by Ed Foote
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HELPFUL DANCING TIPS WHAT MAKES A GOOD DANCER
Many people watch you while you dance: others in the set, dancers and visitors on the sidelines,
and the caller. Do you impress them with good styling and appearance? We all want to look
good to others when we dance — here is how to do it.
1. GOOD DANCE HABITS
A. Keep your head raised. Do not look at the floor. In addition to giving you a good
appearance, it also lets you see what is going on in the entire set, and this will result in fewer
breakdowns. Also. stand erect—do not slouch.
B . Take hands immediately after every call. This allows everyone in the square to
be aware of the formation, and aids in proper execution of the next call, thereby averting a possi-
ble breakdown of the set.
C. Eliminate rough dancing. Such techniques as hip-bumping, jumping, extra
swinging and twirling, kicking, etc., are seen as great fun by some dancers. They tend to do these
actions when other dancers are not doing them, often disrupting the timing of the dancers who
wish to dance smoothly. Rule: All eight dancers should work together as a group, using the
same styling as the majority of the square.
D. Dance in time to the music. Some people, concerned about doing a figure cor-
rectly, have a tendency to rush through the steps. If you do your part of a call too quickly, others
may not see their position and cause your set to break down. It is better to relax and move to the
beat of the music. Rule: Dance 2-4 beats behind the caller.
E. Counterdance. This means moving your body so the transition from one call to an-
other is made smoothly. It also means adjusting slightly to allow others room to do a call.
(Example: heads move forward and back when the sides are told to Promenade Halfway.) Think
of flowing smoothly through the calls.
2. STYLING AND DRESS
A. GIRLS: Consider a left-face turn back into a promenade. On a Right and
Left Grand, immediately after pulling by the fourth man with the left hand — do a looping U-
Tum Back to your left. Time this so you finish just as your partner is stepping up beside you to
Promenade. It looks sharp and impressive.
B. GIRLS: Use skirt work. It really makes you look distinctive.
(1) How to hold skirt: Let your free hand hang at the side of your skirt. Grasp your skirt where your hand is, bend your elbow, lift your hand slightly above your waist, roll your
hand backward 90° so that your palm is facing up with your skirt on top of your palm (you
should not be able to see your hand).
(2) When to use skirt work:
a. On Weave the Ring. It looks beautiful and is outstanding. Do the skirt work very slowly. Alternately raise and lower the skirt on the side nearest the man you are passing. Do not swish the skirt swiftly from side-to-side — skirt work should be elegant.
b. On Promenade. Consider only holding the man's right hand with your left hand and using your right hand to raise your skirt. It looks great
c. If you are the end of a line. Use skirt work with your free hand when the
caller says "up to the middle and back."
d. On Right and Left Thru and Ladies Chain. On the pull by, use left skirt
work; on the Courtesy Turn, use right skirt work.
e. On selected calls, when you are on the outside of the set. For example:
Circulate, Load the Boat, Allemande Thar and Wrong-way Thar, Pass Thru, Wheel and Deal.
f. On Teacup Chain. Use skirt work with your free hand.
C. GIRLS: Wear a full or semi-full petticoat. It gives your dress a crisper look
than a limp one would, and presents an overall better appearance.
D. BOYS: Remove western hat while dancing. Wearing a western hat indoors is
improper etiquette, and conveys the old-fashioned image of square dancing that modem western
dancing is trying to eliminate.
3 . POOR DANCE HABITS
A. Not taking hands immediately after every call.
B. Rushing through a Grand Square, using only 12-14 beats for each half of the
call instead of 16 beats. Thus, dancers finish in 26-28 beats when they should not finish undl the
32nd beat. If dancers have time to Swing their partner halfway through or at the end of the call,
then the call is not being danced in time to the music. Solution: Allow 4 beats for each 4 steps
of the Grand Square.
C. Ignoring the music. Dancers will lose the rhythm by:
(1) Hip-bumping or high-kicking on a Right and Left Grand.
(2) Side-jumping or hopping on a Grand Square.
(3) Walking the calls rather than dancing them. The difference between walking and dancing: Walking — the heel of your foot touches the ground first. Dancing — the front of your
foot touches the ground first. (Glide on the balls of your feet.)
D. Being sloppy on position. Instead of occupying a position firmly, dancers are
hesitant and either over-turn or under-tum the move.
E. Moving up to the middle and back (from facing lines) when the caller has
not said to do so. The fact that the caller says to "make a line" or "you have lines," does not
mean that dancers should move up and back. This throws the timing off for everyone in the set,
because the caller has usually timed the next command to flow smoothly from the previous com-
mand. Dancers should only move "up and back" if this is called by the caller. Rule: Do exactly
what the caller says; do not add anything or leave anything out.
F. Centers of facing lines slapping hands. When the caller says "up to the middle
and back," hands should always be joined with adjacent dancers to maintain formation awareness.
