By Wren Stratton
Scanning the “Things to do” list one week and it struck me there is a whole lot of dancing going on in this community. There is line dancing, round dancing, ballroom and square dancing all advertised.
Line dancing has a long history in America. In the early days they were called Contra dances. Men and women faced each other in two lines and danced back and forth. They would dance down the middle of the line. Remember John Travolta doing the “stroll” in Grease, that was just an updated version. Country line dancing came sometime in the 1970s and the “Hustle” in the 1980s.
Visiting with folks in the line dance class they saw the advantage of line dancing to be a chance to dance without having to have a partner or be an expert. Roger Spinks leads the class and they were doing a great job of having fun. They meet at the Hatbox Dance Building on Wednesday evenings. During Azalea Festival 2010 they will be hosting the second annual Line Dancing Jubilee.
In the days before we were addicted to television, balls or dances were important events. The word “ball” derives from the Latin “ballare” meaning “to dance.” That’s where ballroom dancing came from. The five ballroom dances are modern waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, slow foxtrot, and quickstep. It is ironic that resurgence in popularity of these dances is in fact a credit to television.
I visited Bob and Isabel Cockle’s class that meets on Thursday evenings at their studio. Some really great couples took time to visit with me. Butch and Julie Coward started taking lessons so they could go dancing in “Branson.” Kathleen and Forest Kirk are getting ready for their daughter’s wedding. Mike Howerton and his wife, Kay, were adding extra disco moves to the waltz they were learning while John and Rebecca Ecker looked graceful as they twirled.
Round dancing was like ballroom dancing but everyone was doing the same steps at the same time. One of the ways round dancing and ballroom dancing differ is the presence of a caller or curer who directs the steps. Each dancer has a partner and does the classic ball room steps but they dance in a large circle, hence the name round dancing.
This talented group was led by Pat Chamberland. They meet on Sunday nights at the Hatbox Dance Building; in fact, their group is called the Hatbox Rounders.
Square dancing is an American institution. It began with immigrant folk dances, jigs, reels and the minuet. Once you learn a few basic movements then you can begin to combine them. There are squares, made up of four couples and a caller who sings out the next move. The music is upbeat and you have to be energetic to keep up. My favorite part is the cool dresses. Lots of can-can and motion as the ladies move.
You have several options if you want to square dance. I visited the Muskogee Twirlers that meet at Hatbox dance building on alternate Friday nights. These folks were having a great time with lots of “yellow rock” your partner. (That’s square dancing talk for hugs.)
All four dances are different but the people who were participating enjoyed much in common. They were getting a chance to exercise, enjoy music and movement, and what was the most evident of all, some great friendship and camaraderie. And boy are we lucky to have a city sponsored dance building.
Once again, in a wonderful diverse community like Muskogee, sitting around complaining about nothing to do just doesn’t fly or should I say dance. Turn off the TV and let’s get moving.
