The Square Dance Lives On Because It’s Just Plain Fun

Ferris wheel, promenade, circle four, pass through, cast off three-quarters, square through, four-hand, recycle…

Before there were TVs, radios, computers and cars, people would often get together for social occasions that included barn dancing. Out of those events, the eastern style of square dancing evolved. When settlers moved west, the western version of square dancing became popular.

Square dancing is a leisure-time activity that thousands of people in Connecticut enjoy, so much so that the State Legislature has designated it as the state dance.

The Rocking Roosters Square Dance Club of Newtown invites the public to a free introduction to the western style of square dancing any Wednesday evening at Sand Hill Plaza.

The club holds lessons from 8 to 10 pm inside the mall area at Sand Hill Plaza. Though there is no obligation to join the club after completing the 20 weeks of lessons, the club welcomes new members. Children are always welcome to accompany their parents.

Club dances for experienced dancers are held on the first and third Fridays and on occasion a fifth Friday from September to June in the Edmond Town Hall gymnasium.

Club members Marge and Hugh Humiston, former Newtown residents who now live in Southbury, and Marty Maciag of Newtown are eager to have new dancers join the club.

“For $8 a couple, where can you go for three hours of entertainment, fellowship and refreshments?” Mr Humiston said this week.

Mr Maciag said that in addition to being fun, square dancing is good cardio-vascular exercise. An average night of three hours of square and round dancing is equal to walking five miles.

Newcomers to square dancing should not fear making a mistake. “We all still do it,” Mr Humiston said. “You laugh and keep dancing.”

“You have to listen. You can’t be worried about something or you’ll miss the call,” Mr Maciag said. “When you get better at it, you can anticipate the call.”

Special clothing is not required, except for soft-soled shoes when dancing in the Town Hall gym.

“We have never turned people away if they came in street clothes,” Mrs Humiston said.

She said many of the dancers prefer to dress in comfortable, casual clothing. Women can wear slacks or a prairie skirt, a long denim skirt, rather than crinolines and square dance skirts.

Classes are held from September to May. They consist of 20 two-hour sessions at $4 a night. During the classes, 50 basic calls are taught. Twenty-five additional calls move newcomers into mainstream dancing, Mrs Humiston said.

Mr and Mrs Humiston joined the Rocking Roosters in 1967. “We fell in love with it and have been very active for 33 years. There were bigger groups then,” Mrs Humiston said. “Today it’s harder to get people because you have jobs and kids, both parents working, and many more obligations. It’s a wonderful activity. You meet a lot of nice people from all walks of life.

 “We dance three to four times a week, and we take groups to dance with other clubs. Other clubs always welcome you,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun. You may be tired and not want to go out, but once you are there, the adrenaline starts, and you have a great time.”

“My husband and I went to a barn dance years ago on our first date,” Beverly McKeone said. “I like to take adult education classes and six years ago there was one on square dancing. We took it and have been dancing ever since.

“You don’t have to have a partner. We have single males and females taking classes,” she said. “There are a lot of seniors in square dancing, too.”

Mrs McKeone and her husband, John, the president of the Rocking Roosters, are residents of Southbury.

According to Mr and Mrs Humiston and Mr Maciag, square dancing is not difficult to learn.

“It’s like watching football. Once you know the rules, it is not so complicated,” Mr Maciag said. “When we do demonstrations, people are dancing the first night.”

A History

Square dancing consists of four couples dancing together. Eastern (traditional or barn) dancing features one couple moving at a time with lots of swinging. The caller tells you each step to take. It has its roots in northern European dances. The familiar “do-si-do” is a simplification of the French expression “back-to-back.” As settlers moved westward, they took dancing with them. Dancing and calls became different than those of eastern square dancing.

Mrs Humiston said she prefers western square dancing because it is more graceful, without a lot of swinging as in the eastern style.

Western square dancing, as performed by the Rocking Roosters, evolved in the 1940s and 1950s. According to Mrs Humiston, it is a series of mathematically constructed steps, with two or more couples being in motion at a time.

According to Mr Maciag, Lloyd “Pappy” Shaw, who died in 1958, is recognized as the “father” of western style square dancing. He formed a folk dance demonstration team. At a local fair, he saw callers putting on a dance called a “square dance,” which was similar to barn dances of the time. He developed new figures and dance patterns and began holding workshops at summer camps to teach others how to train dancers.

A caller directs the moves. A tip consists of a call in which the caller puts several calls together at random. After several different moves, the caller returns dancers to their original partners. The second half is a singing call that is choreographed. In between tips a cuer directs round dances, which consist of two steps, waltzes, tangos, fox trots, choreographed to popular songs.

The Rocking Roosters

The Rocking Rooster Square Dance Club was formed after a Bethel club entertained at a meeting of the Newtown Congregational Church couples group. Several long-time Newtown couples started the charter class.

The name was taken from the town symbol of a rooster.

According to Mr and Mrs Humiston, the club originally met in members’ homes and in Sandy Hook School. The club has held dances at Edmond Town Hall for the past six years. Classes were once held at the Congregational Church.

 There are now about 33 people in the Rocking Roosters club. “We used to have 50 or more couples when we joined,” Mrs Humiston said.

The club has a regular once-a-month caller, Bob Paris of Danbury, who has been calling for more than 50 years. For the rest of their dances, they have guest callers, who they must book two years ahead.

The caller for classes is Al Brozek of Oxford, an elementary school teacher. He has been calling for 40 years and does contra, barn, and calling to live music.

“After about a month and a half of lessons, they go to their first dance,” Mr Humiston said.

Round dancing  is also offered by the Rocking Roosters. “Anyone who does ballroom dancing can do round dancing,” Mrs Humiston said.

The club has danced in the Labor Day parade for many years and does demonstrations for organizations and convalescent homes.

Hank Hjerpe, who sells newspapers in front of The Newtown Bee every Thursday, dances several times a week. Mr Hjerpe is an “angel,” who partners with beginning students to help them learn.

“I dance Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, if there is a dance that day. There are enough clubs in this area, within ten miles of each town, that you can always find a place to go.

“I’ll be doing this for two years this August – I can’t get enough of it,” he said. “I have lots of goxod laughs, good thrills. I always have a good time, and I enjoy it immensely.”

For information about lessons, demonstrations, and the Rocking Roosters Square Dance Club, contact Mr and Mrs Humiston at 203/264-2048, Mr Maciag at 203/426-4817, or Mr and Mrs McKeone at 203/264-6855.