PAGE TWO
HERALD ANPreEWS. KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1956
Square Dancing Ranks High As Recreation
Millions Take Part
In Popular Revival
y RUTH KING
. and JEAN WALKER
One and three, here's what you do,
Wheel around and Susie. Q
Opposite lady a right hand 'round.
Partner left when you come down.
Then you promenade two by two.
Get along home like you always
-do.
With the call oC "do-si-do" echo
ing from recreation balls, school
gymnasiums, ranch .bams
lodge halls, from New York to
Pensacola. from Boston to- San
Diego and the last outpost on the
Canadian line to the Mexican bor
der, the term "Square Dance" is
becoming a household word.
An estimated 30 million people
of all ages in this country now
trip to the tantalising tunes and
the bewitching coaxing of callers
or to phonograph records. Statis
tics show that every city, town
which the dancers swing from
Jline rather than in the square of
eight performers. These line dan
ces still crop up frequently at
square dances and a few clubs
exist that are devoted entirely to
the line. figures.
'As covered wagons roiled west
ward, the biting tunes of the old
southern hoedowns and the farther
north corn husking rhythms, were
sung to the creaking of wagon
wheels across the rutted prairies
and 'and many was the night beneath
a - mellow moon that boy swung
girl to the twang of a Jews harp,
in a square dance figure.
They were danced in the towns
where Mother Lodes made for
tunes in gold, and in the towns
that fringed the vast lumbering in
dustry of the Northwest. They were
danced in the gas-lighted ball
rooms fn the cities and even upon
the white sands where the Pacific
rolled to shore.
the
and hamlet across the United
States, has at least one club or
group of square dancers.
That square dancing m not a fad
or a craze, that blazes up then
dies, is proven by the many years
that this form of recreation has
been popular.
Some say that a general ia the
Foreign Legion, watching his sold
iers drill back 'in the 16th century,
tapped a booted foot and from
there came the "Quadrille.
The bewigged gentlemen aad
corseted "grand dames" of the
royal courts got into the swing and
court jesters were often called
upon to add spice to the calls.
ADDED
Each century and each country
has given some colorful bit to the
dances. Calls have been passed;
from lather to son. -
The New England and the Vir
ginia colonists brought with them
to the shores of the new America.
the music and the stanzas of the
countries from which they came.1 or regain muscular coordination
In some regions where dancing 'and in many mental hospitals to
was irownea upon, Doys ana girls: develop, self reliance and to renew
satisfied their yearning for keep-j a tie with the outside world,
ing time to-, tunes by dancing The late Henry Ford was an
"Skip to m' Lou" and "Drop the. enthusiast and late in his lifetime
Handkerchief." I whirled about a dance floor. His
Perhaps the earliest style oT book on square dancing, "G ood
American folk dancing is the Morning." isr now a collector's
TAP-ROOMS
They were danced too. ii
tap-rooms of toe sprawling
towns but the beautiful patterned
dances of today are not to be
confused with stomping 'circle
dances performed before the bars
by the miners and the woodcut
ters and their lady podners" dur
ing those days when men came to
town to spend a well-filled gold
oust poke.
Contrary to belief, square danc
ing is not a form of entertain
ment to be enjoyed only by coun
try folks." Doctors, lawyers,
merchants, chiefs, teachers and
many a housewife welcome the
opportunity to "whirl away and
half sashay." where they meet
their neighbors relax and "let go.'
There, is no cast system in the
square dance world. Few religious
groups disprove.
Square dancing is encouraged
for therapy in many hospitals
where the patient needs to learn
rlPf lib
"MILL UP YOUR PANTS and Tighten Up Your Traces. All Join Hands and We're Off 1.
he Races," goes the call for this group of dancers at Twyla Ferguson School. Beginners
are called "Grecnys" but a few nights on a polished floor under the tutelage of a good
caller and unless the dancer has lead in his shoes he can "Chase the Rabbit. Chase the .
Squirrel. Chase the Pretty Girl 'Round the World."
can do the "Double Elbow." is Dr.
Lloyd Shaw of Colorado known
as, "The Grand Old Man of Square
uancing.
REASON
His following quotation puts into
words the reason that square danc
ing has lived through the centuries
and has had such a tremendous
revival in the last dozen years.
"Square dancing is man's turn
ing back again to the primitive
and to the simple, and to the
sure methods that have saved our
souls again and again when they
were threatened with too much of
the new. To leave the confusion
and the half-done appeals of our
television and radio, to join in the
spontaneous and friendly and nat
ural activity seems to restore our
souls. A bit of color in our cos
tume, laughter ' again on our lips.
natural friendliness in our gesture
seems to restore us, to bit
again, so we are the nice people
"Country" or -Costa Dance, in item. Another notable figure who' we would like to be.
Costumes Add
local Color
Much of the color and the sou-it
of the square dance is captured
in the costumes worn by the danc
ers, many of tbera reminiscent ef
the early days of America.
Pantaloons peep coyly from be
neath ankle-length full skirts, the
frocks flutter with ruffles that
swirl above ballet slippers, bound
aoout sum ankles with criss
crossed ribbons and an occasional
sunoonnet of the 1890s is tied be-
neain a pen feminine chin.
Men partners are hist as color.
ful, in authentic Western blue
jeans or Western style trousers,
western shirts and string ties, cow
boy boots and fancy belts.
Although a costume that fits the
dance is not necessary, they do
aaa lite and color to the festivities.
That such costumes are preferred
by the dancers is proved by count
ers and clothing racks in retail
stores and specialty shops where
square aances garments are sold
exclusively.
The pretty old calico ' prints of
earner days are being re-produced
by the thousands of bolts by tex
tile manufacturers, brightly colored
Squaw Dresses from the South
west arc showing up in every
state in the union and sewing ma
chines hum from shore to shore as
nimble fingers turn out individual
frocks.
"But don't stay home, say 'the
enthusiasts, if no "proper" duds
are on hand. Tis just as much fun
to "Shoot That Star te a Wrong
Way Whee," in an imported tweed
or satin 'n sables.
HAT BALER
The first . self-propelled hay
baler for the average-size farm,
capable of turning out nine tons
of baled hay an hour, was recent
ly introduced to farmers by New
Holland Machine Company.
THIS SET OF FOUR COUPLES was ready for a whirl in the hay-scented barn on the
Jo Glaeowski Ranch on Hilyard Avenue. Many a haymow m the Klamath country has
rung to "Allemande left." both in the early days of settlement of the valley along Lost
River and sine the upsurge ef interest in the old square dances back about 1947. lack
to camera. Loren and Sylvia Stroud, others, clockwise around. Shirley and Bill Mayhew,'
Jeea Walker, Clarence Hundley. Ralph and Buelah Brisbon of the Merry Mixers Club.
SINUS SUFFERERS!
Tit wm
WESTERN THRIFT
3S Maia Mi. TU 4-3343
The Cover
This week's Herald and
News Magazine Section of
Klamath Basin Living cov
er picture was taken by
Don Kettler with a 4 x 5
-Speed Graphic camera set
at a hundreth ef a second
and f 22 using tri X film.
The fiddler is Clarence
Hundley ef TuleJake, a
square dancer of I e n g
standing.
POSTS
If you have to replace the fence.
posts on your farm every couple
of years, you may well be digging
mat same hole 10 times oftener
than you would have to if- you
used treated posts.
Title
Insurance
insurance
protects y
impairment
Title
from loss or
wnersiire. It is comparative
ly smell item ef cast. Male
yea awa year property!
For the best in
Title Service
- See Klamath County's
Only Home Owned
; Tile Company
Serving The Klamath
Basin Since 1906
Klamath County
Abstract Co.
R. E. Veatch, pres.
Mrs. J. U. Bebcock. sec
422 MAIN
Call TU 4-5155