Square Dancing and Calls

Index:

Here are 2 links which may be useful.The first one is animated. It takes a long time to load, but you can see the dancers in a birds eye view. Select Basic List 1,2 etc Enjoy.

http://members.tripod.com/~noriks/ENGLISH/English-Index3.html   Animated Dancers

The second is a listing much like the one I made up, but it may be helpful.

http://www.dosado.com/lists/defs/bs-msdef.htm

Introduction:

Square Dance is a new (foreign) language, that's spoken in English.

What did he say to do for a blah blah blah? What ever does he want me to do now?

Here is a list in the order that we got familiar with the new ideas and calls.

Square Dance Terminology

PARTNER

In a squared set, the person facing the same direction you are is your partner. A more general rule which you will get to know will be that your partner is the person connected to you and at your end of a set-up.... More on this later .

COUPLE

Two people side by side facing the same direction form a couple, holding inside hands.

NORMAL COUPLE

Our normal couple will be boy/girl with the girl to the right of the boy, holding inside hands.

CORNER

The person in your set who, except for your partner, is closest to you.

BOW

"Bow to your partner" and "Bow to your corner" are common ways for a caller to get your attention and signal that the tip is about to start. Exactly what you do to Bow doesn't matter much, but you should take it as a reminder to note and memorize who your partner and corner are and what your couple number is. You may well need these bits of information later in the tip.

SQUARED SET

A squared set is made up of 4 couples. They are arranged so that each couple is facing toward the center of the set and so that each couple has their back to one of the walls of the room .  

SEX RELATED CALLS

Almost all of the calls we use are NOT related to your sex,ie, NOT SEXY. That means that a call has a definition of what the dancers need to do and is not man or lady related. Think about DOSADO, the dancers who are facing directly do the call, they often will be two ladies. Only a few calls will be related to ones sex, such as STAR THRU. On the call STAR THRU, the man and lady have specific responsibilities.

HOME

A dancer's original starting position in the squared set. If two dancers are together who did not start together, the lady temporarily thinks of her "home" as the home of the man she is with. Boys have homes, girls are homeless and go home with any boy they get... some are winners... some are ....   so go figure.

PATTER CALLING

The callers deliver of information to the dancers is called patter. An extension of the idea is patter calling, where the caller can go on and on calling without bringing you to your partner or corner until many many calls have gone by. Most often the music used during patter calling is rhythm and beat, but not a recognizable song tune.

SINGING CALL

The caller uses a song with a lyric that is set to a 64 beat call routine. During the singing call, the call pattern is frequently repeated. It is common for the caller to move the ladies on to a new (next) partner as the sequence progresses, to end the song back with the original partner. So ladies, you can expect to meet new or recycled men sometimes during a singing call, even getting the same guy twice sometimes. It is also common to hear the dancers singing along with the caller during the lyric part of the words.

Note that on a singing call, the "partner" you swing may not be the same one you started the sequence with; Swing Your Partner is a clue that you have temporarily changed partners.

CALLER

The caller is the person who provides the music and calls to the dancers. The callers job is to be coach of the dance team. As such, the caller teaches calls then applies those calls to the beat of music to provide the dancers with smooth flowing, interesting and varied call patterns.

COUPLE NUMBER

There are 4 couples in a square set and they have numbers and names.

Think about a baseball diamond, there is 1st, 2nd and 3rd base and home plate, Now renumber them in your mind, where home plate becomes 1st, then old 1st becomes 2nd, old 2nd is now 3rd and old 3rd is now 4th. In other words we have 4 bases.  That's the way they are numbered. The man at 1st base has his back to the caller.

Those 4 bases are the "home plates" for the men.

From a squared set, couple:

1 is facing the same direction as the caller.

2 is to the right of  #1.

3 is facing toward the caller.

4 is to the right of #3.

Notice that the dancers are numbered around the squared set in Promenade direction.

HEADS and SIDES

The positions are also named as: HEADS or SIDES

HEADs are couple numbers 1 and 3, SIDEs are 2 and 4.

