Mark's Notebook

Keyword : Square

Quads Hoedown

Mary and I went to the Stanford Quads Challenging Plus hoedown on September 23. There is a photo album from the hoedown. Someone took this photo of Mary and me round dancing. Cool!

Disappearing square dance clubs

Emergency!

I've been updating the page of California square and round dance clubs. In late July I sent out requests for updates, and I worked feverishly on the database until August 6, when we left for Paraguay. I even worked on the site one lazy day while we were in Asuncion.

I was tidying up the last of it yesterday when I went over quota on the account and I lost the database file. (I had gone over quota because lots of cue sheets got posted on the site while I was away.)

Anyway, my most recent backup is dated August 5, and I haven't received any more recent backups from the server administrator. So now it looks like I have to input again all the changes since August 5. Right now, there is nothing there! This doesn't mean all the clubs in California have gone dark; really only about ten of them are out of business since last fall. But I do have a fair bit of work ahead of me to fix this mess.

Cross-Generational Square Dance TOMORROW Feb 28

San Jose Mercury News

I'm not sure where else to post this notice, so here goes:

Cross-Generational Square Dance. Families with children ages five and older and seniors welcome. 6:30 p.m. Feb. 28. West Hope Presbyterian Church, 12850 Saratoga Ave., Saratoga. $3-$10. (408) 730-4684.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/events/13972263.htm

Mapping project updates

I have fixed a bug in my Google Mapping Project. The bug prevented the viewing of maps by those using Internet Explorer 6. I hope you can all view the maps now.

I don't hesitate at all to add that using Internet Explorer is a known security risk if you have a PC. I suggest using Firefox instead. Firefox is quite fast and doesn't have the security holes that IE does.

The site also works with Mozilla and Netscape 7 on either Mac or PC.

Also on the Mac, Safari and Camino render the page well.

The mapping project, as well as much of the rest of this site, look really crappy on any version of Opera, which doesn't render tables the way I specify.

http://www.mixed-up.com/maps/

New Mapping Project

I have added a new page where you can search for square or round dance clubs in California or Nevada, and the results are displayed on a Google map.

http://www.mixed-up.com/maps/

When you use the "advanced search" page to search for square or round dance clubs, you can also specify that results will be displayed on a map.

http://www.mixed-up.com/clubs/advanced.html

When you have searched for clubs using the standard search page, you can then elect to "show these results on a map." Here is an example of such a search:

http://www.mixed-up.com/clubs/search.html?bcou=SMa

Jubilee at Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose

The Santa Clara Valley Square Dance Association (SCVSDA) hosts its annual Jubilee on October 14-16, 2005, at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose.

The dance features a wide variety of programs and activities including Plus, Advanced, Challenge, Rounds, Clogging, Beginners, Handicapable, Youth, afterparties, and a barbeque.

The main program includes a full time Plus hall, a full time Advanced hall with both A1 and A2, and a full time Challenge hall with dancing from C1 through C3.

There will also be several "intro" sessions, some novel. The Plus hall hosts an "Intro to Advanced," the Advanced hall hosts an "Intro to Challenge", and the Challenge hall hosts an "Intro to C2" session. None of these is unusual. But a new feature of this year's program will be the "Intro to Square Dancing" session for non-dancers on Friday evening, the "Blast Class" session for non-dancers all day Sunday, and the class-level session on Saturday night for those taking a class but not yet graduated.

The featured callers are Don Nordbye and John Saunders. Local callers include Roger Smith, Jim Osborne, Harold Fleeman, John Sybalsky, Robert Algea, Bob Elling, Pete Herman, Ken Carroll, Keith Ferguson, CJ Smith, John Bowman, and Eric Henerlau. Chuck and Shirley Hurst will cue rounds, and they will teach a round dance on Saturday morning.

The Jubilee web page is here:
http://www.scvsda.org/jubilee.html

And a list of opportunities for newer dancers is here:
http://www.scvsda.org/jubilee-nd.html

Square Dancing By The Numbers, Part 3

I bid $11 on this Ebay auction earlier today:
SQUARE DANCE CALLS PIONEER FOLK 1930S-50S 5 BOOKS LOT

Ha! The auction ended at over $140. This lot included the book that started it all. No, not Pappy Shaw's Cowboy Dances, but Henry Ford's Good Morning. It also includes Dance A While, another highly-sought book that is still being published in its 9th edition, and is the classic intended for public school teachers who want to teach square dancing to their students. (Remember those good old days?)

Good Morning is available in a number of editions and a wide range of prices on Amazon.com.

So is Dance A While.

I wish the demand for old books like this translated into a burgeoning interest in square dancing. But I fear it mostly translates into my paying very high prices for old square dance books.

Square Hoppers

The Square Hoppers square dance club was started in 1959. They will be celebrating their 46th anniversary with their annual Apple Pie Hoedown on Saturday, October 1, 2005. The dance will take place at John Muir School on Branham Lane in San Jose. Club caller Larry Davenport will call the squares, and Wendy-Jean Iannico will cue the rounds.

The club was started in 1959 as an IBM club with Bill Peters as caller. He gave this club its name, and called for 28 years. Ken Kenmille, the second caller, was with the club 12 years. Larry Davenport is has been the club caller since 2000.

The club presently has about four squares that dance on Thursday evenings in Los Gatos. They run a beginners class every year. September 29, 2005 is the 3rd night of introductory classes for the 2005-2006 season. The class is open to couples and singles. It runs from 7:00 PM to 8:30 pm. Then the club dances the full Plus level until 10:00 pm.

In addition to the Apple Pie Hoedown, the club also has an annual picnic and a Christmas dinner each year.

Square Hoppers has a web site:
http://www.mixed-up.com/squarehoppers/

Club of the week: Stanford Quads

by Mark Brautigam

I learned to dance at a small Mainstream-level club in south San Jose. When it came time that I should learn Plus, someone in that club suggested I should try Stanford Quads. This was a club where I could not only learn Plus, but I could re-learn everything from an APD perspective. (APD stands for All Position Dancing, a mode of dancing that allows a larger repertoire of dancing formations.)

When I started at Quads in the fall of 1986, they held three introductory nights on the deck outside the student union on the Stanford campus. It was fun dancing on the cement outside, dragging unsuspecting passers-by into the squares. After the intro nights, the club danced in the Old Student Union ballroom, a wonderful room with space for about ten squares on a wood floor, barre along the side walls and mirrors on the back wall. There was also a back room with couches where dancers could relax between tips.

Quads was always a peculiar club. Their classes included many students and even some faculty. Square dance attire was never required. Early on, the club always had more men than women in attendance. This required (or allowed) men to practice dancing as women. Of course, it wouldn't be fair if women couldn't therefore also dance as men. While caller John Sybalsky faithfully taught all his classes from an APD point of view, the ability of dancers to freely swap gender roles allowed reinforcement of the principles of APD.

Many challenge-level dancers enjoyed dancing at Quads. John almost always called multiple star tips after the Plus dance, especially during the summer after the beginner class had already graduated. Star tips frequently included A1, A2, C1, and C2. On rare occasions higher-level dancers would attend, and there might be C3 or C4 star tips. I recall one occasion during my first year at Quads that a large group of strangers showed up. They wore matching t-shirts with a spiral of stars, an arrow, and a sign saying "You are here." I called them the Space People. I quickly learned that they were great dancers and they could fix any problem in my square. Years later I learned that they were C4 dancers attending an annual C4 dance nearby.

Many of the bay area's best challenge-level dancers have had some association with Stanford Quads, either having started dancing there, or having practiced advanced and challenge dancing at the star tips there.

After John Sybalsky moved here from Massachusetts around 1980, he started Stanford Quads as a club modeled after the already-successful Tech Squares of MIT. John was already a notable C4 caller who had taught a series of C3 classes before moving to the west coast. The club hosted two beginner classes during the 1983-1984 season, and has hosted a beginner class every fall since then. The class of 2005-2006 will be 24th class. John is a thorough but patient teacher who makes sure the class members are more than well prepared for the "real world" of Plus hoedowns.

Stanford Quads had to move off the Stanford campus after the earthquake of 1989 damaged the Old Union building. Since early 1990, they've been dancing at Fairmeadow School, near East Meadow and Middlefield in Palo Alto.

In 1996, cuer John Flora started teaching and cueing rounds at Quads. After seeing the early days of jeans and t-shirts, bare feet, and cross-sex dancing, round dancing seemed an unlikely direction for the club to take. But club members took to round dancing with the same enthusiasm they had for square dancing, and soon almost everyone had learned.

The highlight of the year for Quads members is the annual hoedown, which used to take place in early June right after class graduation, but now takes place in late September just before new beginner classes start. This year's hoedown takes place September 24, 2005, at St. Andrews Methodist Church on Alma Street in Palo Alto. A fun feature of the Quads hoedown is the full hour of star tips at the end. Even if you don't dance the higher levels, they can be fun to watch. Star tips start at A1 and continue up the levels until there are not enough dancers to field a square. As far as I recall, there has been only one year that failed to field a C4 square. Of course, the hoedown now also includes John Flora cueing pre-rounds and rounds between tips.

Stanford Quads has a web page here:
http://www.mixed-up.com/quads/

There is more club history here:
http://www.mixed-up.com/quads/articles/about-quads.html

There is a hoedown flier (PDF) here:
http://www.mixed-up.com/quads/quads-hoedown-05.pdf

New beginner classes start October 2, 2005. There is a class flier (PDF) here:
http://www.mixed-up.com/quads/quads_flyer_2005-1.pdf

Square Dancers for Katrina

by Tony Oxendine

It is time for square dancers world wide to unite. Together, we can make a difference. Over the years, square dancers have shown themselves to be some of the most caring people in the world.

Our goal is to send a check and truckloads of supplies to the affected areas on October 3, 2005. We will be in contact with FEMA to find out exactly where to deliver everything, and to determine what organization(s) to give the monies collected. Our goal is to send at least one semi-truck full of supplies and to hand over a check for ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

We will be updating the website www.squaredancers4katrina.org on a daily basis to keep everyone abreast of our progress. Please check the site often. We need to get the word out quickly to as many square dancers worldwide as we possible can. If you have a website, please post a prominent link to ours on your page. If possible, send this letter out to any friends you have on the internet.

http://www.squaredancers4katrina.org/

Square Dance History in the U.S.

The square dance is an American institution. It began in New England when the first settlers and the immigrant groups that followed, brought with them their various national dances, which we now call folk dances, but which were the popular dances of the day in the countries of their origin - the schottische, the quadrille, the jigs and reels and the minuet, to name a few. After a week of toil in building new homes and carving homes out of virgin forest, the settlers would gather in the community center on Saturday evening and enjoy dancing their old-world favorites.

http://www.dosado.com/articles/hist-maca.html

Berlin Square Dancers Do-Si-Do to 'YMCA' (1998)

Christian Science Monitor (1998)

by Mary Beth Warner

The normal quiet of a Sunday spring evening in the German capital was broken recently by all the whooping and hollering down at the White Rose recreation center. Lofting from the basement windows are calls of "yee-hah" and "do-si-do," as dozens of feet slide across the parquet floor. Due to the cramped, temporary quarters, the 30-odd T-shirt and jeans-clad dancers aren't outfitted in their traditional garb, including full petticoats for the women and Western-style shirts with bolo ties for the men. About 100 people in all belong to the Berlin Swinging Bears, just one of the city's nearly dozen square dance clubs.

