23 September 2018
Samena Squares Newsletter #2
09/27/2018
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Samena Squares! If Thursday was your first night, we are glad that you joined us. It was great to see those who returned for the second night.
What we are learning on Thursday nights is Modern Western Square Dancing. Square dancing is an American dance. Once you learn the set of calls in the first two programs, Basic and Mainstream, you can dance anywhere in the United States and many places around the world where there is an advertised square dance of that program. The definitions of the calls have been standardized so that you can dance anywhere. At one point in time there were 27 different Dosados. If you learned one version in Washington you would have trouble dancing on your vacation in New York because their version would be totally different.
Like any new skill the more you practice it the better you are at it and the easier it becomes. Each week will build on the calls we learned the week before. We are learning the Basics now and in a few weeks we will be learning calls that combine basic calls together to make other calls. We will learn all of it by dancing. I will use demonstrations when needed, these newsletters, and lots of repetitions on the dance floor.
If you are a tech person, here are some online resources that I like. The first is Saddlebrook Squares (https://videosquaredancelessons.com/lessons/). They have short videos of each call. Some have one or two calls in each video. The second online resource is Taminations (http://www.tamtwirlers.org/tamination/info/index.html). This program has the definitions of each call as well as a bird’s eye view of the pattern of the call. Taminations is also available as a phone app. Check out both of them. See what works best with your learning style. Everybody has a favorite. My only word of caution with any videos that you watch is that some styling varies from region to region around the country. I will teach the styling for our area.
Here are two dates that I want you to put on your dance calendar –
Dates to note:
Friday, October 5, 7:30 – 10:30 p.m., First Friday Fun Fest hosted by the Whirlybirds with Dave Harry, caller. The hall is The Hayloft, 15320 35th Ave W, Lynnwood. Cost is $7/person. This is a dance for new square dancers. It will be an opportunity to dance the calls that you know to another caller. It will be an opportunity to meet other new square dancers too. Go ahead and mark your calendars for the first Friday of each month from now until May. Save the date for New Year’s Eve too! (more on that later)
Friday, October 26, 7:30 – 10:00 p.m., Halloween Hoedown New Dancer Dance hosted by the Samena Squares. I will be calling. The dance is in our hall, the Juanita Community Club. Cost is included with your lesson fee. This is a Halloween dance. Costumes are encouraged. We will be dancing the calls that you know at that time. Other new dancers from other clubs will come to dance with us.
Additional Resources:
The Samena Squares have a great web site – http://www.samenasquares.org. Thank you to Jim Hunt, our Webmaster. There is a button “Just For Students.” There you will find these weekly newsletters as well as a list of dances that you can go to. I will share more information about these as we go along.
I also have a web page – http://www.callersusan.com. There is a tab “Samena Squares,” where you will find these newsletters.
The first few weeks of class these newsletter may seem repetitious. They are. I am including all the calls that have been taught each week and will continue to do that for the next couple of weeks. By Week #4 or 5, I will include only the new calls on the list. You can always refer to previous newsletters on my website if you want to review a call.
Have a great week!
Happy dancing,
Susan
Week #2
Dancer naming:
i. Couple: Two people standing side by side; for universal understanding of square dance commands the dancer on the left dances the Boy/Man part of commands, the dancer on the right dances the GIRL/Lady part of commands.
ii. Heads, Sides: Head couples have their back to or face the caller/music; Sides are the other two couples.
iii. Couple Numbers: Couples are numbered as follows, #1 back to caller, #2 to their right, #3 to the right of #2 or face the caller, #4 to the right of #3.
iv. Boys, Girls: Actual Boys and Girls or those dancing the Boy/Girl part of the call.
1. Circle Left & Right: Join hands in a circle and move left or right as indicated; circles can be made with 2 or more people. CIRCLE LEFT & RIGHT – 8 dancers full around, 16 steps; 4 dancers full around, 8 steps.
