Randy Travis is a C&W singer.
Here are the Randy Travis songs that I have square dance records for:
Relevant Records
Here’s a modern square dance course offered at the Boston Center for Adult Education, taught by Chris Stacy. Based on the calls he listed in the course desciption, it sounds like he’s planning to get through Mainstream in 6 weeks at 1 1/2 hours a week. Whoa! Even Tech Squares takes 13 weeks.
Check out this article about state symbols (and mostly about the state “folk dance” thing): Masters of the dance
Some sample quotes:
But something intriguing turns up when you research this subject. More than half the states have designated a state dance or folk dance, and it is the same one, the square dance. That appears to negate the whole principle involved, which is to elevate the locally distinctive above the homogeneity of modern American life.
and
These designations arose from a political campaign waged by what are known as club or western square dancers. Their recreation has none of the free-form jollity that characterises the folk tradition. The dancing is tightly choreographed, the dress code strict, and the organisation highly structured. There are something like 100 moves but, according to an article by Julie Mangin at tackytreasures.com, it requires at least 60 hours of lessons to learn even two-thirds of them. Folklorists say the whole thing dates back only to the 1920s. According to Mangin, “it is big business rather than folk dancing”
and
Now most of these laws do not specify the actual type of square dancing, but it is clear from the official pictures – showing elaborately petticoated women with elegantly tailored partners – what is meant. Clearly, western square dancing is a legitimate and respectable leisure activity. Eminently respectable indeed: it seems to be peopled mainly by white, heterosexual couples tending towards the elderly and conservative.
and
In other words, it may not be wholly unfair to see their long-standing campaign as another conspiracy by a handful of rightwing Republicans, with the complacent acquiescence of their supposed political opponents and the American public, to take over the universe. There’s no escape.
On Wednesday, my contra calling class had a meeting to plan our May 2 graduation dance. I got some insight into dance programming by listening to Merri think out loud as she placed callers in the lineup.
I spent time on Tuesday and Wednesday researching dances on line. There are a lot of sources, including a Filemaker database (American Country Dances On Line, served on a Mac), that is downloadable. Which I did. And then started adding other dances. Here’s a list of sources of dances, both online and off (scroll for online resources).
I find myself attracted to dances by name, which is probably dangerous. But how could I resist a dance called “24th of October” (my birthday). I can’t give you a URL directly to the dance; it’s in the American Country Dances On Line database. So here it is:
By Don Lennartson
| Level | med (assigned by the editor) |
| Type | Contra |
| Formation | Becket |
| A1 | (8) Long lines go forward and back (8) Ladies chain |
| A2 | (8) Left-hand star This is the progression (8) With a new neighbor allemande right 1 1/2 to long waves with gents facing in |
| B1 | (4) Balance the wave (4) Circulate to new waves (gents cross into P’s place; ladies arc right into N’s place) (4) Balance (4) Circulate to new waves (gents arc, ladies cross) |
| B2 | (4) Balance (4) Circulate (gents cross, ladies arc) (8) Partners swing |
Editor’s Notes:
Based on Steve Schnur’s 24th of June.
This dance is from American Country Dances On Line
All rights reserved by the author; used by permission.
Added to database 3/19/1997; last revised 3/5/1999; edited by Russell Owen
As an MWSD dancer and caller, the circulates look pretty trivial. But Merri thought this would be pretty hard to call…spitting out the “balance” and “circulate” (plus any helper words to get the dancers through an unfamiliar figure) will be challenging. I’m looking forward to it. And I’m practicing.
So some square dance googling let me to this:
Lang’s last film of the forties was a neo-Gothic that may have been inspired by Hitchcock’s Suspicion and Rebecca. Secret Beyond the Door (1948) involves a vacationing heiress who meets and marries a charming stranger; they return to his mansion, in which each room has been decorated identically to the site of a famous murder. A follow-up film, House by the River (1950), concerns a writer who murders a servant girl. There was a lot thrown into the mix-sexuality, ghosts, square dancing (!) — and homicidal frenzy triggered by perfume. (In Secret Beyond the Door the killer scent was lilac.) Though the film was reckoned a failure, it did offer a villain Lang would return to again, the corrupt writer.
