I no longer remember the reason why; I maybe wanted an easy credit, or it was the only phys. ed class that would fit into my schedule, but for whatever reason, one semester in university I took a course in “Folk and Square Dancing”. I was surprised at how much fun it was. So when Joan and I moved to McBride, way back in 1977 and were eager to meet people and become part of the community, we joined the local square dancing group.
Once again I really enjoyed the exercise, the rapid thinking required to hear the calls and remember the moves, and most of all, all the laughing as everyone turned one way, while I mistakenly headed off in the opposite direction. We eventually stopped square dancing,when there started to be a scheduling conflict with the local art council meeting, which I was really interested in, and after a few years, the “Country Turners”, which the local square dancers called themselves, stopped dancing.
Just recently, our friend Monica decided to start up the activity again. She tracked down the old Country Turner’s organizers, and was given all of their old records, and antique record player. We had the first reincarnation last Thursday in the elementary school gym. Each “square” requires 4 couples, and we lacked just one person to make up 2 squares. More people are planning to come next Thursday.
One of my friends just laughed at us when we told him we were square dancing (I don’t think square dancing has too much of a “Cool” factor to the mainstream public), but it was a really fun evening. A wide variety of friendly people, timidly started from scratch with the instruction record, and by the end of the evening we were all winded, but happy that we were competent enough to listen to the calls we learned and make the correct moves without too many mistakes. It will be an enjoyable way to stay active through the long winter.
Take a look at my paintings: www.davidmarchant.ca
No comments:
Post a Comment