 | DANCE STEP - Shuffle your feet. Put your weight on the ball
of your foot, lift your heel off the floor and take short, smooth gliding steps. Lifting
your entire foot tires you more rapidly and breaks the dance rhythm. |
| MUSIC - Be a dancer, not a walker! Listen to the music,
pick out the beat and take a shuffle step with each beat of music. Walking a call instead
of dancing a call does not look good, throws your timing off, affects the timing of the
entire square, and results in an uncomfortable dance feeling. |
| POSTURE - Stand erect and tall with your shoulders back and
knees slightly bent. BE A PROUD DANCER. Do not lean forward when dancing - this does not
look good and will tire a person quickly. Keep a loose relaxed feeling and enjoy the music
and calls. |
| TIGHT SQUARES - Keep your squares tight, do not spread out.
When dancers form large squares they will be slow in executing the calls. The reason is,
they are forcing themselves to cover much more ground. When the squares are small, you
have ample time to do the calls |
| BELIEVE THE CALLER - No matter what the Caller calls, DO
IT!!! Often dancers will stop if the Caller tells them to do something and they do not
know why he told them to do it. This results in a needless breakdown of the square.
Don’t worry about the ‘why’ - do as the Caller says. It is the
Caller’s responsibility to guide you through a call. |
| DON’T RUSH A CALL - Don’t rush through the calls!
Sometimes dancers seem worried they will not make it through a call and they rush, push
and jerk. This disturbs others, can hurt a person and many times causes the square to
break down. Just relax, move to the beat of the music and enjoy the call. |
| UNDERSTAND THE DEFINITION - In learning a call, try to
understand the definition of the call rather than just memorizing a position. If you
understand the definition, you will be able to do the call from any position. Be sure you
have your own personal dictionary of square dance terms and use it. |
| ASK THE CALLER - After a call is taught and if you are not
sure of the correct definition, ask the Caller to explain it again without using the terms
"boys" and "girl’s. |
| ARM RESISTANCE - Any time you use your arm to execute a
call (e.g.. Allemande Left, Star Thru, Swing Thru, Touch ¼, Turn Thru, etc.), offer
resistance with the arm you are using, stiffening it slightly. This smoothes out the move
and enables you to exercise control of the call. DO NOT have limp spaghetti arms. This
causes you to lose your positioning and result in the square executing the command
incorrectly and/or breaking down. |
| GENTLEMEN - The man is always responsible for guiding the
ladies to start a call correctly. Men should always be gentle with the ladies when holding
their hands, turning them or guiding them in the proper direction. Be firm, BUT NOT ROUGH!
Too much show of strength on the part of the man can be painful to the ladies. MEN, always
make an effort to be gentle (the ladies do not care how strong you are!). |
| JOINING HANDS - At the completion of any call, you should
immediately join hands with the dancer or dancers standing next to you. This helps you to
see the formation you are in (e.g., Lines, Waves, etc.) and aids you in doing the next
call. Hands should always be joined within one-half second after the completion of any
call. Failure to join hands often results in sloppy lines or waves, confusion on where you
are, which in turn, causes the square to break down. |
| IDENTIFY YOUR POSITION - Always be aware of the position
you are in before you start a call and right after you complete the execution of a call
(e.g., are you an end, center, couple, boy, girl, etc.). This aids you in performing the
next call correctly. |
| SKIRT WORK - Ladies, hold your skirt in your free hand
about waist high and use a very slightly rhythmical flourish to move the skirt in front
and back. Your right hand moves with your left foot, and your left hand moves with your
right foot. |
| COURTESY ON THE FLOOR - Please DO NOT talk while the Caller
is explaining something to the dancers. You may not need help but others may and you
don’t help the Caller or the square by distracting people. If a Caller is walking the
dancers through a call, DO NOT get ahead of the Caller’s prompting even if you know
what is going on. It is not smart! It is inconsiderate of your fellow dancers who want to
learn what is being taught. If you deprive your fellow dancers of a good understanding of
the call and they break down later, you will be standing right along with them. |
| DANCE TO OTHER CALLERS - Dance to as many different Callers
as you can. This is one of the best ways to sharpen your dancing skills. Your Caller may
advise you against going to a particular dance because the level of material will be too
high for you. This is all right and you should follow the advice. However, if your Caller
advises against visiting ANY clubs or ANY dances, then do not follow this advice. |