If the centers patticake hands, they probably won't hold hands with the adjacent center on other
calls either.
G. Doing an improper Do Sa Do by swinging the person in front instead of going
back-to-back with them. This action demonstrates a disregard of, and lack of concern for, the
correct definition of the call. Also, most people who do a "swinging Do Sa Do" will
automatically form a wave, but this is not the correct ending position—the correct ending position
is two people facing. So if people automatically form a wave, they could be out of position for
the next call, thus causing the set to break down.
by Debi Bliss
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Step on the beat of the music ....
Though we are much different than your average dancing we still strive to take one step on each downbeat of the music. Calls have a specific "timing". That means there is "x" number of beats/steps to complete a call. If you take one step per beat you will find that you will have an easier time in accomplishing each call.HELPFUL DANCING TIPS
Keeping the square smaller ....
It's easy for a square to get out of control. If you step on the beat of the music and don't take long, lunging steps, you will automatically keep your square smaller but there are other things that are helpful.
When promenading home the men should "spiral" inward so that their elbows are almost touching. This is a great help to the ladies - those that have the shorter legs and are trying to cover more distance.
Breath with the square. When Heads Promenade or any movement where two couples have to travel around the outside, the other two couples should move in so that the outside couples do not have as far to travel. Just be sure to "breath out" if that couple has to come into the center of the square.
Keep moving....
There are times when some couples are inactive and it is easier for the inactive couples to get started again if they are not standing totally still. Small little steps in place, or a small (very small) step forward and back, anything to keep the beat of the music will help you get started easier when it's now your turn to be active.
Callers "stack" calls ....
Callers give the call before you get to the spot where you start the call. This is so that your feet do not stop between calls. But another thing a caller may do (especially in singing calls) is stack a few calls together so that he can get in some of the words to the song. It's not that many, maybe two or three, but you need to remember to finish one call before starting the next. Say them in your head as you complete each one and don't try to rush them.
Are you feeling rushed? .....
I just told you not to rush calls but there are a few times that you just have to. Maybe the square took a little too long on another call and now you need to make up a few beats.
There are a few calls that you can omit if you are feeling rushed and need to catch up. We only give a couple here but when you are more experienced at various positions you will likely find a few of your own.
DOSADO is one call you can simply not do. You end up right back where you started, looking at the same person. Sometimes this may startle the person you are supposed to do the Dosado with so be sure to help this other person. sometimes a simple "wait" will do, or if you have time you can say, "we don't have to do this call."
PROMENADE is a call where everyone is getting used to hearing "short". The rule is that if you are only a few steps from home you are supposed to promenade ALL the way around. It is also the norm that the Number One man is the leader of the set and the one that calls "short" but if you are feeling rushed and need the extra time to recover you can also call "short". If you watch the more experienced dancers you might see a cute little movement where the man takes his partner in a short promenade out of the square and then back in. This works nicely too. Watch for it and learn!
SWING before a Promenade is easily left out.
Those are the easiest calls to catch up some time -- and probably the only ones I should recommend. You will learn other tricks as you dance and watch others.
This article may be reprinted with no further permission from the authors and/or publications. Permission has been granted in advance for the reprinting with the stipulation that credit be given to the contributing author/publisher.
by Bill van Melle
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There is more to square dancing than just knowing the calls. Yes, many of you recent graduates still have your hands full remembering how to execute some of the calls, and that is certainly important. In fact, at an APD/DBD club like Quads, it is important that you know the calls more than just vaguely. Do you know that SLIDE THRU involves the boys turning right, the girls left, or do you always just Quarter In at the end? If someone asked you to define SPIN CHAIN THE GEARS, could you express it in words?
Nonetheless, there are other considerations that are important for a successful dance--the way you move in a square, interact with its members, and how you think about what you're doing. The following notes have been culled over the years from discussions with various dancers. While these points are helpful for Plus dancers, they're absolutely essential for anyone considering dancing any higher level.
Touch hands. Dancers should touch hands every chance they get, especially between calls. Touching hands helps set your formation, and keeps people oriented and working as a team. It's vital if you're to complete the next call and one person in your square is lost. If at the end of a call, you are next to another dancer in your square, take his/her hand. Failure to take hands is a common source of dancer disorientation and hence error. For example, after FLIP THE DIAMOND, if the new centers don't take hands, they'll be likely to be confused if the next call is FAN THE TOP.
Give the other dancers some hand pressure so they really know you're there. You should provide structure to the square rather than just going along for the ride. On the other hand (as it were), too firm a handhold is at least as bad as too little; the dancer holding on with a death grip is not in a position to be flexible about where he moves on the next call, and may impede those he grips.
Changing your handhold to reflect the current call can also be helpful. For example, suppose you are in facing lines, and the caller says "Centers..." Even before you hear what the centers are supposed to do, if you drop the hand between the center and adjacent end, you'll focus your attention on the center four and won't try to do the call in the outside four.
