The Woodward News

Local News

March 13, 2009

Square Dance Festival on tap

The Red Carpet Club of Shattuck will be host of the Northwest Oklahoma Square Dance Festival, a celebration that is expected to draw five or six squares.

The festival will begin at 7:45 p.m. Saturday at the Pioneer Room in Woodward.

Susan Shuster of the Woodward Wranglers Square Dance Club, one of the clubs attending, said dancers from as far away as Vernon, Texas, will be there.

Lowell’s Place of Moore also will sell square dance clothing at the festival, and refreshments will be served, Shuster said.

Door prizes also will be given away.

“Bob Rollins will be our caller for the evening,” she said. “District and state officers will attend. We will dance from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.”

Shuster said either the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts would present colors and do a flag presentation at the beginning of the event, and a grand march would be held.

The square dance is an American institution.

It began in New England when the first settlers and the immigrant groups that followed brought with them their various national dances, which are now known as folk dances, according to a square dancing Web site.

After a week of work, the settlers would gather in a community center and enjoy dancing their old-world favorites. As the communities grew and people of different backgrounds intermingled, so did the dances. It became increasingly difficult for the average person to remember the various movements.

In almost any group, however, there was always one person who had a knack for remembering the dance figures. The settlers let this person cue or prompt them in case they happened to forget what came next. This person became the caller.

In later years, it became popular with pioneers.

As the population grew more urban, dancing became more cosmopolitan. Booming trade brought new fashions, new music and new dances from other continents. The new dances became fashionable, and square dancing became displaced, surviving only in isolated areas.

In the early 1930s, Henry Ford became interested in reviving square dancing and captured the interest of other people, according to the Web site. Interest grew and by 1948, square dancing had reached the level of a fad.

Shuster said square dancing is “fun.”

“It offers fellowship, and it’s good exercise for your body and your brain,” she said. “We would like to increase membership.”

Anyone who is interested may call Shuster at (580) 837-5468 or they may call Peggy Norman of the Red Carpet Squares at (580) 698-2656.

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