2012 National Square Dance Competition

[@fonzarelli1962]

I started square dancing in 73' in a teen group. Then went into a adult club when I turned 18. That is where I met my first wife. My parents and my 3 younger sisters were all involved in square dancing. My uncle was a caller. He would have us at his house trying new configurations and we would enjoy the fun. I miss those days. There is only 2 clubs left in the area.

[@notcool98]

Learning to follow square dancing calls is good excercise for the brain.

[@BobFarnell]

Absolutely Right, I used to dance C2 but it is not as much fun as dancing Mainstream and Plus DBD. At the Lower levels the emphasis is on Dance that I Love

[@jean-jacquesmagnier1054]

10 Years Square Dance and Round Dance was wonderful !!!

[@mywidescreen2]

Squarin is a blast and lots of energy. Love it!

[@CScottAnanian]

The square is (couple 1) C. Scott Ananian & Jessica Wong, (couple 2) Marvin Fishman & Debbie Stopp, (couple 3) Lynn Allen & Stephanie Henerlau, (couple 4) Bill Ackerman & Heidi Heffron. Things to look for: consistently using the challenge definition of "start" for "boys start, circulate twice"; my almost breaking down on pre-Mainstream "Mars and Venus", general confusion on "heads wheel around" when head boys are promenading side girls, and totally nailing "half a split circulate, twice" to win.

[@renaissanceman410]

So who was the caller? Anyone remember?

[@larrymarchese9170]

It sounds like Randy Dougherty & Tony Oxendine@@renaissanceman410

[@jdsimons3222]

That was worth every minute of watching!

[@1moredayof]

I just recently started taking lessons and this makes me want to keep on learning. This group did so great! The ladies look really nice. I specially enjoyed watching the redhead here wearing the black blouse and the blue skirt.

[@BobFarnell]

At one time I danced at C3 It was very stressfull but I figured i had to dance 2 levels above the level I called and taught. Now I am happier just dancing, I love students but I do wish that all Plus level dances were plus and all mainstream dances were mainstream. I refused to call a split level for years, It hurt my bookings but I held my own principles. The dancers who followed me around new i made any level challenging but my aim was to get every dancer to succeed at one level!!

[@EtzEchad]

Wow. This is complicated! My ex-wife and I took lessons something like 40 years ago, but we were barely passed the beginner stage. This is WAY beyond what we were doing. So much fun!

[@OldMan339]

I love square dancing. I wish I could have been there.

[@stevenmazel9447]

I was actually part of the cometition, my team finished 5th. And we are plus dancers and i believe the competition was quite fair. And to top it off our children was the team that finished third. A little comeptition by the way never hurt anybody. Its all in fun. I had blast! Our kids compete every year in the Pacific Northwest Teen Festivel. I sorta wish they had for adults more often.

[@ljkapler]

Looking to enter a team in future square dance competitions. Any suggestions?

[@ZoeRPM]

I love square dancing. I belong to a club in Nottingham but have also danced in several other cities. I'd love to travel and visit clubs in other countries. It's a shame that there are so few in France considering the historical importance of French square dances such as the cotillion. I'd urge anyone to give it a go. Clubs usually admit beginners in September to their Mainstream courses.

[@psmith102006]

You know what? I like this whole idea!!!!! There are some younger dancers in this video. I have been square dancing and calling for 40 some years. We are dying because there are not enough young dancers invovled. We have become a very boring senior citizen dance because of all the staleness of our dance. We need exciting things like this and it might bring younger dancers in.

[@twopiare]

This was a fun video to watch. I was not able to make it to see this little event while at Nationals. There is a "teen" square dance competition in the Northwest USA. It is for those ages 6 to 21 and includes square dancing, round dancing, and exhibition. Randy Dougherty tried doing he 3x3 flutter wheel in the DBD hall and it dropped the floor basically.

[@StarParticleShade]

Square dancing was so hard, but so fun for me as a child. Now I just kind of do the moves on my own at home sometimes because of how fun it is to just keep moving and twirling. I fondly remember doing the Texas two-step in elementary school when I was growing up in Houston... good times.

[@billvanmelle3980]

Who's the caller? That's hard work calling at that speed for 15 minutes!

[@smwizzz]

Whatever... There are lots of peeps doing stuff that is older and beyond your realm. If you don't like it or appreciate it... don't watch it! Personally, I think it's cool that some of the older generation is doing these activities, it is inspiration to me. It is out of my time but the Grand Ole Opery is still going and I hope it goes forever. I hope some old traditions do as well. Funny thing, in this day trends only last a few months or a year... the best ones last generations!!!

[@Landryparkerhim]

I did it a long time ago learned it and I went to the national square dance convention in San Antonio

[@raynelson4202]

the new stuff is certainly a help with keeping square dancing in the public eye as well as making dancers keep paying attention. Still, even mainstream demands a vigilance, but making it too easy to perform does square dancing a DISSERVICE. I have square danced for 62 years and feel it needs a commitment to the art in order to make people join and support a club.

[@911ambulancegirl]

Ray, I'm 34 years old... I remember when I was a little girl, I grew up in West Glacier Montana, a very small community, and about twice a year a group of square dancers would come thru and dance at our community center. With them was a school bus full of the cute skirts and petticoats for sale. All the ladies wore the skirts and petticoats and all the gentlemen wore matching shirts and ties. I was in awe. I would always go and sit with my hands in my lap wearing my little skirt (which was NO match for the ladies' skirts, but was the best a poor girl could pull together) and watch. They were always so kind to me, pulling me in and helping me dance at least a dance or two, even though I had no idea what I was doing, and I'm sure I messed them up entirely. They were always so kind to me. That is one of the few good childhood memories I have. I just want to thank you, on behalf of the square dancing community, for those memories. They truly bring a tear to my eye. Those people were so sweet and good. I would love to try square dancing again, just to bring those memories back... maybe I will someday. I just asked my boyfriend if he would take lessons with me, and he laughed. I think that was a no. Maybe YOU will be my partner... LOL you don't happen to live in Billings Montana do you? LOL

[@rameeti]

Nobody NobodyAtAll Modern Western Square Dancing has something for everyone. At the Mainstream level, the dancers learn 69 calls. These are really quite simple and many dancers only dance once a month and can do this successfully. Youth under 10 can master this set in a number of months right alongside their parents or grandparents, all having a great time. At times, I personally enjoy levels more challenging than this and so I have chosen to continue to advance my skills up to the C2 level which has 346 calls in total and I am continuing the desire to learn higher levels still! Something for everyone, 8-80 years of age.

[@rameeti]

Interesting viewpoint. Do note that every call in that competition is a Mainstream call. Yet all of the dancers in the winning square all dance at the Challenge level. Doesn't that kind of go against your thoughts that 'they believe they will be better dancers by doing the high level stuff'? Dancers who dance at the higher level enjoy the challenge of additional calls from non-typical positions. They enjoy all levels of dance. Else why would they enter a Mainstream competition? Fun for everyone

[@theweirdkid1999]

I have been to a square dance with modern music.

[@frankdimond4481]

I never noticed the 'peel off' mentioned earlier, but even without that it was still *mainly* Mainstream as a half-sashayed eight-chain thru was called and courtesy turn at Mainstream is limited to 'normal' couples with the boy on the left - notwithstanding, an excellent and entertaining tip giving many ideas (one of which I will be using with my club tonight lol)

[@paulakollman9330]

Nope....maintstream is not limited to the "normal" couple placement. Couples should be able to dothe calls however they are placed.

[@frankhooper7871]

​@@paulakollman9330 Callerlab definitions state that at basic and mainstream, courtesy turn is restricted to a man turning a woman.

[@smileclarenet]

That is so cool. Anyone in the UK up for one of these competitions? I'd love to have a go at it.

[@BlueEyes110986]

I dance mainstream through C1, and I still enjoy the plus level the most. Dancing the higher levels did in fact make me a stronger dancer, especially at the lower levels, so your theory is incorrect. Not all of us high-level dancers are snobs who think we are better than everyone else. The reason I don't do the competition is because it usually conflicts with another caller time slot that I want to dance.

