May 26, 1999
Dancing provides fun, exercise
By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
Seven years ago Len and Marlene Stokes found new direction in their life and all they had to do was learn their left from right - alament that is.
In 1992, this Lakes of the North couple took their first tentative steps at square dancing. Nearly a decade later, the Stokes are still kicking up their heels - along with 600 other dancers who attended the 44th annual Northwest Michigan Square and Round Dance Council Spring Dance Festival held this past weekend at Traverse City Central High School.
For many attending the three-day event, square and round dancing not only provides excellent physical exercise, but mental as well.
"It is a challenge to get your feet to do what your brain is trying to tell them," said Len Stokes, who belongs to the Gaylord Square Dance Club along with his wife, Marlene.
"Often it is desire more than good dance form; although having a sense of rhythm helps."
That and a good sense of humor as well. As Cadillac resident Beth Johnson knows, learning different movements does have its lighter moments - though not always on your or your partner's toes.
"You still laugh and have a good time even when you break down the square," said Johnson, who chaired this year's Dance Festival along with her husband, Ted.
"We say that square dancing is friendship set to music."
Along with understanding directions, Johnson noted that dancers must posses a fundamental knowledge of the language of western-style square dancing.
Phrases such as "do-si-do" and "square through four" are common place on the dance floor. Another basic tenant of either square or round dancing is basic English. Whether dancing in Taiwan or Traverse City, callers speak a universal language -albeit a limited one at times.
"We danced in Germany one year and after we finished a dance we tried to talk with the other couples but they only understood English as far as the dancing," said Johnson, who noted that this year's festival featured dancers from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Canada - even a couple visiting the United States from Sweden.
Another common thread among dancers is attire. Skirts with stiff petticoats, bolo ties and color coordinated blouses and western-style shirts whirled, twirled and promenaded Saturday evening out on the gymnasium dance floor.
While wearing less traditional garb, round dancers still follow such long-standing dance movements as the fox trot, waltz, tango and cha-cha, noted instructor Jerry Pierce of Birmingham, Ala.
Describing round dancing as choreographed ballroom dancing, Pierce said that routines are taught the same way around the world. Pierce and his wife Barbara have spent 30 years teaching and dancing this style which originated in Colorado 40 years ago.
While some rhythms, such as swing, are riding a wave of popularity among younger dancers, Pierce said that round dancing is primarily seen as an "older persons dance" in the United States.
"We work hard in this country to segregate by age groups. In other parts of the world, especially Europe, you'll see three generations dancing at the same square or round dance," he said.
While some might dance to stay young, Sid Boyd of Ann Arbor doesn't worry about the amount of time that passes while he's doing the do-si-do.
"We were down in North Carolina during a square dance weekend and there were some elderly folks that in the morning looked like they could hardly climb the steps to the cafeteria," recalled Boyd, who has been square dancing for 9 years with his wife, Sue.
"But in the evening, when they put on their dance clothes and went out, they danced up a storm. It just seemed a great way to grow old."