Here are a couple of links on writing and building a web site:

• Patterns for Personal Web Sites:
  

  There are many personal Web sites. The vast majority are mediocre. Some are bad. Fewer are good. An extremely small number are excellent.

  These excellent sites — and I use “excellent” subjectively — fascinate me. Why is finding a new one such a delight? What distinguishes them from the rest? What unnamable yet instantly recognizable quality do they possess?

  This is my attempt to answer some of these questions. My method is to distill the qualities of the best personal Web sites (and my own) into a set of patterns. These patterns can be used as guidelines for creating a personal Web site.

• Gar’s Tips on Sucks-Less Writing:
  

  When it’s time for a tight edit, go over every word. Ask yourself: is this necessary? Is this the simplest, most straight-forward way of saying this? If not, toss or revise it! You’ll be amazed at how many words you’ll be able to trash.

If you were a boomer (or younger), which dance would you choose?

I found a series of interesting essays, written by Henry Morgenstein, a confirmed contra dancer. Here’s an excerpt from Contra Dancers & Squares:

Contra dancers like the predictability of contras: once you’ve done the dance once or twice, you know exactly what moves comes next. You don’t have to think. You don’t have to be alert. Died-in-the-wool square dancers like to be surprised. They like being in the hands of a caller who can, and will, change his mind on the fly. If a “true” square dance caller sees a crowd of dancers anticipating his next call, he will change the call, try to trip them up. Square dancers love being so alert that you can’t trip them up.

This is not a game contra dancers like to play. They do not like to be on “high alert”. They like to be lost in the dance, not alert in case a new move appears. In another essay I called Contra dancing “trance dance”. Being on “high alert” is the very opposite of being “in a trance”, lost in the music and lost in the flow of the moves.

And, in Dance Before Class, he says:

Gym classes should not be devoted to competitive team sports. Gym classes should be devoted to social dancing.
…
Dance emphasizes cooperation, not competition. Dance emphasizes personal grace, not punishing power. Dance involves absolutely every person in the class, and you are never inactive, waiting for the ball to be pitched or snapped. Dance is egalitarian; size and weight do not matter.

While I like the “flow” state of being on “high alert”, when one is dancing on the edge, but but the whole square is moving together and succeeding, I also like a “dance trance” sometimes. And I enjoyed reading Henry’s essays. Check ’em out.

Article on marketing square dancing: The Life Cycle of Modern Square Dancing. If you’d rather have .doc version, it’s here. The article is by Patrick Demerath.

Here are a couple of articles on square dancing from a Canadian farm journal: Western Producer – Square dancing fails to attract younger crowd and Western Producer – Dancing puts twist into life

Want to see yourself as google sees you? Check out Googlism, where you can enter yours (or somebody else’s) name and how web pages would describe you.

For example, I entered my name (of course) and got:

1. kris jensen is a top 12 teacher recent honorees
2. kris jensen is the club caller or cuer
3. kris jensen is project leader for sdsm&t
4. kris jensen is responsible for networking
5. kris jensen is an amazing and wonderful caller
6. kris jensen is the third book set on the world of ardel where the natives experience esp as a genetic attribute that emerges with the stage of
7. kris jensen is active in the community surrounding southwest district court
8. kris jensen is working for fluor

.
Obviously, only a couple (sort of) apply to me. No. 6 is about Kris Jensen, the science fiction author, who, unfortunately, doesn’t have a web site.

Now, here’s a (slightly edited) list of what you get if you enter “square dancing”:

• square dancing is friendship
• square dancing is healthy fun
• square dancing is fun for everyone
• square dancing is probably not what you think it is
• square dancing is high energy dancing
• square dancing is a cooperative activity involving the dancers themselves and their
• square dancing is today
• square dancing is distracting to you and especially others
• square dancing is universal
• square dancing is a social activity where eight people interact through a series of movements as “called” by the square dance caller
• square dancing is a dance form where groups of 8 people working as a team perform
• square dancing is all goofed up
• square dancing is the perfect exercise
• square dancing is movement to music
• square dancing is also good exercise
• square dancing is rarely held where alcohol or smoking is permitted in the building
• square dancing is one of the hottest new social activities in our community
• square dancing is party time every time you do it
• square dancing is a language
• square dancing is the great grandchild of contra dancing their roots are similar and their history intersected at one time
• square dancing is in fact an extension and refinement of numerous foreign influences brought to this country
• square dancing is “friendship set to music
• square dancing is not native only to the united states
• square dancing is friendship set to music”
• square dancing is for eight persons acting together in a “square”
• square dancing is often used as a general term for the whole activity which includes contra dancing
• square dancing is really the authentic barn dance of those american pioneering days
• square dancing is a vital part of america’s history and tradition
• square dancing is not just do si do and left alamande
• square dancing is the american folk dance
• square dancing is to be found in every state
• square dancing is life
• square dancing is that the caller makes up the dance as you dance it
• square dancing is based upon walking in defined directions for defined distances
• square dancing is quite different from its grandchild
• square dancing is not barn dancing
• square dancing is an important social event in the east bay lesbian and gay community
• square dancing is unlike any other form of dance
• square dancing is out of this world
• square dancing is a favorite family pastime both here in the usa and in many other parts of the world
• square dancing is fun
• square dancing is great fun
• square dancing is a couple activity
• square dancing is square dancing as it is generally danced in the gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans community
• square dancing is typically hosted by square dance clubs
• square dancing is more popular than ever
• square dancing is a standardized outgrowth of this
• square dancing is done under the direction of a caller
• square dancing is called in english
• square dancing is a far cry from the old time barn dances of yesteryear
• square dancing is so different from the traditional barn dance that it deserves a completely different name
• square dancing is america’s national dance
• square dancing is in foreign countries
• square dancing is hard to differentiate from good old american heterosexual square dancing
• square dancing is like the ultimate game of simon says
• square dancing is standardized
• square dancing is offered as part of the dearborn recreation department’s senior services division
• square dancing is a cross between fast walking and aerobic dancing
• square dancing is the world’s greatest social mixer
• square dancing is made up of four couples whose movements are directed by a “caller” who chants the rhythmic calls
• square dancing is fun and friendship set to music”
• square dancing is on the move and is a great way to keep physically and mentally fit
• square dancing is a popular activity here in southern california
• square dancing is an excellent form of aerobic activity
• square dancing is good for the body and the mind
• square dancing is completely different and is a truly fascinating activity

You can get the unedited results here. Put it all together, and square dancing sounds like a really intriguing activity, don’t you think?

Last night, calling for Duke City Singles, I took advantage of “National Abet and Aid Punsters Day” and read shaggy dog stories (a type of pun I really like, with an elaborate setup leading to a really awful denouement) before each tip. It was a riot, with the added advantage of abetting the real punsters in the club who, like Frankenstein unleashed, regaled the club with puns all night.

If you ever want to try this (warning: only among friends…), here are some sources for shaggy dog stories:

• The MacScouter — Scouting Resources Online
• Tarzan’s Tripes Forever, and Other Feghoots – The Web’s First Shaggy Dog Story Archive
• Bad Puns – Get your muds wordled!

I also used a set dance, the Levi Jackson Rag. It’s a dance for five couples, done to the “Levi Jackson Rag,” available from several sources, including Cal Campbell’s “Dancing for Busy People” CD. (Cal’s site doesn’t mention the CD…the hazards of not keeping up-to-date…but it’s available from Supreme.) The dance is popular in the international folk dance community, but it uses nothing but square dance moves, so it’s a fairly easy teach to a MWSD group. The problem is to get them to do it in time with the music and to keep moving. I had one successful set and one that was less successful; even though I had slowed the music down substantially (hooray for MP3s and Vic Ceder’s program), they just couldn’t keep up with the constant pace, with no time to regroup after each sequence. But they had fun, and some even wanted to try it again.

Some very cool dance photographs taken by Doug Plummer, who clearly loves to dance.

It’s a sad thing when one googles “dance” and the first thing that comes up is the dreaded Hamster Dance page. Have you ever square danced to the Hamster Dance song? I have…

Here’s an article that I hadn’t seen before, written by Ed Gilmore: Why Dance. What’s amazing is how much of it still rings true today.

