Some Square Dance Jargon
Square dancers have almost as many jargon terms as people in a
technical field. Here are a few that come to mind, so you don't feel
left out. This list does not include the names of the calls themselves,
just vocabulary used for talking about calls, formations, or square
dancing in general.
- call
- 1. A set of moves that you do when the caller calls its name.
Most are made up of simpler calls.
- 2. A series of calls that traditionally starts and ends with
"bow to your partner, bow to your corner".
-
- sequence
- A series of calls{1} that begins and ends with the dancers at
home.
-
- patter call
- A call that is spoken or chanted rather than sung, but is
usually done to background music. Also called a hash call. You wind
up with your original partner each time you promenade home.
- singing call
- A call that consists of a song (any song with a good beat will
do, and it depends mostly on the caller's taste) with some of the
lyrics replaced by square dance calls. The typical singing call has
7 sequences, in the pattern ABBABBA; at the end of the B sequences,
you usually wind up with your (new) corner for the promenade home.
- cuing
- Directions the caller sometimes gives after a call that he or
she thinks some dancers may have trouble with, giving the definition
of the call ("Right and Left Thru--Right Pull By, then a Courtesy
Turn") or filling in who does what, given your current formation ("Flutterwheel--Men
are in the lead"). A careful caller will mumble, so you don't think
this is another call.
- sight calling
- Calling ad lib and then trying to untangle the square on the
fly, rather like unscrambling a Rubik's cube.
- break down
- What a square has done when so few dancers know where they're
supposed to be that everyone is hopelessly lost.
-
- tip
- The time you spend dancing in one square without a break.
Typically this consists of a patter call and a singing call. Origin
obscure.
- level or program
- A list of calls, including all the levels below it. The levels
are: Basic, Mainstream, Plus, Advanced (A1-A2), and Challenge
(C1-C4).
- workshop
- A class for people who already know one level to learn the next
level, or to gain more skill at their current level.
- angel
- A dancer participating in a class who already knows how to dance
the level being taught.
- dark
- Not meeting. Said of a night that a club would ordinarily meet,
but this time doesn't.
- couple
- Two side-by-side dancers facing the same direction.
- normal couple
- A couple with a gent standing to the left of a lady.
- leader, trailer
- In any 1x2 setup (e.g., a tandem, facing dancers, etc.), the
dancers facing out of the setup are leaders, those facing in
are trailers.
- sound effect
- Something the dancers yell back, ideally in unison, in response
to a call. Examples:
-
Ferris Wheel - "Wheeee"
-
Flutterwheel - "Whoop, whoop, whoop"
-
Ladies In, Men Sashay - Ladies whoop it up
-
Scoot Back - Scooters grunt, or Scooters squeal if girls
-
Slide Thru - "Whoosh" while gracefully sliding arms out to the sides
-
Spin the Top - "Spin the Top?"
-
Load the Boat - "Toot, toot"
-
Ping Pong Circulate - Clap hands
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