Square dancing was brought to Germany and other European countries by American military personnel after World War II. At first, Germans could only go to dances on US bases if they were invited by local servicemen or women. As its popularity grew, Germans began forming their own clubs.

http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/1998/05/14/fp8s2-cs
m.htm

Square Dance ABC

Square Dance ABC is an introduction to today's square dancing.

Enjoy three fun, easy beginner square dances with no experience necessary.

The A, B, and C dances can be experienced in any order. (This is the main difference between Square Dance ABC and traditional "lesson-based" approaches. You can do the three beginner dances in any order.)

New dancers can start Square Dance ABC at any time (and all the time)!

After attending the individual A, B and C dances, dancers have learned 22 square dance calls. The next step is the combined "ABC" dance featuring the 22 calls. New dancers and their friends can join Square Dance ABC at any time by dancing the individual A, B and C dances in any order. Square Dance ABC spells an easy way for people to try square dancing at any time, with little or no commitment but with lots of opportunity for Fun, Fitness and Friends!

Rio Grande Valley Callers Association

Doug Bennett
Larry Letson
Darryl Lipscomb
Joe Saltel
Nasser Shukayr
Jerry Story

http://www.squaredanceabc.com/

Starlite Stumblers

By George V. Schubel

It all started at the New Dancer dance hosted by the new dancer class of the Starlite Shufflers’ square dance club of Sacramento, California. Three club members (Joyce, Sharon and Betty) asked my wife Patty and I if we would like to join the Starlite Shufflers’ comedy demonstration team, the Starlite Stumblers. I knew they wore a big sack over their heads and it was sure to be hot in there. I get very hot when I dance even without a sack over my head. In fact I think most of the club members knew me as the new guy who always fans himself before they even knew my name.

To get ready for out first performance we would have five Sunday afternoon practice sessions. The first two would be in regular street clothes; the next practice would add the swim flippers. Then there would be one with the sack over my head and the flippers and the last practice would be in full costume with the sack, the jacket with the fake stuffed arms and of course the swim flippers. The large burlap sack had a face on it and the costume made you look like you were 4 feet tall.

Roy and Evelyn, past Stumblers, gave us a beautiful set of matching costumes. I could not resist trying mine on in my house. On went the flippers; over my head went the comic sack head. Inside the sack I held onto the plastic pipe that held up the sack. Patty fastened the fancy jacket with the great false arms around my waist. I tried to walk around in the house, but right off I stepped on the dog and banged into the walls a few times. No doubt about it, I was getting the hang of this. This will be a piece of cake.

http://squaredancehumor.blogspot.com/

Wheaton College lifts 143-year dance ban (2003)

CNN

Wheaton College is a Christian school that had not allowed social dancing since the war.

The Civil War.

For generations, students were barred from dancing -- on campus or off -- unless it was with members of the same sex or a square dance. It was not until the 1990s that students and faculty were permitted to dance with spouses or relatives at family events such as weddings.

Nine months ago, the school lifted the ban altogether, freeing students to cut the rug on campus or off, at Chicago clubs or other places. Under the new set of rules, called the Community Covenant, students may dance, but should avoid behavior "which may be immodest, sinfully erotic or harmfully violent."

Judging by what happened at a recent dance in the gym, meeting those criteria will not be a problem. There was no slithering going on, only students, some about as rigid as rakes, watching their feet as they tried to master some basic steps.

"They had a lot of fun, but they kind of approached it from almost an academic standpoint," said Rich Nickel, a local dance instructor who helped get the students ready for the Rhythm Rockets' lineup, which will feature such standards as "Sentimental Journey" and "Sunny Side of the Street."

All of which led one parent to remark: "They MAY dance at Wheaton. Whether they CAN dance is another question."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/11/14/wheaton.dance.ap/

Do-Si-Do Fitness (2001)

Web MD

By Denise Mann

With all its moving, twisting, and turning, square dancing provides more than the daily dose of heart- and bone-healthy physical activity. Remembering all the calls -- from "do-si-do" to 'alemand' -- keeps the mind sharp, potentially staving off age-related memory loss, experts say. And the companionship that regular square dancing offers is an antidote to depression and loneliness, a statement confirmed by square-dancing advocates everywhere.

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/11/1676_53041

Oregon honors square dance leader on state quarter

by Hugh Noes, Staff Correspondent

The state of Oregon has selected the portrait of a famous square dancer to appear on their state quarter. They are doing so to celebrate the return of the National Square Dance Convention to Portland on June 22, 2005. The state quarter is being released on June 15.

Thanks to a generous donation by the Portland Oregon Visitor's Association, the NSDC will be able to share this piece of Oregon with registered delegates. Each registration packet will contain one Oregon quarter, along with a brief explanatory note card.

Most state quarter fans look at the wrong side of the coin, the side where bureaucrats use Powerpoint to combine clip-art images of flags, banjos, and birds into insufferable montages of state symbols. In the case of the Oregon quarter, this side consists of a rendering of Crater Lake. This drawing, while better than average for the state quarter series, is really a depiction of a big hole in the ground. This is hardly as scenic as ... um, well ... trying to think of a more scenic Oregon location but coming up blank. Back to that later.

Still, Oregon had the hindsight to select for the "other" side of the coin the greatest influence on square dancing this country has ever known. Few are aware that the "Father of our Country," and our first President, George "Pappy" Washington, was also the one who introduced square dancing into America. After the revolution, he wanted to create a dance form that combined the Schottishes and Quadrilles of the old country, but put a uniqely American stamp on them that would establish the new country's dance identity.

Washington's success was evident in the summer dances he hosted on the large lawn that would eventually become the National Mall. (This was before the Washington Monument was built, of course.) The dances were well attended, and sometimes the hotels could not accommodate the large crowds. In those cases, the President would open the Lincoln Bedroom and other White House facilities for use by the square dancers.

Bound for Portland

The 54th National Square Dance Convention takes place this week in Portland. It starts Wednesday, June 22, 2005 and runs through Saturday, June 25. Dancing is at the Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd., Portland, Oregon.

The National Square Dance Convention® is the largest single gathering of square dancers anywhere in the world. The most recent convention, the 53nd NSDC in Denver, Colorado, gathered more than 8,500 dancers from every state and more than 20 countries. The first National Square Dance Convention was held in 1952 in Riverside, California.

Portland last hosted the National Square Dance Convention® in 1994. At 21,700 attendees, it remains the second largest convention ever held in the Rose City.

The convention boasts separate halls for Mainstream, Plus with Rounds, Plus (without Rounds), A1, A2, Challenge (C1-C3), Youth, and Handicapable. In addition, there will be three separate halls for Round Dancing (combined for dance parties), two halls for Clogging, and two halls for Contra Dancing.

The bulk of pre-registered attendees hail from Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, and Texas. There are also sizeable groups traveling from as far away as Denmark, Germany, and Taiwan.

Callers include our local Bay Area favorites Bob Elling, Keith Ferguson, Eric Henerlau, Jay Klassen, Andy Shore, and Roger Smith. Round dance cuers include locals Sue Harris, Sharon Parker, and Kenji Shibata, and favorites Kristine Nelson and Ron Noble.

You can find out everything you need to know about convention here:
http://www.54nsdc.com

Guestbook again ... sigh

The guestbook has only been online for less than 24 hours, and already it's being spammed again. I've had three spams and no real signers since the guestbook went online last night.

I did find an interesting reason why one might spam a guestbook:
http://www.junkeater.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2

This article also has a suggestion for fixing it. I'll try it, but I'm not convinced that it worked this way in my case. I just don't think Google got a hold of my page that quickly. Unless I'm much more popular with them than I thought.

Guestbook back online

The Mixed-Up site guestbook is back online after a hiatus of about 18 months. There have been no new entries allowed since the end of 2003, but I did manually enter one person's email in the middle of 2004.

I had this terrible problem where people were spamming my guestbook with links to pornography and stupid advertising. I didn't realize this because the guestbook was not sending me any emails. It is supposed to send me email every time someone signs the guestbook, so that I can thank them for their time.

However, after changing servers in early 2002, that mechanism stopped working and I did not even know it. (For the technically inclined, this had to do with ownership of the processes running on the server. I eventually had to fix other similar problems by specifying the full path of each program to be run. This is because the new server is unaware of my path or any path.)

I delayed fixing this problem because I wanted to put something much more robust in place. Now, if anyone puts garbage in my guestbook, I can remove it by just clicking.

Why do people do this? I guess they do it for the same reason they fill my email box with spam. How many spam emails do you get? I bet I get more than you. I have two levels of spam filtering ... one at the ISP, and another on my computer at home. The ISP uses SpamAssassin and it's not bad. It probably catches about 90-95% of the spam addressed to me. I'm not sure exactly how many emails that is, but I have a background process that deletes the file every six hours, and it's usually about 1 megabyte. So that's about 4 megabytes of spam every day.

The second level takes place on my computer. I have given my email program (Eudora, it's fantastic) a huge set of rules that catch most spam. It catches any emails that originate in Argentina, Germany, Estonia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, and certain set of IP addresses. It also looks for emails with certain familiar subjects, and emails that have bad attachments, like ZIP files and screen savers. Currently, I'm getting 1000-2000 spam emails per day. That's after SpamAssassin. I figure that before SpamAssassin I'm getting about 20,000 spam emails per day.

Those of you with eagle eyes will notice that my Guestbook has been up this whole time. But, you have not been able to post to it directly. If you like the site, or if you have constructive criticism, the guestbook is the place to make your comments public.

http://www.mixed-up.com/guestbook/

Schwarzenegger asks for special election in support of support square dancing

By Jerry Manders, Night Riders Sacramento Bureau
Posted on Mon, Jun. 13, 2005

SACRAMENTO - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went on television statewide Monday to call a rare special election Nov. 8 and ask voters to stop the scourge of gerry-allemanding that has plagued the state for decades.

Gerry-allemanding is a form of redistricting that attempts to put certain undesirables such as square dancers, boy scouts, and Baptists together in the same electoral districts, while putting other undesirables such as movie stars, lawyers, and Congregationalists in other districts.

This ensures that certain districts are easily won by candidates of the Moral Retards party, while other districts are easily won by the Holier Than Thou party. The end result is that incumbent candidates retain their offices indefinitely, or until three strikes or term limits bar them from office.

Square dancers have long complained that gerry-allemanding puts them in districts where the local schools would rather rent space to anti-war demonstrators, drag queens, and tree huggers than to the local square dance club, which would like to put on a wholesome dance.

For example, Stanford Quads, a decidedly left-handed club, has always had difficultly finding a place to dance in a right-wing district.

