A lot of people ask me, what is Modern Western Square Dancing like? I'll be honest, it's a little hard to describe. I figured the easiest thing to do was to figure out how to get some video onto the site to help me out so here you go!!

 

Basically, calls have definitions - they are done certain ways. At a typical "Plus level" dance, the caller has about 90 calls at his disposal.  It's his, or my, job to put them in an order that flows well, and to deliver it with good timing. The dancers don't know which call is coming next and must react quickly in order to keep moving smoothly.

 

Below are some examples that I pulled from You Tube of my calling at Tech Squares. Tech is a Plus level club that dances on the campus of M.I.T in Cambridge, Mass.  They have a rich history which you can read about on Wikipedia if you're interested. There is a link to Tech's official Web site on my home page as well.

  

This is a typical club level patter tip at Tech Squares.  As I said, the dancers don't know what is coming next. Tech tends to add a lot more spinning and twirling than most clubs, but that's what adds to the fun! You can also take note that I don't like your typical square dance music, this clip uses "Angel" by Lionel Richie.  

 

 

The second half of the tip above is included below.  The singing call is the when the choreography usually gets a little easier and the caller gets to attempt to sing.  Now, all Square Dance singing call music is put together in seven 64-beat phrases, so it is never the original song as you would hear it on the radio. This is song is "I've Got a New Attitude", originally sung by Patti LaBelle sometime in the 80's.  It's not a jaw dropper by any means, but it gets the job done. The lyrics have me singing - "Ohh, ohh, ohh, ohh, oooohh" throughout, which I mock very early on.