[Squaredancing] MWSD as an "Official" dance -- was Re: CBS Wednesday.....

[Dave Hinde]

I changed the subject line, since I wanted to respond to Clark's thought
about square dancing being an official dance.  

This is my personal opinion, but I think there are a number of reasons why
square dancing should be our countries official dance.  Making it so may
help obtain halls, etc., but I never thought about that until you pointed it
out.  I would consider that a side benefit.  

As far as I know there are only two dance forms that originated in the
United States.  There may be 3 or 4 by now, but I remember from a game show
a bunch of years ago, that there were only two.  One is square dancing, the
other is tap dancing.  If the US were to pick an official dance, it should
be something native to the US.  

Another reason is the whole concept of how square dancing came to be.  It
was a combination of dances from several European countries.  Our nation was
formed the same way, by blending nationalities together to form a new and
unique nation.  Square dancing was formed the same way.  

Over the years square dancing has stayed up to date with it's music, using
the traditional styling and movements with today's music.  That may or may
not be a reason to make it an official dance, but I like that the movement
keeps up to date in that respect.  If you look at clothing we kept up to
date until the mid 60s, but that bag of worms is another thread of emails,
and shouldn't be considered when talking about making a dance "official".  

I also think square dancing is a good "model" for an activity because of the
way it blends people of different backgrounds and cultures together.  When
you step into a square you do not care what the other peoples religion is,
what their income is, what their background is.  You work together with the
other 7 people that you just met to get thru the dance.  This is another
good example of why square dancing is a good activity and deserves
recognition by our government. 

There's also the health reason for promoting square dancing.  Studies on
aging for many years have said that people who remain both physically and
mentally active throughout their life, will continue to have good physical
and mental health in their senior years.  Square Dancing has been used by a
Penn State study as a prime example of an activity that combines both.  Not
everyone is gracefull enough for a lot of dance forms, but in square dancing
you just need to be able to walk and know your right hand from the left.
Other forms of dance require you to know your right foot from the left, and
that's more complicated:-)  

The above are the reasons we should be promoting square dancing as an
official dance - at least in my humble opinion.

Dave Hinde
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 __/, at __    dave at daveswebplace.net
/O____O_|  http://evadsti.net
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Squaredancing-bounces at rbnsn.com
[mailto:Squaredancing-bounces at rbnsn.com] On Behalf Of Clark Baker
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 3:24 PM
To: This list for discussing all aspect of MWSD
Subject: [Squaredancing] Re: CBS Wednesday,2/1/06 - Still Standing "Still
Flunking" Episode-Square Dancing - Bob Fisk

I watched Still Standing last night.  It was a 30 minute sitcom and it
wasn't very good (not just the square dancing aspect, the whole thing).

Their writers wanted to use square dancing for comedy and, knowing the
stereotypes that most of us hold about square dancing, their humor was about
what we could predict and expect.  We even had a bale of hay in the corner
(I occasionally get this when I call a ONS).

My question for you is, why should any of us be surprised at the way square
dancing was portrayed on a show that was using it for comedy?  I don't
believe that the general public's attitude has changed one bit since 1970 to
today.  Why do we think we can make a change and, if we can't, why do we
keep getting so worked up over it?

Sure, Callerlab should do something.  Perhaps the ARTS should do something.
But what if nothing is to be done?

What other activities do you know that have had a reputation like square
dancing has with the general public (just ask any teenager) that has turned
that reputation around?  How did it happen?

As for square dancing being the state dance in many states, this is nothing
I am proud of.  I thought that each state was different, with a different
history and heritage and its state dance should reflect that. 
  How did so many states end up with the same state folk dance?  Answer: 
it was a reaction to not being able to get it proclaimed our national folk
dance.  Why were we trying to get it named our national folk dance?  So we
could get greater access to free and inexpensive halls.  
How many "national" symbols does this country have?  Answer: 4.  Do you feel
that a national folk dance holds the same stature as our existing
4 symbols?  I don't.

How many other dance forms did we trample over in our haste to get square
dancing proclaimed a state folk dance?  Notice that sometimes we include
round dancing and sometimes we include traditional squares dancing.
However, usually we just want our for of square dancing -- the modern one --
to be the state dance.  How many MWSD dancers have ever done folk dancing?
Or traditional squares?  Or contras?  Do you even know these people or
attend their dances and conventions?  You are welcome to as they don't
require lessons.  They can't attend our dances because of our lesson
barrier.  They consider lessons an anathema; we consider them a requirement.

Square dancing is a great activity and it can provide many hours of fun,
exercise, and mental stimulation.  It doesn't make a good spectator sport,
and just its name alone will forever lend it to be the butt of jokes.  Get
people into it one by one but don't expect to change the average American's
opinion of it.

In college, when I headed out to a dance, my friends would ask of I was
going tap dancing again.

--
Clark Baker, Belmont, MA
cmbaker at tiac.net


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