By outlawing the plague of gerry-allemanding, Schwarzenegger hopes to give square dancers, ham radio operators, and gun owners much more freedom to practice their crazy hobbies.

Dance of the week: Krazy Dazys Newer Dancer

The Krazy Dazys sponsor a newer dancer hoedown this Saturday, June 18, 2005. Jim Osborne calls January-level squares from 8:00 until 10:15 pm.

The dance is held at a new location, American Musical Theater Studios, 1717 Technology Drive, San Jose. This is near the San Jose Airport. The Krazy Dazys have posted a map on their web site:
http://www.krazydazys.org/AMT.gif

The Krazy Dazys has been around since 1960. A few years ago they merged with the Gadabouts, another long-time San Jose club. Both clubs have always run beginner classes. This weekend's hoedown supports the Krazy Dazys' own January beginner class.

Krazy Dazys has a web site:
http://www.krazydazys.org/

Michael Jackson to take up square dancing

By Tennessee "Arkie Okie" Slim, Disassociated Press
Posted on Mon., Jun. 13, 2005

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - After a jury acquitted Michael Jackson of all charges on Monday, the embattled entertainer announced that he now intends to take up square dancing as a hobby. Experts have always affirmed that square dancing is a great stress reliever. Jackson spent several days over the last two weeks in emergency rooms with various stress-related ailments.

"I heard that when you go out square dancing, you can take four different people home in just ten minutes," Jackson said, a practice he described as "sweet and not at all sexual."

Screams of joy rang out among a throng of fans outside the courthouse. Fans jumped up and down, hugged each other and threw confetti in celebration of the news.

Some have described Jackson as a humanitarian who wanted to protect kids and give them the life he never had while growing up as a child star. By joining a local central California family square dance club, the "Blue Tail Flies," Jackson hopes to continue being a positive influence on children.

Jackson decided to take part in square dancing because he hoped it would help his image after years of eccentric behavior that included transforming his face through plastic surgery. But not all agreed this would have the intended effect.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon sat with his head in his hands. "Square dancing has always attracted its share of weirdos, and Michael Jackson certainly fits right in."

The singer's record label, Epic, has not indicated whether Jackson will record a country album.

Other Michael Jackson news:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/11883125.htm

Club of the week: Sunnyvale Singles

Single Squares of Sunnyvale is one of the largest square dance clubs in the Santa Clara Valley. Six to seven squares dance weekly on Thursday nights at the Murphy Park clubhouse in Sunnyvale. Dancing starts with one half hour of pre-rounds at 7:30, cued by Jim Chico, followed by six or seven tips of Plus level dancing from 8:00 until 10:00, called by Jake Shimada.

Club History

Sunnyvale Singles started in 1957. According to a former member, the club was started by a group of single ballroom dancers. Past callers include Brad Bradford, Bill Davis, Gary Carnes, Scot Slocum, and Ken Carroll. The club has had round dancing from the very beginning. Past cuers include Barbara Bradford, Jim Turner, Larry Segal, and Craig Rice.

The group has had more than 3000 members over the years. The Sweethearts list alone has 492 names of those who married other club members. (This does not include club members who married class members.)

The club has danced at a number of locations, but mainly at Ellis School in Sunnyvale in the 60's and 70's, and Blackford High School in San Jose in the 80's and early 90's.

Former members include callers Ken Kenmille, Jay Klassen, and Ben Goldberg, and cuers Jim Turner, Larry Segal, and Craig Rice.

Past President Joe Carboni says that in the late 80's and early 90's the club had about 400 members, and was considered the largest singles club in the USA. Current membership is about 80 people. The only other valley club of comparable size is nearby Palo Alto club Bows and Beaus.

Beginner Classes

The club also hold classes weekly on Tuesday nights at the same location. Roger Smith is the class teacher. The club runs three beginner classes every year, starting in September, January, and May. Classes last eight months, so each new group overlaps and interacts with the previous group and the next group. One group learns Mainstream from 7:00-8:30 pm, and the second group learns Plus from 8:30-10:00 pm, in separate sessions on the same evening. Plus class members are encouraged to assist with the Mainstream class. This gives them a refresher on the previous calls.

Josie Baumgarner says the new class format works well because class members often bring their friends to the next class and do not have to wait a year. They can become angels to their friends. Also if a person has to miss and can't keep up, they can restart in a short time. The classes also get many people who danced before and do not want to start from the beginning. They can start with the phase 2 class and pick up their dancing skill fast to rejoin the club.

Annual Hoedowns

Sunnyvale Singles sponsors three special hoedowns every year. Spring Fling, a September-level newer dancer hoedown, is held every year in March. The Strawberry Festival is a Plus-level dance held every June. Cactus Jack is a Plus-level dance held every November.

The group also holds other special dances. The largest is the Sweetheart dance held every February near Valentine's Day. On this special club night, former members who met in the club and have married are invited to return for a grand party. This evening forms a kind of reunion for many former club members, and out come the photo albums going back 30 years or more.

A Place For Singles

The club membership consists of single dancers, but they invite all dancers, single or married, to join them every Thursday evening in Sunnyvale for grand evening of dancing.

With a smile, Joe Carboni says Sunnyvale Singles is an ideal place for singles to meet, dance, and have fun in a friendly atmosphere, but it has one drawback, you must learn to square dance.

Board member Ellie Wierenga says the club schedules monthly non-dancing social events. These might include potlucks, rafting trips, whale watching, theater plays, ball games and anything else that might be of interest to members and friends.

Strawberry Fesival

This year, the Strawberry Festival takes place on Saturday June 11, 2005. Eric Henerlau is calling the squares, and Jim Chico is cueing the rounds.

You can find out more about Single Squares of Sunnyvale on their web site: http://www.singlesquaresofsunnyvale.org/

Square Dancing...in Space?

by Paul Asente

Hello earth dancers! El Camino Reelers wants to invite you all to Star Thru the Silicon Galaxy, the 22nd annual convention of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs!

We'll be transforming the Santa Clara Marriott over the July 4th weekend into an intergalactic space portal for a weekend of dancing and excitement. There will be 6 full-time halls running from the morning of Saturday, July 2, through the evening of Monday, July 4: Mainstream, Plus, Advanced, C1, C2, and C3AC3BC4. All dancing will be on professional dance floors--no carpet.

We're very pleased to feature a calling staff of intergalactic super-stars! Dance to Saundra Bryant, Vic Ceder, Andy Finch, Rob French, Neil Heather, Mike Jacobs, Michael Kellogg, Kiyoshi Kikuchi, Andy Shore, Anne Uebelacker, Dave Wilson, and Bronc Wise. We're especially happy to be bringing Andy Shore back from Florida for the weekend, and for challenge dancers, Kiyoshi will be bringing his special kind of magic all the way from Japan.

Almost everyone is welcome! We're asking the three-eyed slime beasts from Nebulon 7 to stay away, but other than that, we welcome aliens and humans, robots and organic beings, women and men, youths and adults. However, those caught teleporting between squares or implanting mind parasites will be severely dealt with.

Even if you're not able to join us for the full weekend, we hope you'll come to our free Trail-In Dance on Friday, July 1, from 7:00 to 10:00. Dance to Saundra Bryant, Mike Jacobs, Andy Shore, and Bronc Wise for nonstop dancing at Mainstream through Advanced, with C1 star tips. This dance is being sponsored by All Join Hands Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting, and educating about gay and lesbian square dancing. Day rates are also available, and full information on the Trail-in Dance and day rates and hours can be found on our web page. Please plan to carpool, because the Marriott charges $6 to park for non-registered guests. The Grand March (which you're welcome to participate in) will be at 5:00 on July 2.

Square dance attire is optional at all sessions, although people usually dress up for the Grand March.

Full registration includes all three days of dancing, a banquet, brunch, very special free gifts, and admission to after-hours entertainment. Not to be missed is the annual Honky-Tonk Queen contest, an extravaganza of bad drag and even worse taste!

If you have a few days before convention, we'll be holding tours to Yosemite, Monterey, Santa Cruz, the Winchester Mystery House, and other places. Some guerrilla square dancing almost always springs up during these tours!

You can find lots more information, sign up for tours, and register on-line at our web site, http://www.silicongalaxy.org. Or call 650-747-0622 and we'll send you a registration form or answer any questions you may have.

So please come join us...we're hosting dancers from Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States...and beyond!

(Article reprinted from The Prompter with the permission of Paul Asente)

Dance of the week: Strawberry Festival

Sunnyvale Singles present their annual Strawberry Festival this coming Saturday, June 11, 2005. The energetic Eric Henerlau will call the squares, and local favorites Jim and Adele Chico will cue the rounds.

Pre-rounds start at 7:30 pm; Plus squares start at 8:00 pm.

The dance takes place at at John Muir Middle School, 1260 Branham Lane, San Jose.

Sunnyvale Singles has their own web site here:
http://www.singlesquaresofsunnyvale.org/

Challenge dance of the week: Vic Ceder at TNTs

The incomparable Vic Ceder calls a weekend of Challenge and Plus dancing in the Sacramento area, June 3-5, 2005. The dances take place at Royer Park in Roseville and Cook's Barn in Orangevale. Vic calls sessions of C1, C2, and C3A. He also shares the stage with cuer Win Robinson for a special Plus level dance on Saturday evening.

Vic Ceder is an internationally-known challenge-level caller who was on staff at the National Advanced and Challenge Convention for many years. He also calls for a Plus-level club in his home area of Santa Barbara.

Vic and Debbie also publish the popular and highly regarded Ceder Chest series of square dance manuals.

Friday June 3 at Cook's Barn
   7:00 - 8:00  .... C3A
   8:00 -10:00  .... C2


Saturday June 4 at Royer Park
  10:30 -  1:00 .... C1
   2:30 -  5:00 .... C1
   7:00 -  8:00 .... Pre-rounds
   8:00 - 11:00 .... Plus


Sunday June 5 at Cook's Barn
  10:30 - 1:00 .... C3A w/C3B star tips
   2:30 - 5:00 .... C3A w/C3B star tips

http://www.mixed-up.com/cgi-bin/calendar/search?C=A&search=dynamite

Dance of the week: Ice Cream Fling Thing

Since 1973 local square dancers have welcomed the month of June by attending the Ice Cream Fling Thing, the Anniversary Dance of the Bows & Beaus. Held the first Saturday of June, this year's dance will be on June 4 at 7:45 p.m. at Cubberley Community Center in Palo Alto.

Callers for this dance will be perennial favorites Harold Fleeman and Jim Osborne. Sue and Phil Harris will start cueing pre-rounds at 7:45 pm. The evening will end with a tip of Hot Hash dancing.

Bows and Beaus has a web page here:
http://www.bowsandbeaus.org/

Here is an article with more information about Bows and Beaus:
http://www.mixed-up.com/markb/notebook/20050327a/

Challenge dance of the week: Golden State Round Up

Golden State Round Up features several popular local callers for their challenge dance program this year. The festival takes place Memorial Weekend, May 27-29, 2005 in Pleasanton.

