Modern Western square dance
Modern American square dance uses several hundred calls, divided into nine programs. Seven of these programs are managed by Callerlab, the International Association of Square Dance Callers. In addition there are several highlevel unmanaged programs. Programs are managed so that dancers can be assured that others who dance the same program know identical calls. This allows modern western square dance to be international. The seven managed lists are as follows. After the name of the program is an indication of the number of included steps at the moment (Aug. 2002). There is occassional adjustment of the programs. The tendency is to reduce the number of steps at the lowest level (Mainstream) so that there is less required learning time to achieve a controlled common level of dancing proficiency.
- Mainstream - 68 calls
- Plus - 32 calls
- Advanced 1 (A1) - 48 calls (and concepts)
- Advanced 2 (A2) - 37 calls (and concepts)
- Challenge 1 (C1) - 73 calls (and concepts)
- Challenge 2 (C2) - 72 calls (and concepts)
- Challenge 3A (C3A) - 81 calls (and concepts)
There is an alternative dance program managed by the American Callers Association, called the "1" floor dance program, which consists of 66 steps at the moment. Its intention is to create a dance program that is more accessible.
The dance is choreographed by the caller on the spot. You must know the calls that belong to a particular dance program in order to participate successfully at a dance. Callerlab recommends that the Mainstream program be taught in no less than 56 hours. Depending on the length of the individual class and how often you meet, it can take a half year or longer to learn the full program. In Europe, most notably in Denmark, there have been recognized a series of partial dance levels with corresponding dances available at those partway points (Mainstream 23, 45, 53, 68). This allows dancers to begin attending dances quicker in the learning cycle.
A "call" means the name of a dance step, the phrase used by a caller to tell the dancers to dance it, and the dance step itself. It mirrors the ambiguity of the word "dance", which may mean a dance event, the dancing of an individual to the playing of one piece of music, or dancing in general. A "concept" is an additional layer of complexity which can be put on top of a step to make it more challenging. Not surprisingly "concepts" are first introduced when learning the higher dance programs. To show how concepts work we could take a hypothetical call entitled "Walk" which is defined as walking forward, and apply a hypothetical concept entitled the "Backwards" concept or even the "Sideways" concept, and the results of the walk call is entirely different.
See also
Comparison between traditional and Western square dance, Contradance, Gay square dancing, Western square dance, Square dance clubs, Western line dance
External Links
- Callerlab- International Association of Square Dance Callers
- Dosado.com- A good homepage for modern American square dance