Your Other Left Hand

The time arrives for many square dancers when they wonder if they should try calling instead of just dancing. Most wisely decide that it's not really an option but some of us take that first step.

One of the problems faced by new callers is the need for patience and clarity when teaching beginners. So many of the things we take for granted are easy only because someone was, in their turn, awfully patient with us. Some of the things we think are simple can feel complex when we do them to music.

Oh sure, anybody can learn to pass thru, square thru or relay the deucey—the movements aren't difficult. It's remembering which is your left or right hand that causes the confusion.

Greater minds than mine have tackled the problem and I throw my hat into the ring reluctantly, but I believe there is a better way.

Why call left and right at all? Why should we even designate the couples as heads or sides, or as couples 1, 2, 3 and 4?

There's a simpler way and it's foolproof.

I'm going to substitute the compass points for other directional calls, and supply all my new dancers with a wrist compass so they can navigate around the floor. This will completely eliminate confusion and speed the teaching process by at least 25%.

The idea surfaced in square dancing back in the golden days and you only have to listen to some of the patter to realise that those old time callers were really very modern. Most of us can recall lines like "promenade your lady to the south and let a little moonshine in your mouth" or "the lady go east, the man go west and swing the one you love the best."

There's just one minor problem left to overcome before I can launch the Grand New Method. My hall faces the wrong way and the compass positions will be skewed.

Does anybody know where I can find a hall that's oriented exactly north-south?

Actually the system might not be very practical at all, as evidenced by the following conversation.

My friend Margaret once asked for directions to a Penrith shop and I said, "It's on the south side of High Street, just near Station Street."   "Don't tell me north or south" she said, "I don't understand things like that. Is it on the left or the right?"   So I said, "On the left."   That's when she started to get exasperated. "When you're going in which direction?" She practically screamed it at me.   "West!" I said.

Just when I thought she was going to have a seizure Daizy said, "It's on the opposite side to the Station."

Women understand each other.