Dance your troubles away?

So this week I learned that I barely know anything about square dancing, particularly how to do it. The people in the government camp seem to have so much fun doing it (other than the whole like, getting attacked by the police fear thingy) so I figured I would investigate. According to Ed Gilmore and the Western Square Dancing homepage, the idea of multiple couples dancing in a square came out of the Quadrille, an English and French dance. Some of the steps and movement patterns came out of traditional Scottish dancing. When people from these areas immigrated to the US, the started blending together. Then When the western migration began in full force the two groups really came into contact and what emerged was the first version of ‘American Square Dancing. Henry Ford, and his wife, helped bring square dancing to prominence in the early 1920s and by 1928, the Boards of Education all around America began sponsoring square dancing programs in schools. These were seen as great ways to promote exercise, respect for tradition, and good manners. In 1982, Ronald Regan made square dancing the National Folk Dance of America in a temporary resolution that lasted only two years. However many states have it as their official state dance including, California, Oklahoma, Massachusetts and Florida. So how does it work? Well apparently there are some key elements. Namely, four couples, some music, a wooden floor, and a caller. According to Dr Lloyd Shaw, whose 1939 book on square dancing helped lead to a revival in the 1950s, there are several important qualities in a good caller: “He must have the voice. Deep and pleasant. He must have had a sufficient training and experience in public speaking that he knows how to enunciate correctly and can be clearly understood. He must have an ear for music in order to be able to do singing calls or to chant. He must be thoroughly familiar with the dances. He must have an infallible sense of rhythm. This should be instinctive. He must have an unerring geometric sense. He should be a natural teacher. He must have the ability to overcome his own embarrassment. He must be clear headed.” For a better example, check out this commercial from 1948.