2 b. Forward & Back: In a squared set for heads or sides, it is 3 steps and touch, then back 3 steps and pause for the next call. FORWARD & BACK – 8 steps.
3 a. Dosado: With person you are facing, step slightly left, walk forward to pass right shoulders, slide back to back, back up past left shoulder, slide to face to face start position. DOSADO – with corner/partner 6 steps, across square – 8 steps.
5. Promenade Family:
5 a. Couples: With partner walk together counter-clockwise to home position; right hands joined over joined left hands. PROMENADE – couples full around 16 steps.
5 b. Single File Promenade: Specified dancers walk single file counterclockwise inside the square or where indicated by the caller. SINGLE FILE PROMENADE – 4 dancers inside to home – 8 steps.
6. Allemande Left: Turn toward Corner, left arm turn 180 degrees, let go and step through, end back to back with Corner, facing Partner. ALLEMANDE LEFT – 8 steps.
8. Right and Left Grand Family:
8 a. Right & Left Grand: Start facing Partner, take right hands, walk by, offer left hand to next, walk by; continue alternating hands to the 5th hand (should be the dancer you started with). Boys are going counterclockwise; Girls are going clockwise. RIGHT & LEFT GRAND – 10 steps.
8 b. Weave the Ring: Same as RIGHT AND LEFT GRAND without hands. Hint: pass same shoulder as the hand you would be using. WEAVE THE RING – 10 steps.
9. Left/Right Hand Star: Indicated dancers step to the center of the formation to join the designated hand in a loose star; walk forward to starting position of next call. It is often a full turn but can be fractionalized. LEFT/ RIGHT HAND STAR – 4 dancers full around 8 steps.
10. Pass Thru: With person you are facing step ahead passing right shoulders. STOP as soon as you pass by. Ends back to back. Same as 1/2 DOSADO. PASS THRU – 2 steps.
11. Half Sashay Family:
11 c. Ladies In Men Sashay: In any circle of Boy/Girl couples with the Boy on the left and Girl on the right circling left, the Girls step forward, the Boys step to their left and the Girls step back to a new empty place. If the dancers are circling right, it is the opposite. Can also be done from a line. For variety, the call can be Men In Ladies Sashay. LADIES IN MEN SASHAY – 4 steps.
15. Courtesy Turn: Girls (or right hand dancer) sticks out left hand in front palm down, places right hand on hip or does skirt work; Boys (or left hand dancer) offers left hand palm up to Girl, place right hand gently on back; gently guide her forward, while backing up, turning as a couple to face opposite direction or the center of the set. COURTESY TURN – 4 steps.
16. Ladies Chain Family:
16 a. Two & Four Ladies Chain: Two (or four) Girls step toward the center to make a RIGHT HAND STAR; turn 1/2 way; offer left hand to opposite Boy for a COURTESY TURN; end as a couple facing the center of the formation. While Girls are starting the Boys take a step to their right to be in correct position for COURTESY TURN. TWO & FOUR LADIES CHAIN – 8 steps.
18. Lead Right: Directed couples (Heads, Sides), with a couple handhold, will walk forward as a couple to face the couple to the right. LEAD RIGHT – 4 steps
19. Veer Left/Right: Moving as a couple, slide left or right as directed, maintaining facing direction with a small forward motion as well. VEER LEFT/RIGHT – 2 steps.
20. Bend The Line: Couples, as a unit, turn 90 degrees to face center. Like folding a piece of paper. Each End moves forward to meet the other End. The Centers need to back up a little to accommodate. This creates new lines facing in. As a couple, you will ALWAYS be facing the other couple that was in your line. BEND THE LINE – 4 steps.
22. Right & Left Thru: From facing couples, give a right hand to the opposite dancer; pull by and join left hands with the one alongside. Finish with a COURTESY TURN to face the couple with which you are working. RIGHT & LEFT THRU – 6 steps.
23. Grand Square: (32 beats of music) Each individual dancer tracks the four sides of a square in their quadrant on the floor. Command is “Sides Face, Grand Square.” GRAND SQUARE – 32 steps.
