Square Dancing Again

    When I was in university, for a lark, for one of my PE classes I took Folk Dancing.  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  Years later, in 1977 when we moved to McBride and didn’t know anyone, I noticed that there was a square dancing group seeking new people, so we signed up, hoping to meet some of our new community.

    We did make a lot of new acquaintances (mostly people older than us), and we had a lot of fun trying to remember what to do when the caller said things like “Allemande Left” and “DoSaDo”.  There were plenty of train-wrecks, as people forgot the calls, or forgot what was their left and what was their right, but everyone had a lot of laughs and enjoyed it.  After a couple of years, the square dancing group declined and finally fizzled out.  

    Then in 2016, square dancing was again organized in the community, and again we joined and took part in the physical and mental demands of square dancing.  After about a year or two, the square dancing fizzled out because of absenteeism.  Square dancing requires four couples in to make up a square, and without eight people, you can’t do it.  

    This year square dancing started up again and we went last night for the first session.  There were some veteran dancers and a lot of newbies.  Square dancing is much better organized this year and set up so that the whole group learns the moves all together at the same time. 

    I was pretty worried because I couldn’t remember what to do on most of the calls, but fortunately they were still there in my brain, although buried rather deeply.  Once we started dancing, a lot of calls came back to me automatically.  Square dancing does give one both a lot of physical activity and mental stimulation, as you have to do both quickly, when the call goes out in time with the music.  

    Below is a photo I took back in 2016 at one of our square dance sessions.

 You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca