Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990 TAG: 9004030501
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
Well, square dancing is just as popular today as it was then, and everyone is finding out that traditional western square dancing has benefits you won't find in the local saloon.
"For one thing, this isn't barn dancing," said Mary Spicer, one of the presidents of Montgomery County's Triangle Squares club. "There's no alcohol involved."
Instead, she said it's "a natural high."
Even though there ain't any drinkin', there's plenty of hootin' and hollerin' when the 28 couples get together at the Blacksburg Recreation Center every Thursday night. Lesson signup in October runs until May and all the newcomers are required to learn the steps and the calls.
And it's not as easy as you might think.
"The first 10 ules to square dancing are `Listen to the calls, listen to the calls, listen to the calls. . . .' " joked Triangle Squares' President Frank Spicer of Christiansburg.
"And also that you only have one right and one left foot!" added his wife Mary.
Every square dancer must learn to dance and decipher 48 basic calls, such as "promenade," "form a star," "swing your partner," "grand right and left," and "do-sa-do."
There are also some 50 other calls that denote different steps in varying levels of advancement.
The caller is the most important figure at a square dance. The success of the dance depends on the skill used in combining the calls into interesting patterns.
The caller often makes up rhymes on the spur of the moment as he calls, like "swing her high, swing her low, but don't step on that pretty little toe."
The caller for the dances can mix the calls and either sing or speak them. The caller instructs the choreography, which can change with every song.
"The calls are put together in different sequences that create different choreography each time," said Jim Simpkins of Christiansburg, a former president and current vice president with his wife, Iris.
"You don't know how the dance will go until a cue is given," he said.
Tina Hicks, a dancer, performer, instructor and caller of traditional music and dance from Christiansburg, is an area expert on square dancing, flat-footing and clogging.
Traveling throughout the nation, Hicks, 30, got involved with the music in 1982 with Blacksburg's Hoorah Cloggers. As a performer, she presents the traditional form of dancing, representative of the old-time solo flat-footing done in this region.
As an instructor, and co-chairwoman of the Old Time Music and Dance Group in Blacksburg, Hicks teaches the traditional dances. And as a square-dance caller, she calls dances native to southern Appalachian.
"Calling is as much fun as dancing," said Hicks, who also is a disc jockey on Christiansburg bluegrass station WFNR.
Becky Barlow, who teaches clogging at the YMCA's Open University, said the music is equally important and provides the rythym to help learn the steps.
"Old-time music came about when the average farmer wanted to let loose, socialize and have fun," Barlow said.
Bobby Thompson has been the caller for Triangle Squares since it began in 1981. He said he wouldn't miss for the world traveling from Bluefield, W.Va., each week. "It's the energy you feel from the crowd," he said.
To be a caller, Hicks, who has done numerous shows at Moutain Lake in Giles County, suggests learning the dances, having the drive to teach and to work with the music. "It's a natural progression into calling."
The educational aspects are part of the excitement of a dance form that's evolved over 600 years, Spicer said. He said square dancing is international, with roots in France and England. The world square-dancing convention will be held in Austria this year.
"Once you get people to do it, they're really gung-ho," said Mary Spicer.
The Mountain Square Dance Association, based in Pearisburg, consists of eight clubs, including the Triangle Squares. There are also clubs in Radford and at New River Community College.
There is an official Virginia State square-dance costume and a courtesy list exists among all members.
One courtesy, for example, is that all men wear long-sleeved shirts so that "women don't have to grab onto a long and hairy, sweaty arm," Mary Spicer said.
Another is that women wear full and flaired skirts with a ruffled petticoat and pettipants. Mary Spicer said that's done "so that there's something nice to look at when the women are twirling around during the dance."
Triangle Squares' members, who are non-competitive and meet strictly socially, are also civic minded. They are involved in the Adopt-A-Highway program and do demonstrations for residents of nursing homes and hospitals.
Hicks is raising awareness of the dance as consultant and production assistant for a documentary called "Back Roads America," which features old-time music and dance from Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.
Square dancers and callers say it's the fun that appeals to the many age groups.
Mary Spicer said everyone from farmers to carpenters can get together with doctors and lawyers to "let their hair down." She said their club includes high teen-agers all the way up to a 78-year-old man.
"It's good therapy and exercise, but we just want to have a good time," she said.
Call the Spicers at 382-6272 for information. Hicks can be reached at 381-1598 for instruction.
by CNB