Welcome to the Samena Squares! If Thursday was your first night, we are glad that you joined us. It was great to see those who returned for the second night.
What we are learning on Thursday nights is Modern Western Square Dancing. Square dancing is an American dance. Once you learn the set of calls in the first two programs, Basic and Mainstream, you can dance anywhere in the United States and many places around the world where there is an advertised square dance of that program. The definitions of the calls have been standardized so that you can dance anywhere. At one point in time there were 27 different Dosados. If you learned one version in Washington you would have trouble dancing on your vacation in New York because their version would be totally different.
Like any new skill the more you practice it the better you are at it and the easier it becomes. Each week will build on the calls we learned the week before. We are learning the Basics now and in a few weeks we will be learning calls that combine basic calls together to make other calls. We will learn all of it by dancing. I will use demonstrations when needed, these newsletters, and lots of repetitions on the dance floor.
If you are a tech person, here are some online resources that I like. The first is Saddlebrook Squares (https://videosquaredancelessons.com/lessons/). They have short videos of each call. Some have one or two calls in each video. The second online resource is Taminations (http://www.tamtwirlers.org/tamination/info/index.html). This program has the definitions of each call as well as a bird’s eye view of the pattern of the call. Taminations is also available as a phone app. Check out both of them. See what works best with your learning style. Everybody has a favorite. My only word of caution with any videos that you watch is that some styling varies from region to region around the country. I will teach the styling for our area.
Here are two dates that I want you to put on your dance calendar –
Dates to note:
Friday, October 5, 7:30 – 10:30 p.m., First Friday Fun Fest hosted by the Whirlybirds with Dave Harry, caller. The hall is The Hayloft, 15320 35th Ave W, Lynnwood. Cost is $7/person. This is a dance for new square dancers. It will be an opportunity to dance the calls that you know to another caller. It will be an opportunity to meet other new square dancers too. Go ahead and mark your calendars for the first Friday of each month from now until May. Save the date for New Year’s Eve too! (more on that later)
Friday, October 26, 7:30 – 10:00 p.m., Halloween Hoedown New Dancer Dance hosted by the Samena Squares. I will be calling. The dance is in our hall, the Juanita Community Club. Cost is included with your lesson fee. This is a Halloween dance. Costumes are encouraged. We will be dancing the calls that you know at that time. Other new dancers from other clubs will come to dance with us.
Additional Resources:
The Samena Squares have a great web site – http://www.samenasquares.org. Thank you to Jim Hunt, our Webmaster. There is a button “Just For Students.” There you will find these weekly newsletters as well as a list of dances that you can go to. I will share more information about these as we go along.
I also have a web page – http://www.callersusan.com. There is a tab “Samena Squares,” where you will find these newsletters.
The first few weeks of class these newsletter may seem repetitious. They are. I am including all the calls that have been taught each week and will continue to do that for the next couple of weeks. By Week #4 or 5, I will include only the new calls on the list. You can always refer to previous newsletters on my website if you want to review a call.
Have a great week!
Happy dancing,
Susan
Week #2
Dancer naming:
i. Couple: Two people standing side by side; for universal understanding of square dance commands the dancer on the left dances the Boy/Man part of commands, the dancer on the right dances the GIRL/Lady part of commands.
ii. Heads, Sides: Head couples have their back to or face the caller/music; Sides are the other two couples.
iii. Couple Numbers: Couples are numbered as follows, #1 back to caller, #2 to their right, #3 to the right of #2 or face the caller, #4 to the right of #3.
iv. Boys, Girls: Actual Boys and Girls or those dancing the Boy/Girl part of the call.
1. Circle Left & Right: Join hands in a circle and move left or right as indicated; circles can be made with 2 or more people. CIRCLE LEFT & RIGHT – 8 dancers full around, 16 steps; 4 dancers full around, 8 steps.
2 b. Forward & Back: In a squared set for heads or sides, it is 3 steps and touch, then back 3 steps and pause for the next call. FORWARD & BACK – 8 steps.
3 a. Dosado: With person you are facing, step slightly left, walk forward to pass right shoulders, slide back to back, back up past left shoulder, slide to face to face start position. DOSADO – with corner/partner 6 steps, across square – 8 steps.
5. Promenade Family:
5 a. Couples: With partner walk together counter-clockwise to home position; right hands joined over joined left hands. PROMENADE – couples full around 16 steps.
5 b. Single File Promenade: Specified dancers walk single file counterclockwise inside the square or where indicated by the caller. SINGLE FILE PROMENADE – 4 dancers inside to home – 8 steps.
6. Allemande Left: Turn toward Corner, left arm turn 180 degrees, let go and step through, end back to back with Corner, facing Partner. ALLEMANDE LEFT – 8 steps.
8. Right and Left Grand Family:
8 a. Right & Left Grand: Start facing Partner, take right hands, walk by, offer left hand to next, walk by; continue alternating hands to the 5th hand (should be the dancer you started with). Boys are going counterclockwise; Girls are going clockwise. RIGHT & LEFT GRAND – 10 steps.
8 b. Weave the Ring: Same as RIGHT AND LEFT GRAND without hands. Hint: pass same shoulder as the hand you would be using. WEAVE THE RING – 10 steps.
9. Left/Right Hand Star: Indicated dancers step to the center of the formation to join the designated hand in a loose star; walk forward to starting position of next call. It is often a full turn but can be fractionalized. LEFT/ RIGHT HAND STAR – 4 dancers full around 8 steps.
10. Pass Thru: With person you are facing step ahead passing right shoulders. STOP as soon as you pass by. Ends back to back. Same as 1/2 DOSADO. PASS THRU – 2 steps.
11. Half Sashay Family:
11 c. Ladies In Men Sashay: In any circle of Boy/Girl couples with the Boy on the left and Girl on the right circling left, the Girls step forward, the Boys step to their left and the Girls step back to a new empty place. If the dancers are circling right, it is the opposite. Can also be done from a line. For variety, the call can be Men In Ladies Sashay. LADIES IN MEN SASHAY – 4 steps.
15. Courtesy Turn: Girls (or right hand dancer) sticks out left hand in front palm down, places right hand on hip or does skirt work; Boys (or left hand dancer) offers left hand palm up to Girl, place right hand gently on back; gently guide her forward, while backing up, turning as a couple to face opposite direction or the center of the set. COURTESY TURN – 4 steps.
16. Ladies Chain Family:
16 a. Two & Four Ladies Chain: Two (or four) Girls step toward the center to make a RIGHT HAND STAR; turn 1/2 way; offer left hand to opposite Boy for a COURTESY TURN; end as a couple facing the center of the formation. While Girls are starting the Boys take a step to their right to be in correct position for COURTESY TURN. TWO & FOUR LADIES CHAIN – 8 steps.
18. Lead Right: Directed couples (Heads, Sides), with a couple handhold, will walk forward as a couple to face the couple to the right. LEAD RIGHT – 4 steps
19. Veer Left/Right: Moving as a couple, slide left or right as directed, maintaining facing direction with a small forward motion as well. VEER LEFT/RIGHT – 2 steps.
20. Bend The Line: Couples, as a unit, turn 90 degrees to face center. Like folding a piece of paper. Each End moves forward to meet the other End. The Centers need to back up a little to accommodate. This creates new lines facing in. As a couple, you will ALWAYS be facing the other couple that was in your line. BEND THE LINE – 4 steps.
22. Right & Left Thru: From facing couples, give a right hand to the opposite dancer; pull by and join left hands with the one alongside. Finish with a COURTESY TURN to face the couple with which you are working. RIGHT & LEFT THRU – 6 steps.
23. Grand Square: (32 beats of music) Each individual dancer tracks the four sides of a square in their quadrant on the floor. Command is “Sides Face, Grand Square.” GRAND SQUARE – 32 steps.