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1. Kris Jensen - November 17, 2002 at 2:28 pm

   The article mentioned above is no longer available at the link given. Here’s the text:

   Publication: Albuquerque Journal
   Edition: Venue
   Date: 04/28/2000
   Page: E16
   Headline: Light on their feet
   Byline: Story by Jane Mahoney *For the Journal *Photographs by Kitty Clark* Of the Journal
   Traditional or modern, square dancing draws a crowd

   With her full skirt swirling, pettipants showing, and heart pounding, Lynda Haack listens carefully for the next instruction from square dance caller Jerry Gilbreath. Atop the stage, Gilbreath, tidy in his Western shirt, calls out, “Swing your partner and promenade,” to the quick steps and grins of the dancers.
   A square dancer for more than 25 years, Haack takes to the wooden dance floor of the Albuquerque Square Dance Center with the ease of a woman who has danced her way to the chairmanship of the Central District of the New Mexico Square and Round Dance Association.
   Along with her dancing friends, she’s a woman with a message: Square dancing is NOT for, well, squares.
   “It’s a three-for-one activity,” says dancer Kris Jensen, who extended her initial love for two-stepping and line dance into a part-time career of calling modern Western square dances throughout the region.
   “First of all, it’s great physical exercise,” she said. “Second, it’s mental exercise to hear and respond to the calls. Lastly, and maybe the best part, it’s a community activity; a time together with friends.”
   The sheer variety and unpredictability of the dance commands issued by a live caller offers a twist not found in many other dances, said Bill Litchman, the archivist for a century’s worth of square dance recordings housed at the Lloyd Shaw Dance Center.
   “We as dancers have no idea of what the caller is going to say next,” he said. “It’s a bit of a challenge. Can we do what he comes up with?”
   Said Haack, “For the dancers’ fun, they want to be kept on the edge, but they want to be successful too. A good caller can draw that line.”
   Added Jensen, “I like the game- playing aspect of it.”
   A form of American folk dancing with strong Irish roots, square dancing gets its name from the shape formed by four couples. Couples will swing, salute, curtsy, and change partners as they move through a series of dance patterns choreographed and sung out by a caller: “Swing her high, swing her low. Don’t step on that pretty little toe.”
   Traditional Western square dancing, featuring a live folk band as well as a caller, incorporates about 35 dance steps. Modern Western square dance, in which a caller uses recorded music, starts with a minimum of about 70 commands. Expert dancers, however, can respond to more than 3,500 calls.
   The fast-paced dance requires no fancy footwork, no leading by the male and no steady partner as all dancers interact in a casual manner with others in the square, said Jensen. Add a setting that is generally smoke-free and alcohol-free, and square dancing has evolved into an activity that appeals to families and dancers of all ages.
   Part of American history
   So why the image problem? And why do so many young people think square dancing is an activity best suited for “old” people?
   Bob Brundage, 78, who has been square dancing and calling since his mother formed a 4-H Club back in Connecticut in the 1930s, thinks part of the bad rap goes to physical education teachers who insisted on teaching the dance to reluctant junior high students.
   “You mean I’ve got to hold a girl’s hand?” he mimicked.
   No doubt about it, square dancing has had its ups and downs over the years. The ebb and flow is not surprising, however, considering the dance form has been a part of American history since the 1770s, said Litchman.
   With roots in Ireland and England, the popular dance spread to the Western United States from the Appalachian Mountains. Dancers can join square dance clubs all over the world, with standard English calls common in places as diverse as Japan to Egypt, according to Litchman.
   Today, there are 47 modern Western square dancing clubs in New Mexico. Clubs sporting such names as “Allemanders,” “Crazy Eights” and “Ponderosa Promenaders” in New Mexico’s Central District meet nearly every night of the week at Albuquerque’s Square Dance Center, 4015 Hawkins NE, or halls from Rio Rancho to Belen. All welcome visitors who would like to stop in and see what square dancing is all about, said Haack.
   Nearly all clubs offer a series of lessons for beginners, and members are eager to teach the basic steps to anyone who wants to learn youth and young adults, as well as beginning older adults. Some clubs are geared for certain groups of people, including singles, senior citizens, and the gay community.
   Lessons for all
   While 30 weekly lessons are recommended to learn the basic 68 calls, “every lesson is a dance,” said Brundage.
   “The caller gradually adds new calls,” he said. “It will hook you, it’s so much fun.”
   For those more interested in traditional Western square dance, performed to live folk bands and requiring fewer steps, the Heights Community Center, 823 Buena Vista Drive SE, offers dances on the first and third Saturdays each month. The dances are sponsored by the New Mexico Folk Music and Dance Society. Lessons run from 7:30-8 p.m., followed by a dance from 8-11 p.m. Admission is $6.
   “Even beginning dancers can go for an enjoyable evening,” said Litchman, a caller who started square dancing in the mid-1950s while on a touring team at the University of Colorado.
   Today, Litchman serves as president of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation, an international organization dedicated to publishing and preserving dance memorabilia. The foundation’s Albuquerque office houses archives and recordings from around the nation as a tribute to Lloyd Shaw, an educator whose Colorado dance teams sparked a new interest in American square dance in the years following World War II. On hand are more than 35,000 musical recordings dating back to 1910.
   Square dance garb, like the music, has changed with the decades. Modern Western dancers enjoy the look and feel of full skirts that swirl over petticoats containing up to 120 yards of fabric. Yet some women prefer a simpler dress.
   “Longer prairie skirts or broomstick skirts are often worn,” said Jensen. “And the traditional dancers’ dress is almost always casual.”
   Male square dancers, who often appreciate the athleticism of the dance, generally wear Western shirts, jeans or dress pants and bolo ties.
   An evening of dance definitely provides aerobic exercise, according to Haack.
   “You can briskly cover five miles in an evening,” she said. “And you don’t even notice it,” added Litchman.
   While dancers can participate fully in dances after mastering 35-70 calls, they often choose to learn hundreds more to advance to higher levels of square dancing. More than 3,500 calls have been written, said Litchman.
   “You don’t ever have to stop learning,” he said.