Be honest.  What do you think of when you hear “square dancing”?

Many people would say:

  • Bugs Bunny
  • Hee Haw
  • My grandparents
  • High School gym class
  • Fiddles and banjos

 

Not too many – if any! – would say Lady Gaga, Andy Grammer, Avicii, U2, CCR, Beethoven (!), Boney M, Train, Anna Kendrick …  But that’s just the kind of music we dance to now.  Square dancing grew out of fiddles and banjos and hay bales and petticoats a long time ago.  Now, not only is the music different, the clothes are, too.  Just wear whatever you’re comfortable in – Jeans and T’s?  OK!  Leggings?  OK!  Shorts?  OK!  Skirt and petticoat?  OK!!  Oh, by the way,  we also DO use country music, from time to time…. 😊

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And the dances are different.  In old-fashioned square dancing – “Old Tyme” or “Traditional” – people learned A Dance. It was the same every time… If you were a new dancer, you were put in a position where you could watch the other dancers dance the sequence first.  By the time it was your turn, you’d know what to do.  Now, in Contemporary (Social) Square Dancing, dancers are taught steps (calls) and the Caller puts them together in a non-memorized sequence that makes sense – with all the dancers moving together most of the time.  No waiting around for your turn.  You’ll be part of the dance from the start!