LINES

Generally, lines have 4 dancers in them, all are shoulder to shoulder. There are a number of variations, but the general makeup is shoulder to shoulder group of dancers.

"Two-faced lines" contain four dancers. The dancers are arranged as couples where the "end of the line" dancer faces the same direction as their adjacent ("center of the line") dancer. In a right-handed two- faced line, the centers have right hands with each other.

Return to the Index

Really Good Ideas

HOLD HANDS

This is the best part of square dancing. Guys get to hold hands with all the girls and their partner don't even get mad a t them. Always hold hands when you are adjacent to another dancer, it will make you feel good.

TEAMWORK

You can't win at square dancing by yourself. This is a team activity and it takes cooperation and patience. As dancers, you are challenging the caller to make your square succeed even though you didn't think you could all do it. The callers job is to adjust the level to be hard but to help you to win the challenge.

LISTEN

Listen to the caller. You can't make up your own dance. If you are talking then you are not listening, but I bet you knew that.

Return to the Index

Calls

All the calls are below:

Click the call name to find out how to do it.     Click here to Return to the Index

CIRCLE LEFT, RIGHT

PROMENADE

SWING YOUR PARTNER

FORWARD AND BACK

DOSADO

ALLEMANDE

BACK TRACK FROM PROMENADE

COURTESY TURN

TWO LADIES CHAIN

FOUR LADIES CHAIN

STARS

PULL BY

RIGHT AND LEFT GRAND

ROLL AWAY WITH A HALF SASHAY

U-TURN BACK

PASS THRU

RIGHT AND LEFT THRU

WEAVE THE RING

BEND THE LINE

CIRCULATE

LEAD RIGHT, or LEAD LEFT

VEER LEFT, or VEER RIGHT

STAR THRU

WHEEL AND DEAL (from out facing line)

CALIFORNIA TWIRL

WHEEL AND DEAL (from 2 faced line)

WHEEL AROUND

SWING THRU

SQUARE THRU

FERRIS WHEEL

ALLEMANDE LEFT or Left Allemande

Join left forearms with the dancer you are facing (or adjacent to) and turn left 1/2 , then step ahead to end back to back.

Return To Call List

DOSADO

Facing dancers pass by using a right shoulder pass, then slide back to back, then back up passing left shoulders, and adjust to face each other again. DoSaDo can ONLY be done with someone that you are facing directly, also, it can be done with anyone you are facing, could be same sex! Continue to face in the same direction throughout the call.

Return To Call List

STARS

Those directed (eg, heads, men, ladies, centers) put the arm specified by the caller into the center and touch hands, and begin walking forward to turn the star until the next call.

Return To Call List

CIRCLE LEFT, RIGHT

Designated dancers (everyone, or only four or two) join hands and walk or slide sideways around in a circle to the left or right as directed. Continue circling as far as directed (the caller will state the distance as a fraction of one full circle), or until the next call.

Return To Call List

PROMENADE - SINGLE FILE

Dancers walk individually around the set in counterclockwise direction.

Return To Call List

PROMENADE - EVERYONE

Two dancers as a couple walk around the set counterclockwise. Normally, men are inside and ladies are outside, men with palms up and ladies with palms down, and with right arms above left arms. This feels awkward in the beginning but becomes very natural as time goes by. The major emphasis here should be walking smoothly to the beat of the music and maintaining some handhold with the current partner. The handhold could be as simple as inside hands joined, like a walk in the park.

Return To Call List

PROMENADE - COUPLES

From a squared set, if only some of the dancers are told to Promenade and if they are couples (eg, "Heads Promenade 1/2"), they walk as a couple in Promenade direction around the outside of the other dancers. The caller will specify what portion of a full circle they are to go before stopping, usually 1/2 or 3/4. When they arrive, they automatically face in as a couple. Meanwhile, those not Promenading move into the middle temporarily to reduce the distance the Promenaders have to travel.

Return To Call List

PROMENADE - INSIDE

From a squared set, if only some of the dancers are told to Promenade and if they are individuals (eg., "Ladies Promenade"), they walk in Promenade direction around the INSIDE of the other dancers. They walk all the way around to return to their partners.