This year, the festival takes place at a new venue, the Hilton Hotel in Pleasanton. Those who attended Round Up while it was in the Oakland Convention Center will remember how convenient it was to have the entire festival under one roof, both dance halls and hotel. Now in 2005 we'll get to have that same experience once again.

The challenge program features John Bowman, Pete Herman, Harlan Kerr, and John Sybalsky calling several hours each of C1, C2, C3A, and C3. You'll find a concise challenge dance schedule here.

For those so inclined, the weekend also features square dancing at all levels starting at Mainstream, with popular callers Bob Baier, Joe Saltel, and Dan Nordbye. There will also be round dancing at phases II through V. You'll find a complete dance schedule here.

Dance of the week: Golden State Round Up

If it's Memorial Weekend, it's time again for the annual Golden State Round Up. This year, the festival takes place at a new venue, the Hilton Hotel in Pleasanton, California. Featured callers include Bob Baier, Joe Saltel, and Dan Nordbye.

The Round Up is sponsored by The Northern California Square Dancers Association. NCSDA began in 1951, the same year the first National Square Dance Convention was held in southern California. NCSDA held its first Round Up on Memorial Day Weekend in 1954. The Round Up has been held in Oakland, San Francisco, and Pleasanton:

• From 1954 until 1973 the event was held at the Oakland Auditorium.
• From 1974 until 1983 it was held at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium.
• From 1984 until 1999 it was held at the Oakland Convention Center.
• From 2000 until 2004 it was held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton.
• In 2005, it has moved to the Hilton Hotel in Pleasanton.

Those who attended Round Up while it was in the Oakland Convention Center will remember how convenient it was to have the entire festival under one roof, both dance halls and hotel. Now in 2005 we'll get to have that same experience once again.

This year's festival includes five full-time dance halls: Mainstream, Plus, Advanced, Rounds, and Youth. There will be a part-time Challenge hall with dancing from C1 through C3. In addition, there will be Handicapable sessions on Saturday afternoon. You can find a complete schedule here.

Dance of the week: Jokers Luau

The Rockin' Jokers sponsor their annual Hawaiian Luau hoedown on Saturday, May 21, 2005. The caller is the popular Ernie Kinney.

The dance takes place at John Muir Middle School, 1260 Branham Lane, San Jose, CA.

The Rockin' Jokers is a new club that started May 1, 2005 as a merger between the Jokers and the Rafter Rockers square dance clubs.

The Rockin' Jokers has a web site: http://www.thejokers.org/

Club of the week: Jokers

The Jokers square dance club dances on Wednesday nights in Campbell. The club started dancing in October 1951 an unfinished store in the Quito Shopping Center. The first caller was Johnny White. Callers through the years include:

• Johnny White (1951-1978)
• Dick Lawrence (1978-1980)
• Johnny Robertson (1981-1982)
• Kip Garvey (1983-1987)
• Scott Slocum (1987-1990, 1992-1996)
• Doug Davis (1991-1992)
• Gary Carnes (1996-2000)
• Bob Elling (2000-2003)
• Roger Smith (2003-present)

The Jokers sponsor the Hawaiian Luau hoedown every year in May. This year, the dance will take place on May 21, 2005 at John Muir School.

Rockin' Jokers

The Jokers merged with the Rafter Rockers club on May 1, 2005. The new club name is Rockin' Jokers. Roger Smith is the caller for the newly-merged club. They hope to have eight to ten squares dancing weekly.

The new Rockin' Jokers dances at the American Legion Hall in Campbell.

Jokers has a web page at
www.thejokers.org/

Jokers has a club history posted at
www.thejokers.org/info.htm

This article has more information about Rafter Rockers:
http://www.mixed-up.com/markb/notebook/20050403a/

A Shocking Experience

We had an interesting tip at Silver State in Reno last weekend. We took an hour out of round dancing to dance in the A2 hall. We were right in the front. Bronc Wise was calling. We were dancing with Wayne and Donna and two other couples we did not know.

The floor was some kind of rubber material. Mary and I were wearing our round dance shoes. (Since the entire hotel is carpeted, it was easy to put on dance shoes in the room, then go anywhere we wanted, including the restaurants.)

Anyway, I found that we were getting shocks from each other while we square danced. Or more accurately, everyone was getting shocks from me (and from whoever I had most recently touched). Figuring that the round dance shoes were a problem, I took them off. One at a time. While Bronc was calling and we were dancing.

It didn't help. It made things worse. We almost started dancing "no hands." I figured the socks were the problem. So I took them off. Again while dancing. Bronc never missed a beat and neither did our square, but I was rushing to catch up for a few calls.

Now things were impossible! The shocks were the worst! What could I do? We were all laughing and screaming at the same time. No one wanted to touch me. Now the hard part. I decided to put the shoes back on, but there was no time to put on the socks first. I got one shoe on, still dancing, carrying the other shoe with me. I couldn't get it on. Dancing with one shoe on, one shoe half on, both laces untied.

But this solved the problem ... no more shocks. Don't ask me to explain why. Polyester socks, maybe?

I guess it wasn't that bad. One of the couples had so much fun they got in our next square ... which wasn't nearly as exciting, but still fun.

Challenge dance of the week: Barry Clasper at PACE

Northern California PACE hosts Barry Clasper for a weekend of challenge dancing at all levels from C1 to C4. The dance takes place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday May 13-15, 2005.

Here is the schedule:

Friday    8:00 pm C1
Saturday 10:30 am C2
Saturday  2:30 pm C2
Saturday  7:30 pm C4
Sunday   10:30 am C3A
Sunday    2:30 pm C3

Dancing takes place at Oak Park Center, 1700 Oak Park Blvd in Pleasant Hill.

The PACE web site has a schedule of future events, a PDF flier, and a map with directions.

Stay tuned to the PACE web site for more news about changes in upcoming callers and a possible change of location.

Dance of the week: Black and White Ball

The Krazy Dazys sponsor their annual Black and White Ball this Saturday, May 14, 2005. Jim Osborne calls Plus level squares from 8:00 until 10:30 pm.

Chuck Hurst cues pre-rounds from 7:30 until 8:00 pm.

There will be an Advanced level star tip at 10:30 pm.

The dance is held at John Muir Middle School, 1260 Branham Lane, in south San Jose (near Almaden Expressway).

Krazy Dazys has a web site:
http://www.krazydazys.org/

They have posted a flier for their dance:
http://www.krazydazys.org/BandW-5-05.html

Club of the week: Lucky Steppers

The Lucky Steppers square dance club has been a fixture on the square dance scene since 1958. They meet in of Santa Cruz on Thursday nights. The club is well known for hosting a series of slab dances in Ben Lomond (in the Santa Cruz mountains) every summer.

According to club president DeAnne Alcorn, the club started when one of the charter members was going stir crazy with two kids at home, and her husband needed to learn to have fun. They knew and contacted Harold Furlong, who was a young, avid dancer and caller. They got a group together and after 15 weeks were declared accomplished square and round dancers.

Harold Furlong called for about ten years, after which Ernie Trimpey called for a short time. Harold Fleeman has been calling for the club since 1967, which might make him the longest-lasting caller in the area.

The club currently has about 30 members. They try to hold a beginner class every year, which is not always easy. In a situation that has become increasingly typical, last year they had several false starts before getting a full square of beginners. The club accepts all beginners, of any age, singles or couples. The club is always supportive of the newer dancers. Caller Harold Fleeman and several dancers attended the Sunnyvale Singles Spring Fling newer dancer hoedown recently.

Thursday evening club nights start with a round dance teach by Sue and Phil Harris. The remainder of the evening is split between the square dance teach and club-level dancing.

Lucky Steppers hosts several dances every year. In July and August they host the popular series of slab dances in Ben Lomond. These include the club's anniversary dance in July, and a special A2 level dance in August. In 2005, the anniversary dance takes place on July 23, and the other dances take place on each of the four Saturday evenings in August.

The club also invites everyone to their annual Toy Dance, this year to be held Thursday, December 1, 2005. All proceeds go to the Salvation Army.

During the class season, Lucky Steppers sponsors a September-level newer dancer hoedown and a January-level hoedown. This year, the January class hoedown takes place on May 7, 2005 at John Muir School in San Jose.

For more information:
Newer Dancer Hoedowns in San Jose
Lucky Steppers Web Page

300 New Square Dance events posted to calendar

Added 300 new events to the online calendar.

From these sources:

• GMCA
• MACA
• C-Gulls
• Importers
• Scandanavia Challenge Site
• Denmark Advanced & Challenge Site
• ASDSC Calendar (Northern California)
• Ventura County Calendar (Southern California)
• San Diego Calendar
• IAGSDC Calendar
• Lawrence Johnstone's calendar of "Dances North of the Bay" (Northern California)

Happy dancing! Check out the calendar here:
http://www.mixed-up.com/calendar/

Dance of the week: SCVSDA Wing Ding

SCVSDA holds the next of its series of 5th Saturday dances this weekend, April 30, 2005. The dance features local callers Robert Algea, Harold Fleeman, Diane Gaskill, Rich Gierman, Al Knoppe, Jim Osborne, Ruth Riegelhaupt-Herzig, Jerry Silverstein, Roger Smith, Jill Sybalsky.

Wendy Jean Iannico will cue rounds.

Future SCVSDA 5th Saturday dances will take place July 30 and October 20, 2005.

Dances in 2006 will take place on April 29, July 29, September 30, and December 30.

All dances are held at John Muir Middle School in San Jose, CA.

For more information:
www.scvsda.org

Square Dancing By The Numbers, Part 2

Trying to find information about local square dancing history on the internet can be frustrating. It's a question of economics. Why would a square dance club waste time and energy on fostering a sense of history, when they could be putting that same energy into promotion of new classes, new methods, and new ideas?

The SCVSDA web site, which covers my local area, has online a copy of their original 1958 bylaws. This document lists the 20-some charter member clubs of the association. Unfortunately, only four of those clubs still exist today. Two of them will merge into one club at the first of May, and one is now a part of the NCSDA organization instead. This leaves, as of May 1, 2005, only two clubs remaining from the orginal 20 charter members.

This is a sad situation, but it really doesn't say a lot about the state of square dancing. Clubs come and go, merge and split, change levels and affilliations, and change their names. It may very well be that some of SCVSDA's "lost" charter member clubs still exist under different names. A chronicle of square dance history would answer those questions. The fact that these clubs have been "lost" does not spell the demise of square dancing but a merely our poverty of good record-keeping.

The NCSDA web site lists dates for many of their member clubs. It is not clear whether these dates represent the founding dates of the clubs or the dates when they joined the association. For the purposes of this article, I assume that it doesn't matter. But NCSDA has done a little of the good record-keeping for us. Hooray!

