welcome to the frederick county promenaders
website
Website last updated sunday May 11, 2025 at 11:30am by FCP Webmaster Donald Barber
may 2025 club dance event
Friday May 16 - Lego Creations Dance
summer 2025 dance events
|
|
upcoming special events
Sunday June 8th - MDSDF Appreciation Dance
|
July 17, 18, 19 - Star spangled banner festival
For more information about this event, click on the following link: https://www.marylandsquaredancing.com/ssbf |
most recent club events
May 7 - Dance class
|
|
It's 10 down and 5 to go in the PLUS class. Eighteen Club Angels supported 10 students as they continue to refine previously learned Mainstream and Plus calls and were introduced to 2 new PLUS calls. The 2024-2025 Dance Class will end on June 11th.
|
May 4 - Baby Pictures Dance
|
|
|
What is a famous sports adage? How about "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out". Well, on Sunday May 4th, I went to a square dance and a round dance broke out.
Twenty-six Club members and 6 students welcomed 14 visitors to the Baby Pictures dance.
The entourage danced to the Calls of Guest Caller Art LaVigne and the Rounds of Guest Cuers Butch Bloxom and Roberta Harris.
By the way, there were plenty of pictures on the display board.
Twenty-six Club members and 6 students welcomed 14 visitors to the Baby Pictures dance.
The entourage danced to the Calls of Guest Caller Art LaVigne and the Rounds of Guest Cuers Butch Bloxom and Roberta Harris.
By the way, there were plenty of pictures on the display board.
April 6 - spring colors Dance
|
|
|
It was a grand Spring afternoon inside the MPRC on Sunday April 6th at our Spring Colors Dance. Twenty-seven Club Members and 6 students welcomed 8 Guest Visitors including 3 Guest Students. There also was our annual 2nd Hand Rose Sale that offered 12 tables and several racks of used square dance attire. Supporting the 5 squares of dancers were the usual Door Prize awards, the 50-50 raffle, and a delicious assortment of snacks.
Of course the event had Guest Caller Terry Headlee doing the calls and line dancing and Butch Bloxom and Roberta Harris doing the rounds.
Of course the event had Guest Caller Terry Headlee doing the calls and line dancing and Butch Bloxom and Roberta Harris doing the rounds.
square dancing tidbits
DANCER ETIQUETTE BROCHUREThis brochure provides the basic Code of Ethics and Codes of Conduct expected from square dancers at the various square dancing functions and events. To go to the brochure click on the following link: Brochure |
Dance lessons videosDo you need to refresh your Mainstream and Plus calls? Do you need to reinforce your recently learned calls? Then the following link is for you. Click on it to see excellent training videos for the calls. SquareDanceLessonVideos |
where's the dance?
If your upcoming plans include travel or you just want to visit other dance clubs near your home club, then the "Where's The Dance" web site is for you. This web site shows all of the Square Dances within a specific radius of where you are. There are many other options to even further narrow down or expand the dance selections for you. To visit this valuable square dance web site click on the following link: WheresTheDance
Square Dancing: A Swinging History
Swing your partner and do-si-do—November 29 is Square Dance Day in the United States. Didn’t know this folksy form of entertainment had a holiday all its own? Then it’s probably time you learned a few things about square dancing, a tradition that blossomed in the United States but has roots that stretch back to 15th-century Europe.
Square dance aficionados trace the activity back to several European ancestors. In England around 1600, teams of six trained performers—all male, for propriety’s sake, and wearing bells for extra oomph—began presenting choreographed sequences known as the morris dance. This fad is thought to have inspired English country dance, in which couples lined up on village greens to practice weaving, circling and swinging moves reminiscent of modern-day square dancing. Over on the continent, meanwhile, 18th-century French couples were arranging themselves in squares for social dances such as the quadrille and the cotillion. Folk dances in Scotland, Scandinavia and Spain are also thought to have influenced square dancing.
When Europeans began settling England’s 13 North American colonies, they brought both folk and popular dance traditions with them. French dancing styles in particular came into favor in the years following the American Revolution, when many former colonists snubbed all things British. A number of the terms used in modern square dancing come from France, including “promenade,” “allemande” and the indispensable “do-si-do”—a corruption of “dos-à-dos,” meaning “back-to-back.”
