HIP TO BE SQUARE

What activity promotes good mental health, coordination, cross-body motion, listening skills, being present in the moment, logging 3.2 miles an evening, and all the while smiling and have a great time?

Cross Fit, jogging, swimming, Nordic Track, Bowflex ... how about square dancing?

Kimball square dancer Jim Young provides a perfect explanation of the activity.

"Square dancing is a bit of a misnomer," he said. "You don't really dance. You walk or march to the music and execute moves given to you by the square dance caller. There is no fancy footwork involved like there is in other types of dancing. It has been said that if you can walk and shake hands you can square dance."

After an 18-month hiatus due to COVID, 30 square dancers from Wyoming, Colorado, and western Nebraska were back in action in Kimball on Sunday afternoon, making a good solid three squares of dancers or four couples per square. The consolidated group known as the Oregon Trail Dance Club will meet in Kimball once a month and two or three times a month in Gering on Fridays.

The elite of callers was in attendance in the old North 4-H building with Lucky Kochenower from Gering and Roger Sharppell from the Fort Collins, Colo., area.

Calling for over 40 years, Lucky is one of the few callers in the western two thirds of the state of Nebraska and is self-taught in the art of calling. Today callers go to a week-long CallerLab, which provides training for callers. Roger is a top-notch caller in northeast Colorado, both are cue callers. Or as Lucky says, he is an extemporaneous site caller: "I don't even know what I am going to call next."

Lucky explained, "Square dancing is eight people constantly changing formations, squares, lines of four, double pass through formation, there are certain moves that can be done from each formation. You have to thoroughly know the mechanics of the program, what to use, and when to use it. Nothing is programmed; I am a site caller."

Square dancing involves moving to the beat of the music and making different geometric patterns. Basic moves are necessary for the beginning stages of square dancing. Then, according to Kochenower, he can call 119 other moves, although the Oregon Trail Dance Club has about 30-35 moves they use regularly.

Local square dancers like Jim and Charlotta Young, and Dave Reader all looked forward to getting back out on the dance floor. Reader's smile told the whole story when the words square dancing came up. He describes how much fun it was and how many people he met over the years, including his wife. He said he had been square dancing for "many, many years, at least fifty years."

Jim Young compares square dancing to a team sport.

He said, " It is more like a team sport with eight people in the square (you get a new set of people every 15 minutes) working together to execute the moves given to you by the caller. Like other team sports it requires teamwork and focus, but unlike other team sports there is no competition, there is no one keeping score, and no pressure to get it right. In fact mistakes are common and can be as fun as getting it right."

"Square dancing is a good social activity, non-alcoholic and a way to meet new friends," according to Charlotta.

Although Jim and Charlotta both square danced as youths, they did not know one another. About 15 years ago, as a couple, the Youngs got back into both square dancing and round dancing. Round dancing is basic ballroom dancing, but with the caller telling you the steps four beats ahead of time, but they dance to the waltz, polka, two-step, foxtrot and a variety of other steps.

Charlotte explained, "Square dance is the best activity I know for being in the moment, for being in the now, because when you are dancing with seven other people in the square you have to pay attention to the caller, so you are listening, and you have to be present in the moment because if you let your mind wander off, then you mix up the whole square."

It had been a year and a half since the group had danced, so there were missed steps and moves when they got back together, and the squares did get confused, but everyone just laughed and reset.

In the 1960s, square dancing was taught in the Kimball Schools during P.E. Some schools are still teaching the moves to elementary students for social interaction, rhythm, and endurance – such as Allemande Left, Do sa do, Forward and Back, Circle Left, Right, and Left Grand family, and swing your partner. The movements and social interaction align with Common Core Standards.

The attire for square dancing has been relaxed, although some women still wear skirts with smaller can-cans unless they are going to a big dance. The dress is very casual.

While square dancing can be traced back to the 1600s in England as a folk dance, in Kimball, square dancing caught on in the early 1950s and was very big in the '60s and' 70s. Kochenower blames technology for the low numbers now.

The early group known as the Kimball Promenaders was organized by Vic and Beth Schneider. Then Orvile and Arra Pittam took over the duties. They even started a junior high square dancing group. Both Jim and Charlotta Young participated in that group and learned the basic moves at that time.

Jim Young explained the benefits of square dancing as "the challenge of dancing to great songs sung by talented callers working with seven other people in the square all having a blast while doing so. The side benefit is that you get a lot of exercise while having fun and for a couple of hours you get a break from worrying about all the issues we have to deal with every day."