Square Dancing Is NOT Out of This World
This is the text of a presentation by Joe Lewis at the 1959 National Square Dance Convention, part of a discussion of the future of square dancing.
Lewis points out that the majority of dancers at the time are dancing ones a week or less, but that the increasing complexity of the activity is aimed at those who dance more frequently: "Hundreds of our leaders and callers are now dedicated to the entertainment of a tiny minority of our most enthusiastic dancers and they are achieving this goal."
He points out that the rise of traveling callers has led to dancers encountering leaders who do not have responsibility to a home club: "Club dancing is the backbone of the whole activity and when a man does not know club calling he just does not know square dancing. This does not imply that dancing to his calling is not enjoyable; it might be the greatest for you on a given night.. He might warrant rehiring year after year — but if he has not sweated through the tough job of being a successful club caller then beware of running back to your club with his material or advice.
"There is one last fantastic notion which I would like to cover. This notion involves our greatest lack of foresight . . . the notion that, in any established activity, you can add to the number of basic parts which must be mastered by the participant, without hurting the activity." Lewis argues that to be successful, clubs need to focus on fewer basic movements, a number to be determined by the activity level of club members:
"I believe that in the future the clubs that last will be those clubs that adopt a sensible number of basics — they could even be in their by-laws and this number will remain fixed. The number will take into account how often the members dance; for example, if they only dance twice a month, about twenty basics are all they could keep their reflexes conditioned to — once a week they could handle thirty, etc. Any caller 'working for this group could use these basics in any sequence he wished, but no other basics."
Subjects: Transitional/Western 1950s, Modern square dance - general
Tags: basic, club, Joe Lewis
Citation
Dublin Core
Title
Description
Lewis points out that the majority of dancers at the time are dancing ones a week or less, but that the increasing complexity of the activity is aimed at those who dance more frequently: "Hundreds of our leaders and callers are now dedicated to the entertainment of a tiny minority of our most enthusiastic dancers and they are achieving this goal."
He points out that the rise of traveling callers has led to dancers encountering leaders who do not have responsibility to a home club: "Club dancing is the backbone of the whole activity and when a man does not know club calling he just does not know square dancing. This does not imply that dancing to his calling is not enjoyable; it might be the greatest for you on a given night.. He might warrant rehiring year after year — but if he has not sweated through the tough job of being a successful club caller then beware of running back to your club with his material or advice.
"There is one last fantastic notion which I would like to cover. This notion involves our greatest lack of foresight . . . the notion that, in any established activity, you can add to the number of basic parts which must be mastered by the participant, without hurting the activity." Lewis argues that to be successful, clubs need to focus on fewer basic movements, a number to be determined by the activity level of club members:
"I believe that in the future the clubs that last will be those clubs that adopt a sensible number of basics — they could even be in their by-laws and this number will remain fixed. The number will take into account how often the members dance; for example, if they only dance twice a month, about twenty basics are all they could keep their reflexes conditioned to — once a week they could handle thirty, etc. Any caller 'working for this group could use these basics in any sequence he wished, but no other basics."