Return To Call List

STAR PROMENADE

Star Promenade means that all dancers form a couples right-hand or left-hand star. This is very much like a normal Promenade except that the centers put their inside arms into the center to touch hands with the other couples.

Return To Call List

SWING YOUR PARTNER

The simplest form of this call is to face your (current) partner and join hands ( his left to her right....) and circle around clockwise (to the left). You can get fancier by following these additional instructions, but remember that the objective is to turn clockwise in a small circle with the partner.

Face partner. Man holds lady's right hand in his left hand. Man puts right arm around lady's waist, lady puts her left hand on man's shoulder. Put outsides of right feet and right hips together and push with left feet to turn clockwise. After one or two complete turns, stop to form a couple facing into the set with the lady on the right.

Return To Call List

PULL BY

Facing dancers take hands (right, or as indicated), pull toward each other, let go of hands when you get shoulder to shoulder, and step past each other to end back to back.

Return To Call List

RIGHT AND LEFT GRAND

Face partner, Right Pull By, Left Pull By, Right Pull By, Left Pull By to face partner. Men move counterclockwise, ladies move clockwise. I will occasionally give the reminder "never forget old funny face" if I start you out on the call with someone other than your normal partner, just so you will remember who you will end up with. But, it's really your job, right, left, right and left...... your done.

Return To Call List

TWO LADIES CHAIN

From normal facing couples (men on the left, ladies on the right), the ladies give right hands to each other, turn clockwise about 1/2 with each other, and give left hands to the opposite men who Courtesy Turn them to end as facing couples. The net result is that the ladies have exchanged places.

To dance this smoothly, the gent guides his lady forward with his right hand (to her left hand) as he urges her into the center. In doing so, the result is that the mans right shoulder is pointing into the center. The ladies having turned about 1/2 will now be shoulder to shoulder with the opposite man. He can now Courtesy turn her forward in a 3/4 turn to end facing the other couple.

Return To Call List

FOUR LADIES CHAIN

From a squared set, head ladies and side ladies Chain at the same time, using a star in the middle to move straight across the set to be Courtesy Turned by their opposite men. This is a Four Ladies Chain One-Half; on a Four Ladies Chain Three-Quarters, the ladies turn the star one extra position to be turned by the next man. Gents have the same responsibility to urge the ladies in and to be ready to take them out.

Return To Call List

BACK TRACK FROM PROMENADE

I often call GIRLS BACK TRACK form a Promenade. The girls will turn AWAY from their partner to walk in the opposite direction as the men. On this call, everyone should keep moving with the girls simply rolling out away from their partner as they continue to walk.

Return To Call List

ROLL AWAY WITH A HALF SASHAY

The dancers are as a couple before the call starts. From a NORMAL COUPLE set-up, the girls left hand will be touching the boys right hand. While maintaining that handhold, the girl will move in a curved motion to momentarily face the boy. While facing, they will join her right hand to his left hand, break the old hand hold and continue the ladies curved motion to end side by side with the boy, but, on his other side.

I generally like to use this call while the dancers are circling left so that the lady is already moving in the correct direction when the call starts. In that case, the dancers continue to circle left after the Roll Away With A Half Sashay has been done. The call can be done while the couple is stationary, but we get used to it first in the circle application.

Roll Away With A Half Sashay may be called several times in a row while all dancers are Circling Left.

Return To Call List

FORWARD AND BACK

This may seem like a stupid call, but it is very important. It's main purpose is to get dancers to HOLD HANDS.

Return To Call List

COURTESY TURN

Two dancers  are involved, the turner and the turnee. The turnee needs to get turned, and the turner does the job, we hope.

Generally, the turnee is usually the lady while the turner is usually the gent. So lets talk about it as lady and gent even though it doesn't have to be that way.

Any time we have a couple, a Courtesy Turn can be done. It is a method to get the "dancer pair" to turn around in a couple set-up rather than turning individually. They take left hands and the man steers the lady by placing his right hand on her back, just above her waist level, they then move as a couple in a left turning arc to turn 1/2 so they are facing opposite of their original direction.

