AMERICAN SQUARE DANCING
The PROs and CONs
of
of
Modern American Square Dancing
SQUARE DANCING IS FOR EVERYONE
No particular skills are needed, and no previous dancing experience of any kind is necessary. Provided that you know (approximately) your left from your right, you can learn to Square Dance.
Although Square Dancing is a 'couple' activity, 'singles' will always find a welcome at Clubs, and many new and lasting friendships have been made. Some ladies like to learn to dance the man’s part, so as to be able to even up any mismatch of ladies and men.
Square Dancing is inexpensive. An evening's Square Dancing at your local Club will normally cost around two or three pounds, and this usually includes coffee! If you really want to spend some money, you can always splash out on a fancy outfit, but this is not essential.
Clubs usually dance to recorded music (there are a few exceptions), but almost always have a live Caller who will adjust the choreography to meet the needs of the dancers.
American Square Dancing is found in many countries, and the calling is always in English. Quite apart from the thousands of clubs in the USA and Canada, there are clubs in most European countries, and in the far East - Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In England, there are over a hundred and fifty clubs from Cornwall to Kent and from Dorset to Yorkshire, plus a few in Wales and in Scotland.
Once the basic moves have been mastered, a dancer is said to have ‘graduated’ and there are many opportunities to travel to other Clubs' dances and their 'Specials' - usually Saturday dances with a Caller from another part of the country, (or another part of the world). Square Dance weekends are also popular - there is one somewhere nearly every week - with a top-notch Caller, dancers from all over the country, and accommodation in a hotel, holiday park, caravan park or college etc. The more adventurous can find whole weeks of square dancing - in this country, on the Continent, in the States, or even further afield..
FUN and FRIENDSHIP
Square Dancing gives you the opportunity to meet many new friends; the sharing of the learning periods seems to create a bond between people who may never have previously met, and before long, you can find that you have new friends all over the country (and the world).
DISADVANTAGES
Because of the need to become familiar with the basic moves, Modern American Square Dancing does ask for a fairly regular commitment to your learning sessions or to your Club - usually once a week. (Once you've tried it, you may well want to do more than that!) When the basic moves have been learnt, the dancer is said to have ‘graduated’, and is then able to square dance anywhere in the world.
Square Dancing can become addictive !
ADVANTAGES