I’ve been listening to the Hanhurst November tape.

I gotta say that I can’t listen to the song “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” without thinking about Coca Cola. Maybe there’s a new generation of square dancers in Europe, but my guess is that almost every square dancer in the US will think of Coke when s/he hears that song. And, based on the history of the song, there’s good reason: it was a Coke commercial before it was a top ten hit for the New Seekers. The New Seekers even released a version with the Coke lyrics (“I’d like to buy the world a Coke”). Here’s a history of the original ad, considered one of the most popular ads of all time. And here’s a page of Coke commercial songs that contains several versions of the Coke ad.

I like the song. I’ll probably buy a copy of the singing call record to support the kids in Afghanistan. But I don’t think I can do it; I’ll be craving a Diet Coke the whole time I’m trying to sing the song, and I don’t particularly care for advertising a product (no matter how subliminally) while calling.

Another song I can’t do: “Who’s Your Daddy”. It’s a Royal recording by Jerry Story of a Toby Keith song. Of course the song is totally inappropriate for a woman to do; somehow “who’s your mommy” just doesn’t have the same connotations. But then it also contains the line “I got the money if you got the honey”…which sounds to me like he’s offering to buy sex. It’s the usual high-quality Royal arrangement, and Jerry presents it well, getting a lot of swagger on the line “who’s your man”. As a lesbian, I can often do songs that are written for men without changing the lyrics. This one, however, would require a complete rewrite. I think I’ll pass.

Rhythm Records released a song that seems a little…odd…for a square dance song: “Sin Wagon” with Dee Dee Dougherty-Lottie covering a Dixie Chicks song. I guess the song actually ends up on a salvation note, but somehow I don’t think the singing call lyrics are going to include the lines about “mattress dancing”.

Listen to an interview with Jason Dean, an Australian caller: Square Dancing Moves Ahead. There’s a Real Audio file link on the page, so you can listen to Jason call and talk to the reporter. The reporter even gives square dancing a go.

Here’s an ambitious project by the North Texas Square and Round Dance Association ; they’ve got a Growth Committee to foster new dancers. It looks like their plan is to have three-week (yes, that’s 3) sessions that go from 9:30 to 3:30, with lunch included and then have lots of new dancer dances. They’ve got three sets scheduled in January, and one each in February and March. Hope it works!

I’m interested in cultural changes and how those changes might affect how square dancing and other participatory recreational activities might be marketed. I recently read this review of Smart Mobs, by Howard Rheingold (summary). This almost seems like the opposite of the kind of community that develops through dance groups and other participatory recreations. The converging groups of people have no long-term connections; they gather in response to a particular event/issue, and then disperse, still with no connections. Square dancing in particular requires a long-term commitment; these gatherings seem like the antithesis of that.

On the other hand, virtual communities can lead to “meatspace” communities. In an interview, Rheingold says:

So we’re now seeing people in virtual communities getting together face to face and coordinating while they’re moving between places.

I don’t know what all of this means in terms of square dancing, but I think Rheingold always has interesting ideas. I think the internet can have an impact on how we market square dancing. We had one person at the latest “new dancer dances” (read lessons) who came because of the ASDC’s website. Unfortunately, she didn’t stick…maybe the reality of the physical community (mostly older folks) didn’t match her expectations.

Maybe we need to think about tapping into already existing communities. Probably one of the most successful classes the Wilde Bunch ever had was when a group of people from another organization all decided to try square dancing. The class was large and the camaraderie existed from the first lesson. The already-existing group dynamics kept everybody coming. But that organization wasn’t in virtual space; it was another face-to-face organization.

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Here’s an ambiguous reference to square dancing in an interview with Nicholas Negropointe (founder of MIT’s Media Lab):

Q: How do you think the digital revolution will affect us culturally? Will it usher out America’s TV culture? A quarter century ago, Marshall McLuhan and others wrote about how media and television have altered our way of thinking to such a degree that the visual image, rather than the written word, is now the predominant force of our culture. (And if there’s any doubt of that, ask a teenager if she’d rather read Twain or watch MTV.)

A:Did kids prefer: reading Twain or square dancing?