Why Square Dance?

It’s great fun, great exercise and you can meet new friends!

Modern Square Dancing is a unique and inexpensive recreational activity that offers fun, mental and physical fitness as well as fellowship. Here are some positive ways becoming a square dancer can impact and enrich your life.

GOOD FUN

• Natural Movement – With most dance forms you have to learn to place your feet in specific arrangements. Not so with square dancing. Square dancing is based upon moving in defined directions for defined distances – which is exactly what walking is. Since walking is one of the most natural things we do – square dancing becomes a fun extension of something you’ve done most of your life.

• Entertainment – The caller entertains dancers with a variety of creative call sequences and a wide range of music, including rock, jazz, sing-alongs, gospel, country & western – and everything in between.

• Stress Relief – Directed by a leader giving commands, you become so focused on the “task at hand” that your troubles are forgotten, at least for a couple of hours. While square dancing you can escape from all the worries of the day and just have fun.

• Exhilaration – Eight people dancing together in quick time for a common purpose is exciting. Successful completion of the series of moves offers unparalleled elation.

GOOD FOR YOUR MIND

• “Thinking Person’s Activity.” – Square dancing requires you to use both sides of your brain through “cross-lateral” movements which are movements that cross from one side of your body to the other. These are great exercises for your brain, memory, and coordination. • Learning – First you stretch your brain by learning the calls.

• Dancing – Then while dancing, the interaction with the caller and the other dancers to complete a movement successfully keeps the mind sharp and focused.

• Challenging – All square dancing engages your brain by asking you to react quickly to commands. (Like ‘Simon Says’ for adults!)

• Mind/Body Connection – Dancers react to calls as they are given. This forces the body and brain to be tightly coordinated. Studies have shown that activities involving simultaneous physical and mental activity keep the brain healthy.

• Energizing – No matter how tired you are from a long day’s work, once you start dancing, you become energized again.