The table below shows some dates when square dancing clubs or organizations were formed in California. The first California association appears to be the Western Square Dance Association, which is one of several associations that now cover the Los Angeles area. Perhaps not coincidentally, this happened at about the time that some historians say square dancing was considered a nationwide "fad" about to disappear. Unfortunately for the prognosicators, square dancing was still yet to enter its heyday. In 1948, Ed Gilmore was just getting started with his "new style" of square dancing that replaced the traditional "visiting" style of pre-choreographed routines with "hash" that was choreographed and called on the fly. Many of these clubs that formed in the late 1940s and early 1950s presumably used the old "visiting" style of dancing, where couple #1 interacts first with couple #2, then with couple #3, and on around the square. Ed Gilmore was based in southern California, and it's not likely that the new "hash" style of dancing spread into northern Califonia that quickly.

Gilroy Gliders celebrated their 50th anniversary hoedown in 1999, which places their inception around 1949. This makes them the oldest California square dance club still existing today. At least according to the meager information available to me. Goldancers in Nevada City followed the next year. Why would the earliest clubs be in rural places like Gilroy and Nevada City? Again, there were many other clubs forming around this time, but for most of them either records were not kept, or the clubs do not survive to today.

The California Square Dance Council was formed in 1950 as an association of southern California square dance clubs, but as more associations were formed in other areas, by 1958 they had taken on the role of an umbrella organization to facilitate communication among the other associations.

The Northern California Square Dance Association (NCSDA) was the first square dance association in this general area, formed in 1951. Associated Square Dancers of Superior California (ASDSC), which covers the Sacramento area, came a couple of years later. The Santa Clara Valley Square Dancers Association (SCVSDA) came relatively late, in 1958. I tentatively date the Valley Associated Square Dancers (VASD) at around the same time, because the first Squar-Rama was held in 1958.

Meanwhile, the first National Square Dance Convention was held in Riverside in 1951. This indicates the extreme popularity of square dancing at this early date. It also shows that 1951 was probably close to the pivotal time when square dancing tilted definitively towards the new "hash" style of calling. And finally, it shows the importance of southern California in the growth of the new square dance movement. Most of the new "hash" callers and "sight" callers came out of southern California.

It should be obvious from the table that the 1950s and 1960s were the heyday of square dancing. To my mind, this explains more than anything the emphasis on 1950s-type attire even today. To try to explain this emphasis on 1950s US pop culture in terms of the French affection for flowing skirts when doing Quadrilles is evasive at best. That might explain petticoats, but what about snap buttons? The western style was popular during the 1930s and 1940s, in music, clothing, children's toys, and other facets of pop culture. Call it a romanticization of the dust bowl and Route 66. Call it a reaction against the flappers of the 1920s and the ostentaciousness of the Gatsbys. Petticoats came along later, in the 1950s.

There's no question that the formation of new square dance clubs fell off dramatically in the 1970s and has not regained its momentum since. But the record has an interesting pattern. Since 1969, starting with Silver Buckles, almost all of the new clubs were specialty clubs of one kind or another: youth, singles, family, gay, and handicapable.

The first gay square dance clubs were started in the late 1970s, and in the early 1980s they came to California (and everywhere else). Western Star was the first club in the state, in 1982, followed only two years later by the formation of the national association (later international).

The formation of clubs for these specialty groups may show that the 1950s pop culture is losing its grip on the future of square dancing. There is no question that the future of square dancing lies with these kinds of groups. This is evident in the very nature of these groups. The couples clubs of the 1950s by definition exclude singles, gay people, and children. But most singles clubs allow couples to dance, most gay clubs allow straight people to dance, and most youth clubs positively encourage parents and families to attend.

The most promising new type of club is the club for "families." These generally encourage anyone to attend - singles, couples, youth, and entire families. Some even accommodate small children.

In general, the future of square dancing lies with the younger people. Any club where a youngster can learn to dance is a club that has a future and contributes to the future of square dancing. Whether these be family or youth clubs is not important.

Also, the gay clubs tend to have a younger membership than the straight clubs, so their influence on the square dancing of the future may be larger than we might otherwise expect.

What is interesting is that square dancing, an icon and purveyor of 1950s pop culture, is evolving into something more inclusive and is adapting to changing societal conditions. An activity that was designed for young petticoated-and-snap-buttoned couples has evolved to meet the needs of singles, then youth, then families, then gay people, and most recently the handicapable.

Who knows which group will rise up next to carry the torch of square dancing? Maybe square dancing is even ready for the public schools again.

Challenge dance of the week: Midnight Squares

Rob French calls a C2 and C3A dance for Midnight Squares on Sunday afternoon, April 24, 2005, from 4:00-6:00 pm.

The club also hosts its usual A2 and C1 class sessions that same day from 1:00-4:00 pm.

Advanced dance of the week: Walk and Dodge Into Spring

El Camino Reelers hosts caller Pat Carnathan of San Diego for their Spring dance, April 23, 2005 at St. Andrews Methodist Church in Palo Alto. The church is located at 4111 Alma Street. The dance will alternate Plus and A2 tips.

For more information:
El Camino Reelers web page, includes a link to a PDF flier.

Dance of the week: Walk and Dodge Into Spring

El Camino Reelers hosts caller Pat Carnathan of San Diego for their Spring dance, April 23, 2005 at St. Andrews Methodist Church in Palo Alto. The church is located at 4111 Alma Street. The dance will alternate Plus and A2 tips.

For more information:
El Camino Reelers web page, includes a link to a PDF flier.

Club of the week: El Camino Reelers

El Camino Reelers is proud of almost 20 years of dancing in the South Bay. The club was founded in 1985 as an alternative to the gay square dance clubs located an hour away in San Francisco.

Regular club dancing is every Wednesday from 7:30 to 9:30 at St. Andrew's Methodist Church in Palo Alto. The church is located at 4111 Alma Street. The club provides a smoke-free and alcohol-free environment for gay men and lesbians to meet each other and socialize. The club welcomes everybody to dance, regardless of orientation.

Each year the club holds a beginner class. Intro nights are typically in September with lessons starting early October.

Gay Square Dancing

Despite traditional gender roles typically associated with square dancing, hoedowns have become a hit among Bay Area gays and lesbians who find it a fun way to socialize and meet new people.

Gay dance clubs also attract some straight dancers who dislike the dress code and "couples only" rules of mainstream square dancing.

The average age of mainstream square dancers is about 65, but the average age of dancers in gay and lesbian clubs is closer to 35. Hence the energy level tends to be higher in gay square dancing.

Some other differences between gay square dancing and other square dancing include:

• Gay square dancing has no dress code.
• Gay square dancing has no partner requirement. It is acceptable in a gay club to square up alone then raise a hand to indicate that you need a partner.
• Gay square dancing has its own particular styling variations and sound effects.
• Instead of round dancing, a gay square dance may have square dancing at alternating levels (beginner and Plus, or Plus and Advanced) throughout the evening.
• And of course, some men will dance the "girl" part and some women will dance the "boy" part. Or as the ECR web site puts it, "Gay and lesbian square dancers choose our own partners and positions without preconceived notions of gender."

El Camino Reelers is a member of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs (IAGSDC). The IAGSDC was formed in 1983 by clubs from California, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Denver, Albuquerque, Houston, Washington DC, and Vancouver, Canada. The organization currently consists of about 60 clubs from Canada, Japan, Denmark, and 25 US states.

Upcoming Dances

El Camino Reelers dances every Wednesday night. During class season, a typical evening consists of one hour of Advanced Dancing, one half hour of review for beginners, and two hours of class (with a star tip at Plus level).

In addition, the club hosts several Saturday night dances at various times during the year. The next such dance takes place April 23, 2005, with caller Pat Carnathan from southern California. Future seasonal dances will take place August 6, 2005, November 12, 2005, and February 25, 2006.

Also, this year the club hosts Star Thru the Silicon Galaxy, the 22nd Annual IAGSDC Convention. This convention takes place July 1-4, 2005 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Every year this convention is hosted by a different member club in a different city. The convention typically draws about 1100 dancers from all over the world. There are already over 800 registered for this year's convention. The last time the convention was held this close to home was in 1996, when it was in San Francisco.

The IAGSDC conventions welcome everyone to dance, regardless of orientation.

This year's convention features a full schedule of dancing at all levels from Mainstream through C4. Internationally-known Challenge-level callers include Saundra Bryant, Vic Ceder, Rob French, Mike Jacobs, Kiyoshi Kikuchi, Anne Uebelacker, and Dave Wilson.

For more information:

• El Camino Reelers web page
• Star Thru the Silicon Galaxy site
• IAGSDC web page
• San Jose Mercury News article about El Camino Reelers
• Wikipedia article about Gay square dancing
• Wikipedia article about the IAGSDC

Best Square and Round Dance Web Sites

Here are two different evaluations of the best square and round dance web sites based on the quality of the sites. One is a list of the top-ranked sites according to Altavista and Google, popular search engines. Then my own list of the most useful sites, based on the ability to find cue sheets, challenge information, beginner class information, calendars of local events, and lists of local clubs.

Top sites according to Altavista and Google

These are the top square and round dance web sites according to Altavista and Google, with my comments.

Alaska-Yukon Square and Round Dancing

• Altavista ranked #1.
• Last updated 8 April, 2005.
• Has dance event calendars for April 2005 through February 2006/
• Lists eight clubs in Anchorage, four clubs elsewhere in Alaska, and one club in Whitehorse, Yukon.
• Lists two beginner classes that started in January 2005.
• This is one of my personal favorite square dancing web sites.

North Texas Square and Round Dance Association

• Altavista ranked #2.
• Last updated 4-3-2005.
• Covers the areas of Dallas, Ft. Worth, and surrounding areas.
• Shows nine square dance classes including a 3-week "blitz."
• Lists a total of five clogging clubs, six round dance clubs, and more than 50 square dance clubs.
• Has a schedule of dances April through June 2005, including three beginner-level dances.
• Overall, a very useful page.
• Problems: has lots of un-necessary animated graphics, requires a wide window/screen.

Tennessee State Association of Square and Round Dance Clubs

• Altavista ranked #3.
• Last updated recently, but no note exactly when. "Copyright 2000-2004." The only news item regards a meeting in June 2005.
• Covers the entire state of Tennessee, broken up into seven different areas (Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Oak Ridge, Johnson City, and Fayetteville), which correspond to six different local associations.
• I would estimate that the total number of clubs in the state exceeds 100 (but I was unwilling to count them all). Each club has phone contact information, but few if any have email or web addresses.
• The site contains lots of association-level information like insurance and bylaws that are not of interest to a general audience.
• Overall, a very useful site.

Square Dance Center and Campground, Lolo, Montana

• Altavista ranked #4.
• Probably last updated October 2004.
• Has calendars for October 2004 through September 2005.
• This site represents a commerical interest, not a dance club.
• There is lots of round dancing, and there is a link to a beginner class which does not yet have an advertised start date.

border boosters square & round dance association

• Altavista ranked #5.
• Last updated Thu, 27 Jan 2005.
• Covers the Lake Champlain and St. Lawrence Seaway area (USA and Canada - Montreal and Ottawa).
• Has a list of 20 clubs, of which four are round dance clubs, and nine of the others (more than half) are now running beginner square dance classes.
• Has a calendar of events from January through September 2005.
• Overall, a useful site for anyone in the area looking for a beginner class or a round dance class.
• Problem: has some unnecessary animated graphics.

