2012 National Square Dance Competition

[fonzarelli]

I started square dancing in 73' in a teen group. Then went into a adult club when I turned 18. That is where I met my first wife. My parents and my 3 younger sisters were all involved in square dancing. My uncle was a caller. He would have us at his house trying new configurations and we would enjoy the fun. I miss those days. There is only 2 clubs left in the area.

[notcool]

Learning to follow square dancing calls is good excercise for the brain.

[jdsimons]

That was worth every minute of watching!

[moredayof]

I just recently started taking lessons and this makes me want to keep on learning. This group did so great! The ladies look really nice. I specially enjoyed watching the redhead here wearing the black blouse and the blue skirt.

[mywidescreen]

Squarin is a blast and lots of energy. Love it!

[jean-jacquesmagnier]

10 Years Square Dance and Round Dance was wonderful !!!

[OldMan]

I love square dancing. I wish I could have been there.

[BobFarnell]

Absolutely Right, I used to dance C2 but it is not as much fun as dancing Mainstream and Plus DBD. At the Lower levels the emphasis is on Dance that I Love

[EtzEchad]

Wow. This is complicated!
My ex-wife and I took lessons something like 40 years ago, but we were barely passed the beginner stage. This is WAY beyond what we were doing.
So much fun!

[BobFarnell]

At one time I danced at C3 It was very stressfull but I figured i had to dance 2 levels above the level I called and taught. Now I am happier just dancing, I love students but I do wish that all Plus level dances were plus and all mainstream dances were mainstream. I refused to call a split level for years, It hurt my bookings but I held my own principles. The dancers who followed me around new i made any level challenging but my aim was to get every dancer to succeed at one level!!

[billvanmelle]

Who's the caller? That's hard work calling at that speed for 15 minutes!

[ZoeRPM]

I love square dancing. I belong to a club in Nottingham but have also danced in several other cities. I'd love to travel and visit clubs in other countries. It's a shame that there are so few in France considering the historical importance of French square dances such as the cotillion. I'd urge anyone to give it a go. Clubs usually admit beginners in September to their Mainstream courses.

[CScottAnanian]

The square is (couple 1) C. Scott Ananian & Jessica Wong, (couple 2) Marvin Fishman & Debbie Stopp, (couple 3) Lynn Allen & Stephanie Henerlau, (couple 4) Bill Ackerman & Heidi Heffron. Things to look for: consistently using the challenge definition of "start" for "boys start, circulate twice"; my almost breaking down on pre-Mainstream "Mars and Venus", general confusion on "heads wheel around" when head boys are promenading side girls, and totally nailing "half a split circulate, twice" to win.

[Landryparkerhim]

I did it a long time ago learned it and I went to the national square dance convention in San Antonio

[twopiare]

This was a fun video to watch. I was not able to make it to see this little event while at Nationals. There is a "teen" square dance competition in the Northwest USA. It is for those ages 6 to 21 and includes square dancing, round dancing, and exhibition. Randy Dougherty tried doing he 3x3 flutter wheel in the DBD hall and it dropped the floor basically.

[StarParticleShade]

Square dancing was so hard, but so fun for me as a child. Now I just kind of do the moves on my own at home sometimes because of how fun it is to just keep moving and twirling. I fondly remember doing the Texas two-step in elementary school when I was growing up in Houston... good times.

[rameeti]

Interesting viewpoint. Do note that every call in that competition is a Mainstream call. Yet all of the dancers in the winning square all dance at the Challenge level. Doesn't that kind of go against your thoughts that 'they believe they will be better dancers by doing the high level stuff'?

Dancers who dance at the higher level enjoy the challenge of additional calls from non-typical positions. They enjoy all levels of dance. Else why would they enter a Mainstream competition? Fun for everyone

[stevenmazel]

I was actually part of the cometition, my team finished 5th. And we are plus dancers and i believe the competition was quite fair. And to top it off our children was the team that finished third.
A little comeptition by the way never hurt anybody. Its all in fun. I had blast! Our kids compete every year in the Pacific Northwest Teen Festivel. I sorta wish they had for adults more often.

[psmith]

You know what? I like this whole There are some younger dancers in this video. I have been square dancing and calling for 40 some years. We are dying because there are not enough young dancers invovled. We have become a very boring senior citizen dance because of all the staleness of our dance. We need exciting things like this and it might bring younger dancers in.

[raynelson]

the new stuff is certainly a help with keeping square dancing in the public eye as well as making dancers keep paying attention. Still, even mainstream demands a 
vigilance, but making it too easy to perform does square dancing a DISSERVICE. I have square danced for 62 years and feel it needs a commitment to the art in order to make people join and support a club.