Shirts and skirts with club colors and National Flags at the Yuma Festival
Bob White
January and February sure are busy months for the SaddleBrooke Squares Dance Club.
First of all the dance lessons for new students are moving right along. As I write this article near the end of February, the class of 2017 has finished up with their first round of lessons called main stream. This gives them enough dancing steps to venture out to just about any square dance that provides main stream dancing and join in.
Our club here in SaddleBrooke is a plus dance club so the students move right on up to the plus lessons. These plus calls put to use the main stream calls to make interesting and exciting if not occasionally humorous combinations using what was learned in the main stream lessons. All together by the time the class graduates in April 2017 they will have had a total of 24 lessons and will then be able to join the SaddleBrooke Club as well as to travel out to dance floors around the area and to attend festivals around our state and even all the 50 states. Speaking of which – February saw 30 SaddleBrooke Square Dance Club members heading over to Yuma, Arizona for a festival held there. This is one of our favorites. It can be reached by car in four to five hours; there are lots of hotels and a bevy of restaurants waiting to wait on us. Most of the group stays at the Wingate by Wyndham for the convenience of staying with fellow dancers, a good rate obtained by our own Bonnie Kraber, a very good breakfast bar and also letting us use a conference room for after dance chatter and relaxing by the group. In other words – they treat us very well.
The dancing takes place mostly on Friday night, all day and evening on Saturday and then a final gasp on Sunday morning before heading east on Interstate 8 and, for some, becoming teaching assistants for the students that have their dance lessons on Sunday evenings. These festivals are great in that they include both main stream and plus dances as well as advanced dancing (this author is not yet advanced). There are also a variety of callers and also cuers for round dancing. The round dancers take over the dance floor in between square dance tips while the square dancers are catching their breath, wiping off their foreheads and getting a big drink of water.
A lot more could be written about the fun time we have in Yuma what with side trips to Mexico, exploring an old prison, checking out museums and, let us not forget, shopping. Square dancing does open up new vistas and challenges. Interested? Lessons will start up again in October 2017 or stop by and check out our moves in the MountainView Ballroom on Thursday nights or check out our website at saddlebrookesquares.com or even give me a call at 818-9482.