Square dancing? I can’t really tell which movie contains the square dancing, but I searched on both, and couldn’t find any further reference to square dancing…although I did find out that Alfafa was in House by the River.
Here’s a site with a very appealing description of contra dancing. It’s interesting to compare and contrast with modern squares.
Here’s what the author says about square dancing:
Some of the moves are similar to square dancing (swing your partner, make a star, chain the women ? a move that sounds more kinky than it is) while others are unique to contra. I usually downplay the similarities because contra differs greatly from most people’s mental pictures of square dancing or their grade-school experience of it. We always dance to live music and don’t wear square dance costumes. Square dancing involves four couples dancing in a group while a contra line can accommodate as many couples as space allows. In a typical contra evening, there will often be one or two square dances and even a pair of waltzes.
Here’s what he says about why he enjoys contra:
I enjoy contra dancing because it’s a place where time stands still. I can dance for hours and it seems like a minute. It’s a place where I can turn off my brain and just relax. Contra dancing, like no other activity, compels me to live in the present. When I’m dancing, I’m not regretting the past or worried about the future. I’m totally focused on the present, a discipline that leads to happiness.
If we take out the part about turning off his brain, that would describe what I like about square dancing. And for me, the brain turn-on helps me be in the present; there’s no room for thinking about other stuff.
He also says:
Contra dance is playful and fun, a place where adults can be kids. I enjoy contra because it’s a dance style where it’s more important to have fun than to do it right; it’s simple enough that beginners learn very quickly; and it allows experienced dancers and beginners to enjoy being partners together.
I think the first sentence also can apply to square dancing, depending on the people in the square. And I’d like to think that the first part of the second sentence applies, but I fear that it doesn’t always. And the last part doesn’t apply at all; beginners can’t learn MWSD quickly (although I think the learning part is fun), and experienced dancers don’t particularly enjoy dancing with beginners all the time. We’ll do it because we know it’s important that beginners get the dance time, and we also know that we may be beginners at the next dance program and will be depending on the kindness of the more experienced dancers to help us through.
And this may be square dancing’s downfall; we send out mixed messages. We need beginners, but we’re tired of angeling. We need new dancers, but it’s more fun to dance with people who know what they’re doing. It’s hard to integrate new dancers into a floor of experienced dancers, and for many experienced dancers, it’s been too long since they were beginners. In square dancing’s heyday, there were lots of new dancers so callers could cater to them; now there are usually just a few, cowering in the back squares. What’s challenging choreographically for a new dancer who still takes a second to remember how to do a call is different from what’s challenging to a dancer who’s been dancing the level for years and has seen lots of choreographic variations. (I’ve had experience with this recently as a new and inexperienced C3A dancer: I have a helluva time doing “interesting” C3A choreography.)
Do I have an answer? Not really; it’s hard for me to think about going back to nothing but Basic or CDP-style square dancing. I enjoy the complexity. But I also think we may have evolved ourselves right out of being an accessible dance form and right into extinction…not of square dancing, but of MWSD-style square dancing in its current form.
What if, to some people, my weblog reads like the dullest blog in the world. I could feel my brain numbing just reading it. Maybe when a non-square dancer comes across this site, they think it’s the dullest blog. Or maybe even dancers do.
I normally don’t think about the CALLERLAB convention hotel until it’s time to make a reservation. However, I wondered over to the CALLERLAB site, and they already had info on next year’s hotel. So I went to the hotel’s site, mainly to try to get a reading on where it is in Reno. No way! I couldn’t find a map anywhere! So I Mapquested it, but the resulting map didn’t really tell me where it was in relationship to the other Reno casinos. After zooming out a few times, it appears that the hotel is a few miles from the downtown action. So no walking around and taking in the sights…but who does that at CALLERLAB anyway? (Apparently, there’s a shuttle service going downtown, so you can get your sleaze fix if you want it.)
The only meals that one has to worry about at CALLERLAB are (depending on when one gets there), the weekend preceding and Monday morning. Everything else is taken care of. However, if one is there for the Beginner Dance Program, one does need to think about food. The hotel has a buffet (duh, it’s a casino), but it doesn’t sound too promising: some quotes from anonymous critics here: “Nothing exciting – just edible.” and “Not worth the trip.” (But we won’t have to make a trip because we’ll already be there…).
