1. I have two left feet and can’t dance. Bring your left foot and your right foot, and we will show you how to square dance no matter how you wear your feet. Square dancing is just directed walking.
2. I have no rhythm. You do not need to have rhythm to square dance. A caller tells you which way to move, and, essentially, you are walking to a song. Well, it might be a little faster than a walk, but it is way easier than anyone ever thinks. Besides, it’s fun!
3. I square danced in grade school and didn’t like it then. Yes, we hold hands and circle to the left and circle to the right. That’s how we know where we start and where we end. Modern square dancing has changed a lot since grade school days. We know as adults we should get up and get moving, to get some kind of exercise, especially during the long winter months. Just think, when you go for your annual physical and your doctor asks what you do for exercise, you won’t have to make something up. You can honestly say you have taken up dancing.
4. I don’t want to wear the fluffy dance skirts and listen to old fashioned music. We are modern square dancers. We can wear jeans, prairie skirts, dress slacks, or, yes, even the fluffy dance skirt if we want to. We have a very relaxed dress code. We dance to all styles of music. Some favorites are “YMCA,” “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo,” “Hallelujah,” “Shut Up, and Dance,” and a Keith Urban song called “Love Somebody.” We are sure you will find a few favorites, too.
This winter give square dancing a try. The first lesson is free, so you can see if your two left feet will work out. The people we meet at square dances are a lot of fun. They love to help new people, because they were beginners once, too.
After you have learned how to do-si-do, allemande left, and a few other calls, you can take your newly learned skills and dance at any club in the area. There are square dance clubs in Morrison, and Geneseo, IL, the Quad Cities, and across the river in Clinton, Preston, and Maquoketa, IA. There are also clubs all over the United States. Next time you travel, you can stop and dance with strangers who soon become your friends.
Because that is what square dancing is all about: fun, fitness, and friendship set to music.
We are the Morrison Grand Squares, a nine-year-old dance club, whose members would love to have you join us for beginner dance lessons, on Monday, January 8, 2018, in the City of Morrison Community Room, at Odell Public Library, 307 S. Madison, Street, Morrison, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m The first lesson on the 8th is free, and further lessons are $5 each. All ages are welcome.
You have nothing to lose, except for a few pounds you may have put on over the holidays.
Questions? Call Butch at 815-772-3616 or Jaci at 815-535-6347. Check out our website at www.squaredancemorrison.com.
All these square dancers will tell you that they once felt as if they had two left feet, too. They cordially invite you to join them in January 2018.
