Cop This, Mr Music!

I remember it well. Parramatta Town Hall in the autumn of 1958, Jonesy on stage and so many squares on the floor that the place was almost bursting at the seams. (That was the night I met Daizy but that's another story.)

It was a wonderful time to be square dancing. The world was young. The dancers were young. The nights were exciting – and TV was still too expensive for everybody to own a set.

So we danced.

Things have quietened down a bit since then. The enthusiasm is still there, the fun is still there, even romance is still there—but unfortunately the numbers have dwindled.

Now, thanks to the latest technology being used by more and more callers, square dancing is set to boom again. Minidisk players will change the way we dance.

Think about it. Callers are human (most of them, anyway) and subject to the same frailties as everybody else. That means that sometimes they fall into habit patterns with their calling.

If you go dancing in a San Antonio Rose frame of mind and the caller is in a Mr Bass Man mood the two of you are temporarily incompatible. If that incompatibility goes on week after week you're going to find yourself staying home to watch the box, and another dancer has been lost.

Enter the Minidisk Revolution and everything is about to change. Now, when the caller puts on something you don't like you just point a remote control down the hall and zap the player onto something else. If you don't get the tune you want the first time try, try again.

It will probably lead to minor changes in square dancing dress whereby ladies' belt buckles and men's bolo ties will be replaced by MD remotes but, hey, that's a small price to pay.

As in all social intercourse there will have to be some ground rules, otherwise nobody will be able to complete a dance and I heard a rumour that Callerlab will release a booklet on the innovation. It's called The Etiquette of Interference.