Re: [Callers] question about squares ) (long)

Although I'm no longer a new caller (although a lot of the time I feel like I am), I'll throw my 2 cents in. I absolutely, totally, completely love squares. Is that clear enough? The highlight of Pinewoods each year is the squares sessions - dancing to a great caller with a hall full of people who also love squares. Add some hot old-time music and it just doesn't get much better. I started calling squares one year after I called my first contra. What a terrifying and exhilirating experience. And it still is. Unfortunately, hardly anyone in Northern California calls squares at the regular dances. The last time I danced one at a regular evening was when a visiting caller from Pennsylvania came through. There are just a very few of us who like to call squares, and therefore, when we call them, people have such a time because they just can't get oriented properly. It's such a foreign experience. I'm not calling complicated squares at all. I stick with ones that contra dancers like such as Geezy Peezy, or some of the Gene Hubert squares. I've also taken to calling them in the second half of the evening when even the new dancers have gotten more comfortable with the basic figures. I keep urging some of the other callers in the area to learn to call them, but they refuse, claiming that the dancers don't like them. I always counter that the dancers would like them more if they did them more often and therefore felt more comfortable with them. To no avail. Another thing that keeps me from calling squares more often is the bands I work with. We just don't have any old-time bands in my area any more. I couple of bands have learned what they call an old-time set just for when I call squares. Even then, they often turn out to be a nicely phrased, sweet tune, instead of that driving energy that makes squares really happen. Those sweet tunes just zap the energy out of a square for me and I really struggle to fill in with more enthusiasm in my voice. One band even played a bluesy tune when I told them I wanted a driving reel for a square. One dance in particular in our area has written instructions stating that squares are not to be called there (I have quit calling there), and our local gender-free dance just put together guidelines which included a preference for having no squares. Calling them so infrequently, I feel like I have a hard time improving my skills. For those who like to stick with just contras, I went to a dance weekend several years ago where the caller only called contras - no squares, triplets, mixers, 4x4s. I was so sick and tired of contras I couldn't stand it. They all started blending in to each other after a while. Now there are a few places in the foothills that actually like squares and even ask me to call them. And there's a dance weekend in Southern California that has had me call an hour of squares the past two years on the Saturday evening of camp 6:30-7:30. This is when most people are getting all gussied up for the evening dance, so the ones who come to the session really want to do squares. (We wouldn't want to take up prime time for an hour of squares would we?) There are usually around 5 squares. The band is fabulous, and both years each band member has come up to me afterwards thanking me for providing them the opportunity to play for squares. They love it. In summary, I love them, I do everything I can to improve my skills for calling them, I just wish I could get more people in my area interested in calling and dancing them. Lynn Tom Hinds <twhinds(a)earthlink.net> wrote: I wanted to know what people think of squares. Have any of you collected any good ones? Do any of the new callers plan to include one in their programs in the future? Tom Hinds callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote: _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers