Our Side of the Mic

by Bob Riggs

It’s SUMMER !! … Are you scheduled to go to Lyons, CO for a Red Rock Ramblers dance, attend the Colorado State Festival on June 14th-15th in Loveland, travel to Oklahoma City, OK between June 27-29th for the 62nd National Convention, on August 2nd & 3rd travel to West Cliff for the 27th High Country Weekend, on the weekend of August 9th & 10th support the dance events at the Denver County Fair and the Douglas County Fair.

Those of us that live and dance in Colorado have a unique square and round dance environment that is not found in most of the world. As you travel this year attend square dances and encourage everyone to have fun, dance well and enjoy the fellowship of the dance. Recognize that most of the country has limited variety in their square & round dance activity. The vast majority of dances you find, are Plus dances, which means that most recruits must participate in a long class that teaches the recruits from circle left through spin chain & exchange the gears. Our activity needs all of the programs from limited basic programs through Mainstream, Plus, Advanced and beyond to provide our world an extensive variety of opportunities to dance. Most of those that participate should be taught to enjoy the basic or mainstream programs that provide a dance frequency that fits most people’s life of work, school, sports, music, church and dance. If we can build the number of people of all ages that are basic dancers or mainstream dancers a strong base will be formed for our activity and the other programs will flourish.

What this means is we should all be recruiting for our mainstream clubs. We should let our mainstream club members enjoy dancing this program. We should be open to the formation of Basic groups/clubs.

If we review all dance forms and many other recreational activities we will see that there are classes that allow anyone to join their activity. As people participate they are encouraged to attend more classes that allow them to gradually increase their skill to more advanced levels from novice through professional, our activity is no different.

Consider these thoughts as you enjoy great dancing this Summer.