Grab your partner: camaraderie and an old-fashioned workout are just two of the benefits of America's new official dance
Would you like a new activity that helps you make friends, get in shape and transports you to the stage of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers?" If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then you should try square dancing.
As nearly six million people around the world have discovered, an evening of square dancing is the equivalent of a five to eight mile walk.
Square dancing is one of the best-kept health and fitness secrets of the '80s. It makes the old feel young and keeps anyone in great shape. Plus, as any dancer will tell you, square dancing does a lot more for you than keeping you physicially fit. "You can start out the night tired or worried. By night's end, you are so relaxes from listening to the caller and dancing that you forget your problems and are ready to go home and have a good night's sleep," said Sylvia Caplan, former president of the Merri Eights in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
In addition to stress reduction benefits, an average square dance tip (each 15 minute dance interval) has been clocked at nearly 128 to 132 steps per minute. And, for those recovering from heart or knee surgery where movement increases rehabilitation, square dancing is slowly being recognized by doctors as a positive alternative to aerobics and the more strenuous jogging.
"Square dancing, when done correctly, is a constant, smooth dance. You simply glide along," added Caplan.
Sylvia, and her husband Burt, like many dedicated square dancing couples, have been actively sashaying since their graduation from square dance school seven years go. What was to be a one-night-a-week activity grew into an occasional four- or five-nights-a-week venture with trips across the tri-state area in search of new callers and new dance clubs to try.
"Inever really liked to dance. I wouldn't even dance at my own wedding. But, since we saw our first square dance demonstration, we have been hooked. We even square dance at friends' weddings now," Burt Caplan said.
John Aquino started square dancing when his wife coerced him into joining her. "We joined it just as an activity and then we found it to be exciting. It is a whole new life for us and we love it," said Aquino, President of the Northern New Jersey Square Dance Association.
ENCOURAGING WORDS
And what's not to love? Ask any square dancer, and it would be rare to hear anything but a positive word about a fellow dancer. "Square dancers are very positive people. We do not compete, we cooperate. We are the original good neighbors. We have made the most marvelous circle of friends dancing and have become much more self-assured and relaxed. It is a nourishment of body and soul," said Donna Anderson, a square dancer ho is also a caller.
"The emotional support of these people (square dancers) is remarkable. I was in a terrible car accident a few years ago and the friends that I have met dancing around the country were there to comfort me," said Donna anderson.
THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS
Gene Koenig, Treasurer of New Jersey Square Dance Association, had always enjoyed fairly good health. while on a trip overseas, Koenig had a heart attack. When he returned, his doctor told him that he needed bypass surgery. His basic fitness, however, prevented more serious problems. "Because of square dancing, I had a lot of coronary circulation so I wasn't affected as severely as I might have been if I hadnht square danced regularly," he said. Within 12 weeks after his surgery, Koenig was back dancing.
"Dancing gives you a good feeling. You come out with a high. When I tell people I dance, they immediately ask me if I have ever won any awards dancing. I tell them that the only competition we have is to see who has the most fun. It is the rewards, not awards," said Helena Robinson, Vice President of the NNJSDA.
UNIVERSAL APPEAL
"With no other activity in the world can you travel anywhere in the world, walk off the streets and be welcomed immediately by other dancers," said Caplan.
You literally can go almost anywhere and find square dancing. There are about 44 countries around the globe where square dancing is popular, including Japan, Bermuda, most of Europe and Canada. And, what is amazing is that no matter where you travel, the calls are always done in English. So, you may not be able to discuss politics or the weather, but when the caller sings out "Do-sa-do," the whole room sways in perfect harmony.
In fact, one reason why square dancing may not be as widely known and appreciated is the extensive practice necessary to learn the nearly 3,500 steps that make up modern Western square dancing.
"Most people have done "barn dancing" before through churches, firehouses and the like, and to them, square dancing is a 'hokey' way to have fun, kicking up your heels and seeing who can holler the loudest," said Caplan. "This is not real square dancing. Because of its portrayal on television and the experience they have had with it, most people can't imagine that there is a serious and intricate side to dancing."
Also, people who dance do not publicize the dance to non-square dancers. Square dancers tend to be a specialized clique who enjoy every aspect of their community with its requisite Western folksy attire and soft-soled shoes as well as the social and physical benefits of the structured dances. Thus, until one sees a demonstration of the dances decked out in their "funny clothes," as dancers good-naturedly call the outfits, the majority of the public is unaware of a great recreational activity that is just as good or better than jogging or aerobics.
SQUARE DANCE HISTORY
Who are these people who proudly wear their boloties, Western shirts and crinolines? The truth is there is no special breed or social class that dances. People dance from all walks of life, with varied physical and emotional ailments. Lawyers, garbage men, housewives, children as young as seven, couples in their 80s, and former President Jimmy Carter dance the newly designated National Folk Dance, as did car mogul henry Ford. As a matter of fact, while Ford busily promoted his Model T, he was equally interested in publicizing the not yet fully developed Western dance, and was instrumental in the expansion of square dancing in the 1920s.
Ford, was introduced to the dance at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts in 1923. He asked the Inn's dance instructor Benjamin Lovett to teach dancing and train dance instructors in Dearborn, Michigan, and paid Lovett $12,000 plus a new Lincoln every year.
In 1926, Lovett put together a book of dances and music. It included instructions on contra dancing and minuettes--the grass roots of modern square dancing--but Lloyd Shaw, a dance instructor, noticed it facked instructions on square dancing. So, after World War II and years oftouring high schools teaching the dance, Shaw opened up the Cheyenne Mountain School which taught square dancing and calling. Contemporary square dancing grew out of the traditional dance forms of the last two centuries but, in the last 30 years, has been standardized with uniform movements and calls that can be enjoyed anywhere in the world.
Today, if you want to learn to dance, you must take 20 to 30 weeks of lessons. First you learn the basic steps and their commands, which the caller uses to direct the dancers. This enables you to dance with any basic club group. Then, there is the Mainstream level, followed by Plus I and Plus II and, for the brave few, the Advanced level. The majority of square dancers remain at the Plus levels because it is not always easy to learn the increasingly complex dance steps.