend one day of the 48th California State Square Dance Convention. It was a full day of dancing and we had a lot of fun.
We stopped for breakfast at our favorite diner, Richie's in Temecula (always good), on the way, and arrived in Riverside about 10:00am for the beginning of the day's dancing. [One annoyance of the convention, however, was that they'd already run out of programs before we even got there, since I like to keep the programs of the dances we attend. Also, as Lloyd pointed out, it's not fair to the clubs and organizations who buy ads in the program, expecting them to be seen by all the many dancers at the convention.]
They did have a nice arrangement of halls and scheduling so that it was easy to move back and forth between the dance areas without missing a tip. And there were a huge number of callers participating; a different one scheduled every fifteen minutes, with no rounds between tips during the day, so the floors were really kept moving with nonstop square dancing until the 4:00 dinner break. We danced the entire time, only missing a tip or two. Friends were teasing us that we were going to, not only wear out our shoes, but the floor as well. But it seemed like every time we thought of taking a break, we'd see another caller we didn't want to miss. So we were definitely ready for a little rest at four.
During the dinner break we drove out to see my old neighborhood and high school, which was kind of fun and also fitting to the theme of the convention, "Promenade Down Memory Lane." Though Riverside is not really far from San Diego, it had been many years since I'd visited. A lot has changed in the city, but the old neighborhood still looks pretty much the same, except the trees are all much bigger. It did bring back a lot of nice memories.
After dinner we returned to see the exhibition dances by the Heritage Dancers and the In Cahoot Line Dancers, and then the Grand March. We counted about 500 dancers taking part in the Grand March and many more watching. There were 60 or 70 squares on the floor dancing for the first tip of the evening. Then there was more dancing in all the halls until 11:00pm. We skipped the after party and headed back home. We were tired.
April 13, 2007 - Flying A's
Since Magic Squares was dark last night, we went to Flying A's. The web said that the dance started at 7:00, but it actually started at 6:30, so when we got there at seven they had already started the third tip. We signed in, squared with others who were sitting out, and danced part of the tip. (It was suggested that I should have called for information. But why would I call for information if I think I have the information? Someone else told me that had I called, as they did, I would have found that the number was disconnected, anyway.) We were greeted by people we knew from other clubs, but the FA club members were not friendly or welcoming, and some of them were decidedly rude.
The A's have a system where they give out little cards telling each couple where to square up each tip (assigned seating, so to speak). So for the fourth tip we squared up where we were told to, in square #4. We didn't know anyone in the square. We had just started to dance, (truly we had barely greeted and done two calls), when a man and his wife nudged us and said, "We're tagging you out," as they took our place in the square. ("What? Is that done? What are the rules here?", I thought - It's not like we even chose to be in that square. They told us we had to dance there.) So we were out for that tip, too! We do dance at clubs where tagging in and out is acceptable, but it is 1)agreed on in advance, 2)we tag out friends who are also club members, and 3)we give them a chance to dance for awhile first. We would NEVER tag out a VISITING GUEST to the club!
So now the dance was half over, and in four tips we had danced only half a tip.
About then, people were starting to leave, causing their card system to fall apart, so they went to open squares. That worked out a little better, but all in all, the evening was not a positive experience.
The caller (Steve Moore), however, was good. And he was in fact, the only one from the club who came over and told us he was glad we'd come.
April 11, 2007 - Slippery Floors
The floor where we do Scottish dancing is so slippery that it is dangerous to walk across, let alone dance a fast hop-skip-step with lots of quick turns and direction changes. I was so afraid of falling that I couldn't focus on the choreography. I tried jazz shoes, tennis shoes, ballet shoes, water shoes; leather soles, rubber soles - nothing worked. So I asked Kimberly, "What do you do when you have to dance on a floor that is really slippery?"
"Duct tape," she said.
You wrap a piece of duct tape around the toes of the shoes, at the ball of the foot.
And hey - it works! I guess should have known. You can do anything with duct tape.
March 24, 2007 - Taking It Easy
We went to the Whirlaways last night, the first plus dance we've been to in two weeks. My shoulder is feeling pretty good so I think the exercises are helping it. That's one thing about advanced dancing - it's easier on the body.
March 16, 2007 - Last Week
We've missed several dances the last couple of weeks, mostly due to my shoulder being sore again.
Saturday we did go to the Sandpipers to hear Mike Seastrom. He always calls a good dance.
Wednesday we checked in at the Wrangler's class to see how they are doing (9 students, but only 5 there).
Thursday - Magic Squares. We've had two squares every week for the last several months, so that's good!
Not much going on this weekend since everybody's going to Bakersfield. That'll give my shoulder a chance to rest.
March 13, 2007 - In the Media
I've recently seen square dance pictured several times in the media.
A new Aleve commercial featuring an interview with two square dancers is currently running on TV. With the help of Aleve to ease the aches and pains, these dancers can just keep dancing all weekend.
According to a note by Mike Sikorsky placed in the North State Dancers Association newsletter, this was filmed at the Silver State Festival in Reno, Nevada and the dancers are Lonnie and Shirley, former students of his from Mesa, Arizona.
In the movie The Astronaut Farmer, a group of square dancers are shown in the country fair scene. I understand that Albuquerque square dancers were brought in to do the dancing. The movie is about an astronaut who is forced to leave NASA in order to go home and save the family farm. Unwilling to give up his astronaut dreams, he builds a rocket in the barn, planning to launch into space. Though the movie is not especially good and certainly not realistic, it is entertaining and it does have Billy Bob Thornton (don'tcha just gotta love someone with a name like Billy Bob). And it does have that square dance sequence, which is fairly nice. The dancing is a little more "countrified" than what we actually do now in Modern Western Square Dancing, but it does look like fun and it isn't too hokey.
A Prilosec print ad showing square dancers and a caller is currently running in several women's magazines. It's a nice picture of a couple dancing and having fun. The woman is wearing a full skirt but no petticoats. The caller is seen in the background. With Prilosec you can be "Back in full swing," it says.
March 11, 2007 - Question
Lloyd asks, "If a caller makes a mistake, would it be said that he has 'missed his calling?' "
