Current Status of “The Proposal”

Type
Resource
Owner
CALLERLAB
Links
Transitionary Implementation Phase of the Program Policy (TIPPP)
Description

CALLERLAB’s mission is “To foster the art of square dance calling and improve caller skills”.

To that end, in 2024 CALLERLAB embarked on a journey to restructure the way we train and introduce callers to our activity. The main concern being that as our activity has shrunk in size, proportionally so has our influx of new callers. As historically it takes years for callers to become proficient, we felt we needed to reconsider and revamp our current methodologies around caller training, in order to keep square dancing’s future viable in the years to come.

We determined the first thing to accomplish was a consolidation of the four entry programs (Basic 1, Basic 2, Mainstream and SSD), and return us back to one. Our hope being that this reconfiguration would assist newer callers by giving them a singular focal point when learning to call and starting new clubs. Additionally, it would provide a shorter entry program for new dancers, allowing for the possibility of more classes per year to be offered. When first announced, the effort was quickly dubbed "The Proposal" by the wider square dance community. It is a multi-year initiative requiring a number of steps and a great deal of committee work to bring it to fruition.

After the 2025 CALLERLAB Convention the general membership took the first step by voting to approve a revision of CALLERLAB's Program Policy Statement. This is the document that formally describes CALLERLAB's dance program structure. In accordance with the approval vote, as of June 2025, CALLERLAB has launched the implementation phase of the project.

To help you quickly find details on the project, implementation timelines, and current status, CALLERLAB has put up a web page titled "Transitionary Implementation Phase of the Program Policy (TIPPP)". Just click on the link above.