TV Video Promoting Square Dancing

This six-minute video was broadcast on a community service channel in Ottawa, Canada to promote a new dance series being presented by Wendy VanderMeulen. While done in an interview format, it also includes a great clip of young people dancing. Wendy does an outstanding job of explaining what square dancing is about, how it works, and what its benefits are.

Wendy is promoting a new monthly dance series which is described at the second link above. The site is also a good example of promotion on the web. The series is designed to permit very casual attendance by untrained dancers. Each dance is self contained and does not presume any prior experience. It uses a short list of about 17 Basic calls which are taught during a 45-minute intro prior to 90 minutes of dancing using only those calls. The template for the 45 minutes of teaching is 3 15-minute sections covering:

Section 1: Big Circle

• Circle Left/Right
• Do Sa Do
• Allemande Left / Arm Turns
• Right & Left Grand / Weave the Ring
• Promenade - Couples and Single File
• U-Turn Back
• Swing

Section 2: Boxes of Four

• Stars
• Pass Thru
• Wheel Around
• Square Thru
• Star Thru

Section 3: Full Squares

• Grand Square
• Separate/Split