Grand Canyon Square Dance Association

• Altavista ranked #6. Google ranked #5.
• Supposedly last updated in 2003, but it is much more current than that. The next event on the calendar takes place April 30, 2005.
• Has links to 20 different clubs in the Phoenix and Prescott areas.
• Overall, a useful site for anyone in the area looking for a beginner class.
• Includes a sparse events calendar that starts in April 2005 and goes out through 2007.

Vic and Debbie Ceder's Square Dance Resource Net

• Altavista ranked #7.
• Last updated 09-April-2005.
• Overall, one of the three most comprehensive square dance web sites on the net (the other two being Dosado.com and Mixed-Up.com).
• This is a database-driven site to which anyone can contribute information about their club, event, caller, or choreography.
• This is one of my personal favorite web sites.

54th National Square Dance Convention, Portland, Oregon

• Google ranked #1.
• Last updated 2004?
• This site has everything you might want to know about the national convention, which takes place June 22, 23, 24, 25, 2005.
• Overall, a well-planned site that you will find useful if you plan to go to the national convention.

46th California State Square Dance Convention

• Google ranked #2.
• Last updated 11122004.
• This site has almost nothing important you might want to know about the state convention, which takes place April 15, 16 & 17, 2005 (next weekend).
• Problems: the site has one annoying aminated graphic in a prominent location. It has no useful information about the levels or programs that will be called at convention, which halls they will be in, and which hours those halls will be open. The information about callers and cuers is way out of date.

Idaho Square and Round Dance Festival 2005

• Google ranked #3.
• Last updated when??
• Has minimal information about the festival, but has a link to the official festival web site. Unfortunately, the link does not work.
• The convention takes place June 9 - 11, 2005.

Swedish National Square Dance Convention in Gothenburg 2005

• Google ranked #6.
• Last updated 2004-11-27.
• Has lots of information about the convention, which takes place May 14-16, 2005.
• Has separate pages in Swedish, German, and English.

Top sites according to Mark

This page of links shows my top picks, not in any particular order: http://www.mixed-up.com/search/links.html

This list includes six sites catering to round dancers, three sites catering to challenge dances, and four sites catering to dancers in general.

Here are some quick comments:

General sites:

• The EAASDC site is notable for its broad scope: it indirectly includes links to every association and club in Europe.

• Dosado.com was the first large square dancing web site and it is still one of the best. It gets its information from contributions that quickly go stale when the clubs don't update their information. Their system of state representatives to keep tabs is ineffective. However, this is the best place to start when you're looking for a square dance club.

• Callerlab is the best resource for both callers and students. Its resources are mostly caller-related, but the lists of programs are useful for anyone learning a new level up to C3A.

Challenge sites:

• Texas and Oklahoma Advanced and Challenge Page is most noteworthy for its extensive events calendar, which covers far more than just their local region.

• Vic and Debbie's Resource Net is a general site that has lots of challenge level information, including the online form of the popular "Ceder Chest" books.

• Lynette's Challenge Dancing Home Page has lots of technical articles about challenge calls and concepts.

Round dance sites:

• The Roundalab site is most noteworthy for the cue sheets for classic dances, and for the rounds of the quarter going back several years.

• The URDC site is most noteworthy for the list of cuers and higher-level round dance clubs throughout the world.

• The best sites for cue sheets are Roger Ward's Round Dance Internet Directory and Martin Prufer's Round Dance Server.

• Susie Rotscheid's site has many cue sheets, plus interesting articles.

• The Round Dancing Instruction Manual has descriptions of most basic round dance figures in most rhythms.

Square Dancing By The Numbers

Altavista shows that there are about one million web pages devoted to square and round dancing. There are about 877,000 pages devoted to square dancing only, 102,000 pages devoted to round dancing only, and 73,000 pages that deal with both square and round dancing.

I ran these numbers on both Altavista and Google, but the Altavista numbers were more consistent and credible. The Google numbers did not all add up properly.

The following table shows the numbers of pages devoted to square and round dancing.

Measures of Page Quality

It's really hard to evaluate the quality of these web pages. I'm working on a project that can evaluate the quality of a web page by examining the its source code. That project is only in the planning stages now.

One easy measure of web page quality when the page was last updated. But it's not easy to determine when a page was updated using a search engine like Altavista. Search engines typically allow searches based on the page text, but not file dates.

So, if we can find the string "2004" or "2005" on a web page, this might suggest that the page was last updated within the past year (well, 15 months). This is not foolproof. It is possible that a page has the string "2005" but it was actually written in 2003. We can easily see this by searching for web pages that have the string "2006" ... we'll find plenty of pages that match. Most of them are web pages or fliers about square and round dance events happening in 2006.

It is also possible that a page could have been updated in 2005, but it does not have "2005" anywhere in the page text, just because the web designer did not feel it important to put any kind of date on the page. Since some users might search for a page based on some kind of date encoded in the page, it is considered good practice for web authors to put a date on their pages. Most of the pages on the Mixed-Up.com web site have a tag at the bottom that says something like "Last updated 08 April 2005." That way anyone who looks at that page can know how current or stale it is.

Overall, about 28 percent of square and round dancing web pages give some sign that they were updated in 2004 or 2005, and about 71 percent do not give any such sign.

Measures of Page Usefulness

Another measure of page "usefulness" is a reference to a class or classes for dancers. This is not really a measure of page "quality" as it is a measure of the "utility" of the page for the non-dancer and for the future of the activity for those already dancing. Most of us would agree that beginner classes are necessary for the long-term survival of both square dancing and round dancing.

So how many of these pages refer to a class or classes? It looks like about 30 percent of square and round dance web pages refer to classes.

What Does This Mean?

So what? Is this good or bad? Does it mean anything at all?

If only 30 percent of square dance web pages have been updated within the last year, this means that a lot of the square dance information on the web could be out of date. This is particularly true of information that changes a lot over time, like club pages, classes, fliers, and calendars. But it is less true of reference information like call definitions, cue sheets, and music lists. That kind of information does not go out of date very quickly at all.

It seems that most square dance web pages do not have any indication of publishing date at all. For example, this link shows that only 384,000 square and round dance web pages have any year indication from 1994 (the beginnings of the internet) until 2005. This means that about 77 percent of square dance web pages that indicate any date at all have been updated within the last year. But it also means that only about 38 percent of square dance web pages give any indication of their last update. This suggests that it is important to address the issue of general web page quality and standards, while in addition hoping to keep the pages current.

I more than most know how difficult it is to keep the information on a web site up-to-date. This site has many hundreds of pages, and many of them were written years ago. I try to remove information that is more than one year old, but I am aware of some pages that refer to classes that took place in 1999 and 2000. Trying to keep up with everything is nearly impossible when the data is edited by hand.

If only 30 percent of square and round dance web pages refer to classes, this says more about the hobby in general than it says about the web pages themselves. It is hardly possible to put up a page about a beginner class that does not exist (or got cancelled due to lack of interest). But many clubs don't post class information on the web because it changes too quickly. This is unfortunate because it short-changes both the newcomer looking for a class, and the club looking for new members.

Callerlab has proposed a system whereby square dance classes can register with a national database. This would allow prospective dancers anywhere in the US to find a class near them, if one exists. However, implementation is slow and gaining the confidence of technophobes is difficult.

Future Explorations

In the future, I hope to break down these figures by country and state, to find out which states and associations have their acts together. I also hope that by running these same figures in the future, we will find that the overall situation is improving.

Hidden Treasures

Here are some treasures hidden away on the mixed-up.com web site. Perhaps you have not noticed these.

• Square Dance Associations in California and Nevada.

• Mark's Portal to Dosado.com - a quick way to access the long club lists on Dosado.com.

• Planning Calendar for the San Francisco Bay area.

• Figure lists contributed by Sharon and Casey Parker. There are separate lists for each Phase 1-6, and separate lists for each rhythm, plus combined lists.

• Some dances recommended by the wise guys on the round dance mailing list.

• Lyrics to your favorite round dance songs.

• Marks list of the most popular round dances.

• The best square dance calendars sorted by type and location.

• NCRDTA ROMs - dances selected recently by the members of the Northern California Round Dance Teachers Association, posted recently.

• Links page - a list of the 400 best square and round dance web sites, hand-selected by me.

• Mobile Edition - view the web site on your Palm Pilot or other small-screen device.

Happy treasure hunting!

Dance of the week: Circus Circus

Rafter Rockers sponsors their annual hoedown Circus Circus to be held on April 9, 2005 at John Muir School in San Jose. John Muir School is on Branham Lane in south San Jose, near the intersection with Almaden Expressway.

This is always a fun dance with great rounds and squares, zany costumes and decorations, and great food.

Rafter Rockers has a web page at
www.rafterrockers.com/

Club of the week: Rafter Rockers

The Rafter Rockers club will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in April, 2005. They dance on Wednesday evenings in Campbell. Caller Gary Carnes will be retiring at the end of April.

Rafter Rockers will merge with the Jokers starting May 1, 2005. The new club name will be Rockin' Jokers.

Club History

The Rafter Rockers Club was organized in 1955 by Jack and Neva Johannes, with Neva as the first club caller. Callers through the years include:

• Neva Johannes (1955-1967)
• Herb Jackson (1967-1974)
• Bob Tripp (1974-1980)
• Ken Kenmille (1980-2000)
• Gary Carnes (2000-2005)

The club started with 17 couples but grew to about 30 couples during the 1960's. They eventually reached nearly 100 couples and maintained that level through much of the 1980's and 1990's.

Activities

Rafter Rockers has a rich history of social activities that have continued to the present time. These activities have included campouts, picnics, mystery trips, theater parties, progressive dinners, house tours, sailing on the bay, hiking, whale watching, ice cream socials, and more. The Club has also been very active in supporting square dancing. In addition to attendance and participation at local hoedowns, these activities have included membership for many years in SCVSDA, participation in festivals and special events such as the Jubilee, Winterfest, Silver State, Napa, and the Nationals at Anaheim and Portland, and demonstrating square dancing at the Fair and other locations.

The Club has also been involved in many charitable activities over the years. These have included, a Rafter Rocker booth at the De Anza Flea Market to raise money for the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Marathon, volunteer nights at Second Harvest Food Bank, and annual visits to (and performance at) local convalescent homes.

Rafter Rockers sponsors the Circus Circus hoedown every year in April. This year, the dance will take place on April 9, 2005 at John Muir School in south San Jose.

Jokers

The Jokers square dance club also dances on Wednesday nights in Campbell. The club started dancing in October 1951 an unfinished store in the Quito Shopping Center. The first caller was Johnny White. Callers through the years include:

• Johnny White (1951-1978)
• Dick Lawrence (1978-1980)
• Johnny Robertson (1981-1982)
• Kip Garvey (1983-1987)
• Scott Slocum (1987-1990, 1992-1996)
• Doug Davis (1991-1992)
• Gary Carnes (1996-2000)
• Bob Elling (2000-2003)
• Roger Smith (2003-present)

The Jokers sponsor the Hawaiian Luau hoedown every year in May. This year, the dance will take place on May 21, 2005 at John Muir School.