Often this call is used when a lady is moving directly toward the gent as in "ladies chain".  The gent, seeing the lady approaching him, turns about a quarter to the left. In that case, the lady overdances a bit, toward the right, to come about shoulder to shoulder with the man (now both facing the same direction). They take left hands and the man steers the lady by placing his right hand on her back, just above her waist level, in a left turning arc (about 3/4) to end facing another couple.

Return To Call List

U-TURN BACK

This call is done INDIVIDUALLY. So, without changing position on the floor, each dancer, who is designated by the caller, would turn 1/2 around (180 degrees). If you were designated and had been standing still (inactive) at the beginning of the call U Turn Back, then your turning direction would be toward your partner (assuming you had one). If you were in motion, such as during the call pair "Courtesy Turn and U Turn Back", then you would do the Courtesy Turn with your partner normally, but continue turning INDIVIDUALLY to the left for an additional 180 degrees. In other words, you would continue in "body flow" direction.

Return To Call List

PASS THRU

This call is done with a dancer you are facing directly. The facing dancers walk past each other, passing right shoulders, ending back-to-back, and adjust to take each other's original spots on the floor.

Return To Call List

RIGHT AND LEFT THRU

This call is used when we have "facing couples". The facing couples Right hand Pull By, then take left hands, and Courtesy Turn 1/2. The beaus  (usually  the men) turn the belles (usually the ladies). The call ends with a "facing couple" setup.

Return To Call List

WEAVE THE RING

This is simply a Right And Left Grand without using hands. So,  with the dancer you are facing, pass right, next dancer pass left, next dancer pass right, next (last) dancer pass left to end back to back with the last dancer that you passed.

Return To Call List

BEND THE LINE

Setup is a line, where everyone in the line is facing in or all are facing out or a 2 faced line where one couple is facing in and the other couple of the line is facing out. When we "bend the line", the center 2 people of the line drop hands  then each couple turns as a couple to face the other couple in their original line. To do this, the centers drop hands and back up a bit (turning 90 degrees) while the end people move forward on a 90 degree arc. Sounds hard but dances easy after a little practice.

Return To Call List

CIRCULATE

I like to think of dancers circulating as planets orbiting around the sun. Spacy don't you think? You can be in an inner orbit or an outer orbit. The deal is to STAY IN YOUR ORBIT. On the call Circulate, you walk forward and take the next position ahead of you in your orbit. If you see someone "ahead" of you in your orbit setup, move ahead to that spot. If you are looking out of your setup, the find the dancer who is ahead of you in your orbit and walk  forward to that position.

The caller say "Circulate" or may say "All Eight Circulate," meaning the same thing. If he wants some other kind of Circulate, he must say so, more later.

Could be "couples circulate" or insides circulate or boys circulate, but in each case following the "orbit" will always work.

Return To Call List

LEAD RIGHT, or LEAD LEFT

Lets talk about LEAD RIGHT. Each couple will move to the right while turning 1/4 (90 degrees) to the right as a smooth motion. As an example, from a squares set, heads lead right would have the head couple move right and turn right, to end facing the side couples.

Return To Call List

VEER LEFT, or VEER RIGHT

Lets talk about VEER LEFT. Each couple will step forward and to the left as a smooth motion. SO, if we started from a couples facing setup, on the call Veer Left, both couples would step forward to the left to end as a line of 4 dancers, with the couples facing opposite directions.

Return To Call List

STAR THRU

This is SEX RELATED CALL. That means it can only be used in a "man and lady" set-up.

Starts with a man and lady facing directly. Man using right hand, lady using left hand, place hands palm to palm forming an arch. Moving forward, the lady turns 1/4 left while going under the arch, while the man turns 1/4 to the right around the lady. Ending position is as a normal couple, side by side, with the lady to the mans right, holding hands of course.