You may have noticed by now that most dancers at Quads prefer to hold hands near waist level, as is common in the Challenge community, rather than up in the air, the usual standard at Plus. One of the many reasons for this is that it makes the hand coordination discussed above much easier, and the square dances better as a result.
Move with a target in mind. Before you move, you should know where you plan to end up. You should also know what kind of formation you'll be in, and which position in that formation you'll occupy. (This is related to the Sybalsky meta-rule, "If you don't know where you're going, don't go there."
Point where you're going. On calls like TRADE THE WAVE, you should first point where you're going to end up and make eye contact with the person you're trading with. Not only does this help you get to the right spot, it assures that the dancer you're trading with does, even if he or she wasn't sure to start with. The same goes for calls like BOYS TRADE (DOWN THE LINE) or THOSE FACING PASS THRU.
Dance small. At Quads, and indeed most Plus clubs, squares tend to spread out. That makes for sloppy formations, causes you to take longer than necessary to complete calls, and can make it hard to find the people you should be working with. A square can dance in 12 feet square without undue discomfort. This is a hard habit to pick up, but it pays off well.
What these first four points really come down to is "formation awareness." Notice that in each formation, there are 8 specific spots on the floor which you can be in, and 4 walls you can be facing. For example, in a 1/4 Tag (the name of the starting formation for PING PONG CIRCULATE), there is a wave down the center, and a couple on the outside. The couple should be lined up with the center of the wave and holding hands. If you aren't in the wave and aren't in the couple, or are facing a corner of the room, something went wrong with the previous call. If the formation is waves or columns, the dancers should be standing in a perfectly rectangular 2x4 array, not skewed, or with people sticking out. This is especially important in a T-bone formation (some dancers facing head walls, some side walls).
One thing to do to improve your dancing is practice knowing exactly what formation you are in. After each call, think "I am now number 3 in the column," "I am the in-facing end of a right-hand wave," or "I am now the rightmost end in the line." This is particularly useful when you get yourself into a tidal wave.
Thinking about the formation may also help you to keep it smaller by anticipating the little adjustments needed to get rid of the excess space in your square. For example, from 1/4 Tag, most people tend to dance the call EXTEND THE TAG by having the centers walk forward to the ends. However, once you realize that it ends in parallel waves, you'll know that the ends have to walk forward an equal distance toward the centers.
This leads into an advanced topic in formation awareness, what Challenge dancers have come to call "square breathing" the expansion and contraction of the square as calls put more or fewer dancers into the same space. Failure to "breathe" is a common reason that squares grow too large. For example, on RELAY THE DEUCEY or SPIN CHAIN THE GEARS, the square starts in waves (ideally close together), but expands (breathes) to accommodate the intermediate 4- or 6-person wave that forms at right angles to the original formation. But by the end of the call, the formation is again parallel waves. So as the call ends, the square should contract to pull those waves back close together. If it doesn't, and the next call is something like FOLLOW YOUR NEIGHBOR, the in-facers have a long way to walk to find the person they're to cast with.
Identify. If the caller says "Heads" or "Boys" (especially at Quads, where people sometimes dance arky), and you are one of the named people, raise your hand. That way, those who need to know who they are working with will have a better idea of what they are supposed to do. On SPIN CHAIN THE GEARS, the people who are to trade in the very center after the star turns should raise their hands so they notice each other. More importantly, on SPIN CHAIN & EXCHANGE THE GEARS, those same people should raise their hands to make sure the rest of the square knows who's leading the exchange.
Work as a team. Square dancing is not an individual sport, it's a team sport. If a square is acting as a team, it can generally enjoy success even on challenging choreography; if it isn't working as a team, it can be broken down by seemingly easy calls. Note that this does not mean pushing people! It means being at the right spot yourself, making eye contact, and touching hands. It also means that the people who have the easy parts of calls watch out for those who are doing the hard parts. For example, a common failure on the call SPIN CHAIN THE GEARS (and to a lesser extent, SPIN CHAIN THRU) is just before the final cast off 3/4: the dancer who should be standing still (the easy part) waiting to meet a center starts to wander. Not only should she not wander, she should be watching for that center to show up, and extend her hand to make clear which of the three dancers on that side of the square wants to cast with him.
Move in time to the music. Some people have a tendency to hurry up and wait. That ruins the flow of the dance, making it less pleasant. Worse, it causes failures of synchronization (getting to your next spot before the people you need to play with are there), which can take the square down. You can almost always move in a smooth continuous movement. The proper dance step is closest to walking, not prancing. Moving with smoothness will help keep the square together. Note that "flow direction" is frequently the correct direction to go for the next call; after all, the caller isn't attempting to give you bad flow. Being cognizant of flow, or at least not resisting it, should also make the call ROLL easier.