Rockin' Jokers

Gary Carnes is retiring at the end of April. Roger Smith will be the caller for the new Rockin' Jokers club. The new club will be a great place to dance, and they hope to have 8 to 10 squares dancing.

The new Rockin' Jokers will dance at the American Legion Hall in Campbell where the Jokers now meet. Allen Glesser, the current Jokers president, will continue as president of the new club starting May 1. Rockin' Jokers will hold elections in the fall.

The Rockin' Jokers will continue to sponsor the Circus Circus hoedown and the Luau hoedown.

For more information:

Rafter Rockers has a web page at
www.rafterrockers.com/

Rafter Rockers has a club history posted at
www.rafterrockers.com/History.html

Jokers has a web page at
www.thejokers.org/

Jokers has a club history posted at
www.thejokers.org/info.htm

Dance of the week: Bows and Beaus Newer Dancer Hoedown

Bows and Beaus sponsors a January class level newer dancer hoedown to be held on April 2, 2005 at John Muir School in San Jose. John Muir School is on Branham Lane in south San Jose, near the intersection with Almaden Expressway.

This dance is also suitable for September level newer dancers, who are encouraged to attend.

Bows and Beaus has an enthusiastic club and an active beginner class.

Bows and Beaus has a web site:
www.bowsandbeaus.org

Here is more information about the upcoming newer dancer hoedown and other newer dancer hoedowns:
www.mixed-up.com/square/newer.html

Club of the week: Bows and Beaus

Bows and Beaus is a large club that meets in Palo Alto. Although it began as a singles club, today it is fairly evenly divided between singles and couples. Both singles and couples are welcome.

Club History

The club started in 1963. The original caller, Jerry denBroeder, gathered some folks in the carport at his apartment house so he could practice calling. Later the group arranged for the club to dance in Mountain View public schools. The club continued to dance in the Whisman School District until this year when it moved to the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto.

Club callers include:

• Jerry denBroeder (1963-1979)
• Honey Wolfson (1979-1982)
• Doug Saunders (1983-1984)
• Don Lewis (1984-1987)
• Keith Ferguson (1987-present)

The club has bbout 90 members, almost all of which are "active." They generally have about 6-7 squares dancing on a club dance night.

In 1987, when present caller Keith Ferguson took the reins, the club had about 18 members. Even with the growth of the club from 18 members in 1987 to its present size it has always strived to maintain a friendly atmosphere. Keith has been voted one of the Top Ten callers by members of the SCVSDA and especially enjoys teaching newer dancers.

Beginner Classes

The club holds a beginner class every year. This year they are using the "multi-cycle" approach: one class started last January and another will start on May 2. They welcome both singles and couples. The class is held on a separate night than the club so more time is available. The class always gets excellent support from the club members.

Keith says "Beginner classes are absolutely essential to the health of a club! The continuous stream of new dancers is vital to the enthusiasm of the club.

"We teach our classes using the LISST method, which interleaves the Mainstream and Plus calls giving dancers more experience with the type of dancing actually encountered in the real world -- the more frequently used and more complex calls are taught earlier so our graduates can really hit the road running."

Activities

The club sponsors the Ice Cream Fling Thing every year. They also sponsor one or two newer dancer hoedowns each year and the club has many other social events for its members. They invite former members to a special Alumni Night every February.

This year, they sponsor the upcoming January class level newer dancer hoedown to be held on April 2, 2005 at John Muir School in San Jose.

The second Wednesday of each month is party night. The third Wednesday is fun night with a special theme -- those participating in the theme (announced in the newsletter) are eligible for a mystery gift drawing. The club also participates in Fifth Wednesday parties with other Wednesday clubs.

The club is really focused on dancing! Breaks between tips are short, and squares often form even before the caller gets back to the stage! Very few folks sit out during the tips -- people come to dance.

One of the "secrets" of the club's success is that each evening starts with a half hour workshop. The caller believes that a distinguishing feature of Western Square Dancing is that it exercises both the mind and the body, and that there is always something new to learn! These workshops may review Extended Applications (APD), introduce experimental calls or unusual uses of existing calls, or show concepts the caller feels will expand the understanding and enjoyment of square dancing.

Bows and Beaus has a web site:
www.bowsandbeaus.org

Here is more information about the upcoming newer dancer hoedown and other newer dancer hoedowns:
www.mixed-up.com/square/newer.html

Dance of the Week: Yellow Rock and Rollers

The newly-forming Yellow Rock and Rollers San Mateo Chapter, a new youth square dance group, sponsors a dance on March 26, 2005 in Belmont, CA.

The dance is Plus level. The callers are Ruth & Sarah Riegelhaupt-Herzig. Wendy-Jean Iannico will cue rounds.

Sarah Riegelhaupt-Herzig is a 13-year-old caller who is starting a youth group by and for teens and tweens in San Mateo. (Parents are also allowed in the group, but the focus is on and the decision-making by the kids.) The benefit is to kick off the club because the cost of halls is so high and she is planning to distribute flyers in the schools (which can add up). The club will be the Yellow Rock & Rollers, San Mateo Chapter.

This will be Sarah's first hoedown, although she has been sharing calling responsibilities with other callers at Belle Swingers in Sunnyvale since last May.

7:30 pre-rounds
8:00-10:30 Plus squares
Ralston Middle School, 2675 Ralston Ave., Belmont

Yellow Rock and Rollers has a web site:
www.yellowrockandrollers.org

Club of the week: Yellow Rock and Rollers

I talked to Ruth Riegelhaupt-Herzig, caller for the Yellow Rock and Rollers youth square dance club of Cupertino. Their club had a great turnout at the recent Spring Fling held by Sunnyvale Singles in San Jose, and we danced with several members of the club.

How and why was the club started?

The Yellow Rock and Rollers, Cupertino Chapter was formed in September 2002. It is for youth ages 8 and up. Cloverleaf Critters, for kids ages 5-8, was formed four months after YR&Rs.

The San Mateo club is being formed to have a group specifically run by and called for by the youth (as well as most of the dancers being youth, of course). The San Mateo club is for ages 10 and up.

Why is there a need for a youth club?

We formed Yellow Rock and Rollers to give youth a club where they are the priority. When YR&R Cupertino was formed, there were not many clubs that allowed youth at all. The numbers of clubs in this area that allow youth has increased significantly since the club was formed, but youth still need a place that they feel is their own. Yellow Rock and Rollers in general was designed to be a place where kids felt was for them. They weren't being "allowed to dance." They were being encouraged to dance. It isn't a group where kids can come if their parents are wanting to learn to dance and the kids want to tag along. It is a place where the parents can tag along if their kids say it's okay. The club is about the kids...getting kids to want to dance. Like most square dance groups, we foster a sense of unity, which I think is very important for kids. They are a team...they work together. Unlike adult groups though, the unit is the kids. The kids are a group and the parents (although we are also now friends) were thrown together because of the kids...not the other way around.

How often do you have beginner classes?

We have had a variety of beginners' classes in Cupertino. We have had traditional classes each year and have played with other ideas. The Cupertino group had a summer camp last year and will be having a Spring Break camp (and probably summer camp again) due to the success of the first camp.

The traditional class was September to early March this year.

What is the dance camp?

We had a week long dance camp last summer and will repeat it this Spring. We have the only week long camp that I know of. It went very well last year and produced some very active dancers.

Last summer's five day camp went to Mainstream and even learned a few Plus calls, despite losing a full day due to logistical problems. With some follow-up those dancers went to Plus. Dancers could probably learn Plus in a camp environment in five or six days while still keeping it fun and not overwhelming.

Here are the advantages of a dance camp: (1) Due to meeting every day, people don't forget much between sessions. There are not hours spent on review. (2) Scheduling conflicts do not cause the students to miss weeks and have to play catch-up. It is much easier to commit a week than to commit a night every week for seven to nine months. (3) The class is quick, so people can go to dance events right away. (4) No burnout from class after class after class for months.

How big is the club?

If all members, kids and parents show up, there are about five squares, but that really doesn't happen. We usually dance two or three squares.

How does the "Cloverleaf Critters" work?

The idea behind this group is to give the kids a positive exposure to square dancing early on. We don't worry about how many calls they learn...just the experience. Younger kids don't mind lots of repetition. Some Critters have become YR&R members (and even members of other clubs). We usually allow new people to join three or four times per year.

Tell about the new club starting in San Mateo.

In San Mateo, there is currently no youth (or even family) group. The San Mateo YR&R is being formed to have a group specifically run by and called for by youth (as well as most of the dancers being youth, of course).

The idea is to give teens and tweens a place to dance that they really feel is for them, right down to having it run and called for by a teen. It's a teen oasis within square dancing. They will still go out and dance at events with adults, but the idea is that this is by and for them. We hope that having a youth caller will appeal to teens who think that square dancing is just for older people.

How did Sarah become interested in calling?

Sarah says..."It's challenging. It's kind of like a puzzle and I like puzzles."

Sarah's very mathematical and visual, so calling was a logical interest for her. She was already interested when I went to callers' school before starting the Cupertino group. She went as my partner so she could hear when I heard. The rest, as they say, is history.

She's also into theater, so I think the whole opportunity to perform is a factor too.

Lastly, her interest became stronger when she decided she wanted to start a youth group that was a "true youth group".

Yellow Rock and Rollers sponsors a dance on Saturday, March 26, 2005 in Belmont. This will be a benefit dance for the newly forming San Mateo club.

Yellow Rock and Rollers has a web site:
www.yellowrockandrollers.org

Challenge Dance of the Week: Bakersfield Fiesta

Bakersfield Fiesta is also our featured Challenge dance of the week. Internationally-known Saundra Bryant will call C1 and C2 tips, and maybe a C3A star tip? She also calls a session in the A2 hall, and Johnny Preston calls one session in the challenge hall.

Past challenge callers at Fiesta have included Mike Jacobs, Ben Rubright, and Lee Kopman.

Fiesta's challenge hall is always well attended by southern California's Trailblazers and northern California's Interlocked Squares. We've seen as many as seven or eight squares in the challenge hall. The callers are always the best, the dancing is good, and the squares are friendly.

Fiesta also has a super busy A1-A2 hall. Featured callers include Bronc Wise, Tony Oxendine, Tim Marriner, and Saundra Bryant.

http://www.bakersfieldfiesta.com/

Dance of the Week: Bakersfield Fiesta

Bakersfield Fiesta is one of the liveliest festivals we have attended. This festival takes place every March in Bakersfield. They always have a full schedule of Mainstream, Plus, Advanced, Challenge, and Round Dancing, in five separate halls. The callers and cuers are always top-notch and the festival is always well-attended.

The 2005 festival takes place March 18-20. Featured callers include Tony Oxendine and Johnny Preston. Saundra Bryant is featured in the Challenge hall and also calls Advanced sessions. Wayne and Barbara Blackford head up the round dancing program.

A fun part of this festival is their photo scrapbooks that go back 40 years. Check them out in the Plus hall / registration area.

