DAS&RDC Historical Report A Blast from the Past #16 aka History Corner
By Griz & Senda Casada Griswold
WHEN YOU DANCE IN A SQUARE YOU MAKE A CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
We thought we would start you out this month with some more square dance trivia questions. And so that you have ample time to research the answers, the answers will be in next month’s bulletin. Here you go;
Question 1: Who was the first square dance record producer?
Question 2: Who was the first caller to be recorded?
Question 3: Did the Brady Bunch ever square dance?
Question 4: What Paule Shore movie had square dancing? Can you name the caller?
Question 5: How many movies can you name with Square Dance in the title?
Question 6: Who on the TV show Tool Time was learning to be a square dance caller?
Square dancing was once much more thoroughly engrained in American culture. How do we know this without looking at numbers and statistics? Marketing, that’s how. 50, 60, and 70 plus years ago, major companies used, referred to, alluded to, square dancing in their ad copy. Some of the products, that we assume were popular amongst square dancers of the day, are still going strong today. Coke, Tide detergent, and Ford automobiles are but a few of the products advertised with a square dance theme.
America has always had music and dance to remind of us of history. Take a look at history: We danced when Lindbergh did his trans-Atlantic flight (Lindy-hop which later became known as the Jitterbug), American Bandstand/The Dick Clark Show was a weekly show featuring dance. By 1960 Chubby Checker made the Twist the most popular dance in the world. If you take a look at dancing, you see we dance when we are dating, at weddings, at the harvest of the crops, at the end of a war, theatrical productions, religious holidays, and special occasions. It will take lots of teamwork to reawaken the public's interest in square dancing. Music and dancing should be a part of everyone's life.
Please visit our state website for information regarding dancing opportunities around town and our state. The site will also link you to the festival site where you can register for the 2016 festival. www.Coloradosquaredance.com
As always, we endeavor, as Your Council Historians, to seek out those callers, dancers, communities, events, writings and images of the past that may enrich our own experiences as square dancers today. See you in a square soon.