You can visualize the ending spots if you start with the couple facing directly, they PASS THRU, to take each others original positions then the man turns a quarter right while the lady quarters left. When you do the call STAR THRU, the body flow is smoothed out by the use of the arch.

Return To Call List

WHEEL AND DEAL

Wheel and Deal is done from a line of 4 dancers setup. Always in couple pairs, but not necessarily boy / girl couples. The couples could be facing in the same direction (say out, with their backs to the other line) or the couples in the line could be facing opposite walls. On Oct 24th we looked at the case where all were looking the same direction, and it was OUT of the square. You need to identify the couple on the right hand end of the line. The person closest to the center of the line, but on the right hand side, acts as the pivot, standing in place while the outer dancer on the right hand side walks in a half circle, while holding the center dancers hand so they turn as well. When finished, they are facing in. The other pair of dancers acts similarly, the center as pivot and the outer dancer as the walker in the half circle. When both couples have completed the move, the couples will both be facing the same direction (IN in this case) with the original right hand couple ahead of the left hand couple.

WHEEL AND DEAL (from 2 faced line)

This setup, much easier I think, is from a 2 faced line, that is one couple facing one way and the second couple facing the opposite direction. In this case, the center people are still the pivots, the outer dancers still walk the half circle, and all end the call facing the people from the original 2 faced line. Check the animated page for this call.

Return To Call List

CALIFORNIA TWIRL

California Twirl is a SEX RELATED CALL. It is always done from a normal boy / girl couple, with the girl to the boys right side. Since you are holding inside hands (of course you are), you raise your joined inside hands to form an arch. The gent walks forward in a 1/2 circle around the lady, while the lady walks forward in a half circle under the arch. The result of the call is that the man and lady have exchanged positions and turned around as well.

Return To Call List

WHEEL AROUND

This is a "couple call", that is two people, side by side, do the call. The couple works as a unit of one and does a U Turn Back, by having the beau (normally the boy) back up while the belle (normally the girl) walk forward. This call dances like a Courtesy Turn, but is done with only a simple inside hand hold in stead of the 4 hand hold used on a Courtesy Turn.The result of this call is to change places and changing direction (180 degrees). I like to think of  Wheel Arould as a Courtesy Turn without the backrub. This call is usually done with a man and lady, but it can be done with same sex setups as well.

Return To Call List

SQUARE THRU    This call is done from a 4 person, facing couple set-up (any sex is ok). For each part of the call you work with the person you are facing. The implied call is SQUARE THRU 4 (hands) unless the caller indicates a different number of hands (pull by). Do a Right Pull By then Turn In toward the 4 person group, Left Pull By then Turn In toward the 4 person group, Right Pull By then Turn In toward the 4 person group and a Left Pull By DON'T Turn. That would be the case for Square Thru 4. In the case of Square Thru 2, Right Pull By then Turn In toward the 4 person group and a Left Pull By DON'T Turn. The caller may use Square Thru 3 or Square Thru 3/4 to mean the same thing.

You will always end up next to one of the original people in your four person group and you will always be facing out from the center of the group at the end of the call.

An additional note. There are a number of calls which begin in a wave set-up. There is a rule that says if you are as facing couples, you make a Right Hand Wave then do the call.

SWING THRU   This call is done in a Wave set-up, that is a multi-person, side by side group, where the facing directions of the dancers alternate. On the Call Swing Thru, you arm turn 1/2 by the right if you can and then arm turn half by the Left if you can. This is a two part call. You may be able to do both parts or just one of the parts. Prior to the call, if you are connected to the adjacent dancer by your Right hand, then you can do part one. Following part one, you must re-evaluate the set-up. If, after re-evaluation you find yourself connected to an adjacent dancer by your Left hand, do part two as well.

FERRIS WHEEL  This call is done from a 2 faced line setup, as we would have for a couples circulate set-up.The in facing couple would move forward to momentarily form a 2 faced line with the other in facing couple, then they work in their 2 faced line and do a WHEEL And DEAL. The outfacing couple does their part of a WHEEL And DEAL to end behind the center couples in a Double Pass Thru set-up.

Back to Calls And Things