It takes about four to five hours to travel from the San Francisco bay area to Bakersfield, depending on your exact location in northern California and the weight of your foot. If you're coming from the south, I think it takes only about two hours to get to Bakersfield from the San Fernando Valley, longer if you're in Pasadena or Orange County.

Don't forget to leave extra early if you dance rounds. A super early session of round dancing starts at 5:00 pm on Friday.

http://www.bakersfieldfiesta.com/

Challenge dance of the week: PACE

Internationally-known challenge caller Vic Ceder will be calling a weekend of challenge dancing at PACE in Pleasant Hill on March 11-13, 2005.

The Friday night session will be C2. This one session will take place at the alternate location of Pacheco Community Center in Pacheco, not far from Pleasant Hill.

The Saturday sessions will be C1, both morning and afternoon. There will also be a C4 session Saturday evening.

The Sunday morning session will be C3A, and the Sunday afternoon session will be full C3.

The 2005 PACE schedule is here.

A PDF flier for the March 2005 dance is here.

Dance of the week: Shamrock Shuffle

Every year the Los Altos Spinning Wheels sponsors the the Shamrock Shuffle on the second Saturday in March.

This year's hoedown takes place March 12, 2005. The Caller will be Gary Carnes, with Jim & Adele Chico cueing the rounds. The dance is at John Muir School, 1260 Branham Lane, San Jose, CA. 8-11 pm.

Spinning Wheels has a web site here.

Club of the week: Spinning Wheels

Spinning Wheels Square Dance Club has been in existence for 47 years! They have five squares who dance Plus on Thursday evenings in Los Altos, CA. The club caller is Jim Osborne.

Spinning Wheels started in November 1957 with caller Don Hills and wife Wilma. Other callers to follow included Jim Fusaro, John Davis, Terry Walden and Charlie Brown with wife Linda who was the club caller for over 25 years, from 1976-2003. Jim Osborne is the current caller.

The club has always danced at Loyola Elementary School in Los Altos. In 2003-2004 the school was closed down, rebuilt completely, and reopened last September. During its closure, they danced at Springer School. Dorothy Carlson says, "We love being back at Loyola and the new multi-purpose room where we dance is beautiful!" The club donated a brick placed in the patio of the new school -- it is inscribed "Spinning Wheels -- Keep Dancing!"

The Shamrock Shuffle is the club's one big event of the year. They also hold parties for members at Christmas, Valentines Day, Cinco de Mayo, etc. and have a yearly Ladies Luncheon. The men get together for tours of the NUMMI plant, the aircraft museum, etc. Several couples regularly attend Winterfest, Solvang, and McCloud dances.

The club also participates in the Fifth Thursday Clubs joint dances. They dance at some community events when asked.

The club invites former members to the annual Christmas potluck and dance and they have numerous theme nights at regular club dances.

The club is a very friendly group and always welcomes visitors.

Shamrock Shuffle

Every year the club sponsors the the Shamrock Shuffle on the second Saturday in March.

This year's hoedown takes place March 12, 2005. The Caller will be Gary Carnes, with Jim & Adele Chico cueing the rounds. The dance is at John Muir School, 1260 Branham Lane, San Jose, CA. 8-11 pm.

Spinning Wheels has a web site here.

Club of the week: Sunnyvale Singles

Single Squares of Sunnyvale is one of the largest square dance clubs in the Santa Clara Valley. Six to seven squares dance weekly on Thursday nights at the Murphy Park clubhouse in Sunnyvale. Dancing starts with one half hour of pre-rounds at 7:30, cued by Jim Chico, followed by six or seven tips of Plus level dancing from 8:00 until 10:00, called by Jake Shimada.

Club History

Sunnyvale Singles started in 1957. According to a former member, the club was started by a group of single ballroom dancers. Past callers include Brad Bradford, Bill Davis, Gary Carnes, Scot Slocum, and Ken Carroll. The club has had round dancing from the very beginning. Past cuers include Barbara Bradford, Jim Turner, Larry Segal, and Craig Rice.

The group has had more than 3000 members over the years. The Sweethearts list alone has 492 names of those who married other club members. (This does not include club members who married class members.)

The club has danced at a number of locations, but mainly at Ellis School in Sunnyvale in the 60's and 70's, and Blackford High School in San Jose in the 80's and early 90's.

Former members include callers Ken Kenmille, Jay Klassen, and Ben Goldberg, and cuers Jim Turner, Larry Segal, and Craig Rice.

Past President Joe Carboni says that in the late 80's and early 90's the club had about 400 members, and was considered the largest singles club in the USA. Current membership is about 80 people. The only other valley club of comparable size is nearby Palo Alto club Bows and Beaus.

Beginner Classes

The club also hold classes weekly on Tuesday nights at the same location. Roger Smith is the class teacher. The club runs three beginner classes every year, starting in September, January, and May. Classes last eight months, so each new group overlaps and interacts with the previous group and the next group. One group learns Mainstream from 7:00-8:30 pm, and the second group learns Plus from 8:30-10:00 pm, in separate sessions on the same evening. Plus class members are encouraged to assist with the Mainstream class. This gives them a refresher on the previous calls.

Josie Baumgarner says the new class format works well because class members often bring their friends to the next class and do not have to wait a year. They can become angels to their friends. Also if a person has to miss and can't keep up, they can restart in a short time. The classes also get many people who danced before and do not want to start from the beginning. They can start with the phase 2 class and pick up their dancing skill fast to rejoin the club.

Annual Hoedowns

Sunnyvale Singles sponsors three special hoedowns every year. Spring Fling, a September-level newer dancer hoedown, is held every year in March. The Strawberry Festival is a Plus-level dance held every June. Cactus Jack is a Plus-level dance held every November.

The group also holds other special dances. The largest is the Sweetheart dance held every February near Valentine's Day. On this special club night, former members who met in the club and have married are invited to return for a grand party. This evening forms a kind of reunion for many former club members, and out come the photo albums going back 30 years or more.

A Place For Singles

The club membership consists of single dancers, but they invite all dancers, single or married, to join them every Thursday evening in Sunnyvale for grand evening of dancing.

With a smile, Joe Carboni says Sunnyvale Singles is an ideal place for singles to meet, dance, and have fun in a friendly atmosphere, but it has one drawback, you must learn to square dance.

Board member Ellie Wierenga says the club schedules monthly non-dancing social events. These might include potlucks, rafting trips, whale watching, theater plays, ball games and anything else that might be of interest to members and friends.

Spring Fling

This year, the Spring Fling hoedown takes place on Saturday March 5, 2005. Sunnyvale Singles has run beginner classes every year for a long time, and their members have always supported the newer dancer hoedowns. Please come support the latest group of beginners at the Spring Fling hoedown.

You can find out more about Single Squares of Sunnyvale on their web site: http://www.singlesquaresofsunnyvale.org/

Challenge Dance of the Week: Saundra Bryant

Internationally-known challenge caller Saundra Bryant will be calling two sessions of advanced and challenge dancing at Midnight Squares in San Francisco on Sunday, March 6, 2005.

The first session, from 1:00-3:00 pm, will alternate tips of A1, A2 and C1.

The second session, from 3:30-5:30 pm, will alternate tips of C2 and C3A.

There will be a pizza break between sessions.

Midnight Squares is a member of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs. They welcome all gay dancers and their friends to dance with them.

Midnight Squares has a web site here.

Here is a text flier for the March 6 dance.

Dance of the week: Spring Fling

The Spring Fling hoedown is a September class level newer dancer hoedown sponsored by Single Squares of Sunnyvale every March. This year, the dance takes place on Saturday, March 5, 2005.

Sunnyvale Singles runs several beginner classes every year, and their members have always supported the newer dancer hoedowns. Please come support the latest group of beginners at the Spring Fling hoedown.

You can find out more about Single Squares of Sunnyvale on their web site.

And you can download a PDF flier for the Spring Fling hoedown.

C1 and C2 Definitions Posted

When we danced at Ben Rubright's C3A week at McCloud Dance Country last September, I asked Ben for permission to post his C1 and C2 definitions on this web site. At that time, my database consisted only of C3 and C4 calls.

Ben gave permission to do so, and I've just finished posting his definitions. So now the database includes most calls from C1 through C4. (Many of the newer C4 concepts are not in the database.)

My database actually contains a lot more than just definitions. It also includes starting and ending formations for most calls, and some bibliographic information such as author, call number in Burleson's Encyclopedia, and so on. There are also pictures for many C3-C4 calls.

The calls Ben contributed each contain the attribution "Definition courtesy of Ben Rubright." The bibliographic information is from Clark Baker's infamous Lisp database. I quickly scratched out the starting and ending formations myself, and if there are any errors you can blame those on me, not on Ben or Clark.

Unfortunately, there were few pictures for C1 and C2 calls in Clark's database, and I don't have time to put them together from scratch right now. So you'll find only a few pictures for C1 and C2 calls.

The database is here: www.mixed-up.com/dict/

Square and Round Dance Calendar - 140 new events posted

Posted 140 new events to the square and round dance calendar. These include events such as:

• San Jose area events for 2006, 2007, and 2008
• San Diego hoedowns for 2005
• North State hoedowns for 2005, including Mt. Shasta, Yreka, Anderson, and Santa Rosa
• Vermont hoedowns for 2005
• Square dance events in Scotland!

http://www.mixed-up.com/cgi-bin/calendar/search

Square and Round Dance Calendar - 100 new events posted

Posted 100 new events to the square and round dance calendar. These include events such as:

• Pace So-Cal for 2005
• Cook's Barn for 2005
• Texas and Oklahoma Advanced and Challenge weekends for 2005
• Challenge dancing events in Sweden and Denmark
• Bay Area gay dances for 2006-2008

http://www.mixed-up.com/cgi-bin/calendar/search

McCloud Dance Country, Summer 2005, 20 Dance Workshops

9 Round Dance Workshops
4 Plus Workshops
4 Advanced Workshops
2 Challenge Workshops
1 Ballroom Workshop

http://www.mixed-up.com/cgi-bin/calendar/search?C=A&search=mccloud

Best Square Dance Club Names

Gnat Boxers
Wooster, Ohio
http://www.the-daily-record.com/past_issues/08_aug/990823dr2.html

And they told me the really big ones were in Minnesota. Oh, wait, that was mosquitoes.

Hippo Hubbubs
Berlin, Germany
http://hippo-hubbubs.gmxhome.de/we%20about%20us.htm

Explanation on the web page, if you can understand it.

Rubber Dollies
Berlin, Germany
http://rubber-dollies-sdc.de/

I don't even want to know.

Fallen Arches
Moab, Utah - home of Arches National Park
http://westerncosquaredancing.homestead.com/

Wish we'd known about this one when we were on vacation there.

Hoosier Corners
Richmond, Indiana
http://www.sharpsites.net/hoosiercorners/

Hoosier daddy, little girl?

Honorable Mention:
I could have sworn that I once saw an ad for a challenge club called the Blank Stares.

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Last updated Monday 3 August 2009