Tips For Your Tips

A series devoted to helping you become a more confident dancer.

Value of HandsAs Neil Diamond sang: "Hands...touching hands...reaching out...touching me... touching you.". Square dancing is a social activity, and the touching of hands constantly reminds us that our square is a team of eight people working together.
The Eyes Have ItJust as hand contact is valuable for comfortable dancing and successful squares, so is eye contact. It also makes dancing more enjoyable.
Space - The Dancer's FrontierDancing involves people moving across the dance floor to music. How you use the space will affect how smoothly and easily you dance.
Who Am I - Identifying Your Place in Your SquareSince each square dance call's definition assigns moves to designated dancers, it is necessary to identify who you are at a given moment in order to execute your part(s). Sometimes, standing still is your part.
Calls and Their Definitions - Our Square Dance LanguageEvery society has a language, a means by which its members can communicate. In square dancing, the calls and their definitions are our language.
Walls Are Our Friends Most of our halls are rectangular. With the geometric nature of many of our formations, it makes good sense to use the walls to our advantage.
The Sound of MusicTo borrow from a famous song, the dance floor is alive with the sound of music. Music is what makes our activity dancing, not merely a caller moving human chess pieces around the floor.
Intro to DBD - Dance by Definition, or Don't Be DeterredFor those who began square dancing without learning the definitions of the calls, just hearing "DBD" is enough to make them shake their heads. Choreography that puts you in different positions does not have to be nerve-wracking.
DBD - Which Hand Do I Use To start many calls, you must know with which hand to begin.
Playing with Ocean WavesMany calls in the Basic and Mainstream programs are defined with a starting formation of facing dancers. However, to make choreography more interesting and challenging, some callers will use a mini-wave or an ocean wave as the starting formation for those same calls.
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