On the other hand, the reviewers here like it pretty well: “Well above average, and a good value, too. This is a big buffet with a big selection and good quality food. Breakfasts feautre made-to-order omelets and a decent selection of fruit and pastries. At dinnertime, the fresh meats and decent salad bar come out to play.” They also say: “A huge hotel, done-up very tastefully, which is a huge disappointment. This place seems to take itself seriously, so it doesn’t offer any of the cheesy thrills we look for in a casino.” And here’s their take on service: “Service Quality:
This weekend, I drove to Denver to call for the Rocky Mountain Rainbeaus. After a slight delay (45 minutes!!) in getting in to the venue (MCCR), we danced A2 and C1, had a dinner break (pizza in the church, since we got started so late), and danced Plus/A2 the rest of the evening. I always enjoy calling for the Rainbeaus; they’re a fun group.
I did the Levi Jackson Rag with them, and got a good response. The last time I tried it (with the Duke City Singles), the dancers had a few problems. This time, I left it at the recorded speed (about 129 bpm) and the dancers had no problems; it was fun to watch them get through it.
Driving to Denver takes (I hope there are no highway patrol folks reading) about 6.5 hours, interstate all the way, much of it flat, with not much traffic. So, I had a lot of time in the car, which I spent listening to tapes from previous CALLERLAB conventions. (I don’t have this year’s yet; I ordered them as MP3 files on a CD, and won’t get them for a couple of weeks. But just think: one CD with all the sessions, as opposed to 16 cassettes for 16 sessions, for less money.) There’s a lot of repetition, but also a lot of good info.
In an interesting juxtaposition, I listened to a tape from last year, with Jerry Junck (note to Jerry: jerryjunck.com is available as a domain name…why not grab it?) and Tony Oxendine talking about “Different Not Difficult”, and a tape from 1992 on successful choreography, also featuring Tony and Jerry (along with Bronc Wise and Jack O’Leary). In 1992, the callers assumed that the dancers wanted interesting and challenging choreography. Jerry talked about categorizing call usage as easy, medium, or hard. Jack mostly did gimmicks. Bronc talked about knowing the calls really well in order to develop interesting usages. He also stressed lots of checker-work. The discussion evolved around to dancing in Sweden and other European countries, and how the dancers there could do anything. In 2002, the focus was on providing something a little different, and making it easy by working the dancers up to it. For example, Tony had a sequence that he wanted to use: Heads Left Square Thru 4, Left Touch 1/4, Walk and Dodge, Wheel Around, Dixie Style to a Wave, Swing Thru, Chain Down the Line, Slide Thru (ZB). He described how he would spend the whole dance giving the dancers the skills needed to get through this sequence. Jerry also had a (substantially easier, but no longer MS) sequence: Heads Square Thru, Touch 1/4, Scoot Back, Split Circulate, Cast Off 3/4, Fan the Top, Right and Left Thru, Slide Thru (ZB) that he would use as a basis for several tips.
From this site: Millions of children and adults around the world will turn off their televisions and discover that life without TV may just be more rewarding, fun, and relaxing.
This seems like a good opportunity to promote square dancing as an alternative family activity. Maybe square dancers could offer some special family dances during this week to provide a fun activity to fill those hours that are normally spent vegging in front of the TV. Maybe the clubs running multi-cycle programs could make sure there’s a new session starting during TV-Turnoff Week and make an effort to get folks hooked on dancing.
Square dancing and the folks who do it have always been pretty firmly embedded in mainstream American culture. Turning off the TV is almost seen as counter-cultural, so the people promoting it are a little “out of the mainstream”. But you know what? Group dancing has become a little “out of the mainstream” too. (Politics on) The corporate powers that control so much of the media have a vested interest in keeping us as passive consumers, mindlessly watching TV (especially the ads) and consuming the stuff that’s pushed in the ads. Square dancing is almost subversive; there’s little consumption involved (especially if we get rid of special clothing), and when you’re dancing, you’re not watching mass media idiocy. (Politics off).