Chaps & Petticoats Square Dance Club
Aurora, Oregon
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Dances 1st & 3rd Fridays |
Lessons Sunday Night |
Last Update:
September 06, 2011
Mainstream: Mainstream is the entry level for square dancing. Chaps & Petticoats Mainstream Lessons starts Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 7:00pm at the Aurora American Legion Hall (21510 Main St NE) in Aurora, Oregon . For the month of September lessons will be open to new dancers and will be free. In October class fee is $4 per lesson is closed to new students . There are opportunities to attend dances for your level during the lesson process, so you can start dancing rather quickly.
Plus: Every odd numbered year we have offered Plus lessons.
A-Lessons: We hosted A lessons the spring and summer of 2010. We graduated 16 students. Advanced Square Dance consists of A-1 (49 calls) and A-2 (44 calls) and are taught together because A-dances call both levels.
Round Dance Lessons We often host Round Dance lessons at least once a year. Lessons are $5 per night.
When talking to people about square dancing, a lot of people remembered square dancing in PE when they were in school. It probably consisted of less than a dozen moves. The kind of dancing that is danced at clubs nowadays is called modern square dancing. The first level of dancing is mainstream that involves learning some 68 moves (calls) in order to dance. These calls are standardized so you can dance anywhere in the world and dance to the same calls.
Square dancing combines mental and physical exercise in wholesome atmosphere (See below article about benefits of dancing). If you can walk, you can dance. Square dancing is one of the easier types of dance to learn because most moves are done as an individual within a group. Children as young as 7 have been able to learn how to dance, so families can learn together. It is a relatively inexpensive activity. Because square dancing involves physical contact with other people. it teaches appropriate touching in a dance environment (see videos below for examples). As with other hobbies, it also offers a means of making new friends; it can also build lifelong friendships. Square dancing blends people from all walks of life and there are multiple places to dance in the Portland/Willamette Valley area.
While you are learning, you are dancing! Our club offers classes in September on Sunday evenings and they usually finish in February. Scott Zinser is our instructor who does a very thorough job teaching you not only the calls but the fine points of the steps so you can get a good foundation under you by the time you graduate. Scott is one of the better instructors in the area and we have had students from other clubs who are taking lessons come to our lessons. Many of our club members will be there to help you learn; they are called "Angels" and they help guide you as you get the calls learned. Dress is casual.
Our club caters to families, youth, couples and singles who are interested in dancing. Mainstream Lessons are free for the month of September. Lessons are $4 per person and $2 for youth (with parent) each lesson. The Family rate for families with kids from high school and below are $10 each lesson.
If you are interested in taking lessons and would like to have a reminder sent to you please email us and we will call you or email you at your preference. Otherwise, just show up. Lessons start on September 12, 2010 at the Aurora Legion Hall (21510 Main Street NE, Aurora) at 6:00pm. Lessons will be open to new students for the month of September. Our square dance lessons draw from the Aurora, Canby, Wilsonville, Woodburn, Oregon City, Molalla area and beyond.
Excellent Square Dance Animations by Brad Christie, webmaster of the Tam Twirlers Square Dance Club. This website is very easy to use. You can play the animations slow or fast, pause them, etc. It includes programs from Mainstream to C3A.
Benefits of Square Dancing
| The following are excerpts printed from the United
Square Dancers Association News, reprinted from Dacnin’
News of Central Florida and The Caller of Memphis,
Tennessee. Live Ten Years Longer! Square Dancing will add ten years to your life, a surprising new study shows. Dr. Arron Blackburn states " It’s clear that square dancing is the perfect exercise. It combines all positive aspects of intense physical exercise with none of the negative elements."Dr. Blackburn said square dancing is a low impact activity requiring constant movement and quick directional changes that help keep the body in shape. The study was based on their physical examination which indicated that both female and male square dancers could expect to live well into their 80's. Square dance movements raise heart rates like many good aerobic exercises should. All the quick changes of direction loosen and tone up the muscles--but not so severally as to cause injury. In square dancing, when you’re not moving, you’re clapping hands and tapping your feet, which all contributes to long term fitness. "You don’t see a lot of 55 year old basketball players, but that’s just the age when square dancers are hitting their peak", he said. |
Dance for Health Project, courtesy of Toe Draggers Club
YouTube has lots of videos of square dancing. Here are some favorites:
Below is a clip from PNTSDF,
which is a youth competition held in May in the Northwest. Youth
square dance clubs come to a location somewhere in either Canada or NW
US and compete in square dance or round dance.
They usually draw 3-500 people.
This clip is from the Friday night dance held before competition
Saturday.
Below is a clip is from the
PNTSDF competition and is called a mystery tip; it is choreographed to
break down the dancing. The winner is the square dance team who
gets back on track after breaking down and dances the longest.
This group performed almost flawlessly.
Square dancing is also a
very creative hobby.
Here is an example of just one interesting variation of dance.
Bit of historical information: Square dancing has it origins from the Quadrille, a dance form from France. This video shows an example of this dance