[@pj3679]

i dont recognize many of these calls, I only did mainstream, they sound like plus. I love square dancing, it is a good old tradition. I havnt dont it in many many years though.

[@paulakollman9330]

They are all mainstream calls.

[@frankhooper7871]

I'd say 'nearly' mainstream - the half-sashayed eight chain four is *technically* plus as courtesy turn is restricted at mainstream to boy turning the girl...but a great dance.

[@johngalt5205]

My bride and I have been taking classes for a few months now and we are going to graduate next week. I'm surprised I'm having so much fun now. At the start it was really hard work, but now we are starting to 'know' the steps and not have to think about them so much. It was interesting that I can do all those calls. But what about the speed of the caller? It seems like he is just firing off calls as fast as he can to try to trip up the square rather than following any sort of cadence.

[@TheFreerslug]

Caller gives a lot of tips, but still hard.

[@debbieceder8712]

There are two callers calling. One is most definitely Randy Dougherty. The other is probably Tony Oxendine.

[@billvanmelle3980]

Actually, I don't think he was using the challenge definition of "start". He called "boys start, all finish, split circulate twice". Given that he expected to be able to call Ferris Wheel after that (and beat you up for doing a Wheel and Deal instead), I'm guessing he intended "everyone split circulate twice, but boys move first so nobody gets hurt" -- effectively a Reverse the Pass. At least that's what he cued when he did overs on it.

[@lisagordon6355]

Guy in denim jeans....he’s out for a stroll

[@rameeti]

Yes, that would be Marvin Fishman. He's been dancing so long that this kind of thing just comes natural. He won 1st place several years in a row dancing with Debby Stopp.

[@lisagordon6355]

Robert Ameeti I’m impressed!

[@Landryparkerhim]

I did it a long time ag

[@jennpepper]

Awesome!

[@911ambulancegirl]

LOL, I just typed in the search box "how to square dance"... I think I should have included the word "beginner", because while this was wildly entertaining it was WAY beyond my 'skill' level... haaaaaaaaaaaaa! I also just asked my boyfriend if he would take square dancing lessons with me. He laughed. Hummmm. I think I really just want to wear a cute skirt with a petticoat and bounce around in it. Thinking....

[@notmyrealname27]

Well, who wouldn't? :-)

[@keitharnold5464]

Men have a tendency to resist taking the square dance lessons, but once lessons are finished typically the men are the ones looking for opportunities and pushing to go to dances.

[@larryk3986]

@@keitharnold5464 So true. My husband only went because friends of ours wanted to square dance and they would only go if we went with them. Now we're still dancing and they're not (due to health). My husband loves square dancing now. Taking plus lessons for fun and mental stimulation.

[@TanjaVasiljeva69]

Class!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@BlueEyes110986]

All but "peel off". Maybe it was a slip up...

[@llamalluvv]

I've never done a Boys Face/Girls Face Grand Square. Looks like fun, and I'll have to ask our Caller to do that one at our next DBD lesson!

[@jayhawker53]

Square dancing isn't about competition. I don't care if it's mainstream or plus. If you want to do the challenge that's fine. there are people that i have said that get upset because you make a mistake. If they don't like it, then maybe they need to find another hobby. It's just a dance. I'll bet you have corrected some people in your time. It's not your place to correct anybody at a dance. You aren't the square dance police. Just go out and enjoy the dancing. That's all it is.

[@HobbyBots]

5:23 :D

[@jayhawker53]

square dance competition? square dancing is a dying art. this is one thing that it doesn't need. I don't care if it's the dancers against the callers. all you're doing is just dancing. have you ever noticed that the people that do the high level dancing or the dbd, it changes them. they believe they will be a better dancer by doing the high level stuff. you will not be any better or worse. they also turn they noses up at other people just because they don't do this type of dancing.

[@Amcsae]

There's ONE hour of the year where there's *a* competitive tip at the National Convention. It's not that serious, but for some of us, it's the most fun we have all year. Don't go saying 'this is one thing that it doesn't need' as though all dancers have the same priorities as to what's fun for *them!*

[@lisagordon6355]

Hot mess