As the United States grew and diversified, new generations stopped practicing the social dances their grandparents had enjoyed across the Atlantic. This was not the case in every region, however. Similar to English country dance and the quadrille, the “running set” caught on in 19th-century Appalachia. But instead of memorizing each and every step, participants began relying on callers to provide cues—and, as square dance calling became an art form in its own right, humor and entertainment. During the early years of square dance in the United States, live music was often played by African-American musicians. Blacks also worked as callers and contributed their own steps and songs to the tradition.
By the late 19th century, waltzes and polkas, which allowed couples to get close without raising too many eyebrows, had supplanted group-based dances in urban ballrooms. Even in the country, square dancing was beginning to seem dated, particularly when the jazz and swing eras dawned. In the 1920s automaker Henry Ford resolved to revive the tradition, which he considered an excellent form of exercise and a way to acquire genteel manners. He hired dancing master Benjamin Lovett to develop a national program, required his factory workers to attend classes, opened ballrooms and produced instructive radio broadcasts for schools throughout the country. Lloyd Shaw, a folk dance teacher, took up the cause in the 1930s, writing books about the rescued art of square dancing and holding seminars for a new generation of square dance callers.
In the 1950s callers began developing standards for square dancing across the United States, allowing dancers to learn interchangeable routines and patterns. Microphones and records made the activity even more accessible to the general public, since a highly trained caller with a booming voice no longer had to be physically present. Along with standardized—or “Western”—square dancing, unregulated regional styles, known collectively as “traditional” square dancing, continue to thrive in certain parts of the country. Generally speaking, however, enthusiasm for all forms of this European-American hybrid has floundered in recent decades, according to the United Square Dancers of America.
Square dance aficionados trace the activity back to several European ancestors. In England around 1600, teams of six trained performers—all male, for propriety’s sake, and wearing bells for extra oomph—began presenting choreographed sequences known as the morris dance. This fad is thought to have inspired English country dance, in which couples lined up on village greens to practice weaving, circling and swinging moves reminiscent of modern-day square dancing. Over on the continent, meanwhile, 18th-century French couples were arranging themselves in squares for social dances such as the quadrille and the cotillion. Folk dances in Scotland, Scandinavia and Spain are also thought to have influenced square dancing.
When Europeans began settling England’s 13 North American colonies, they brought both folk and popular dance traditions with them. French dancing styles in particular came into favor in the years following the American Revolution, when many former colonists snubbed all things British. A number of the terms used in modern square dancing come from France, including “promenade,” “allemande” and the indispensable “do-si-do”—a corruption of “dos-à-dos,” meaning “back-to-back.”
As the United States grew and diversified, new generations stopped practicing the social dances their grandparents had enjoyed across the Atlantic. This was not the case in every region, however. Similar to English country dance and the quadrille, the “running set” caught on in 19th-century Appalachia. But instead of memorizing each and every step, participants began relying on callers to provide cues—and, as square dance calling became an art form in its own right, humor and entertainment. During the early years of square dance in the United States, live music was often played by African-American musicians. Blacks also worked as callers and contributed their own steps and songs to the tradition.
By the late 19th century, waltzes and polkas, which allowed couples to get close without raising too many eyebrows, had supplanted group-based dances in urban ballrooms. Even in the country, square dancing was beginning to seem dated, particularly when the jazz and swing eras dawned. In the 1920s automaker Henry Ford resolved to revive the tradition, which he considered an excellent form of exercise and a way to acquire genteel manners. He hired dancing master Benjamin Lovett to develop a national program, required his factory workers to attend classes, opened ballrooms and produced instructive radio broadcasts for schools throughout the country. Lloyd Shaw, a folk dance teacher, took up the cause in the 1930s, writing books about the rescued art of square dancing and holding seminars for a new generation of square dance callers.
In the 1950s callers began developing standards for square dancing across the United States, allowing dancers to learn interchangeable routines and patterns. Microphones and records made the activity even more accessible to the general public, since a highly trained caller with a booming voice no longer had to be physically present. Along with standardized—or “Western”—square dancing, unregulated regional styles, known collectively as “traditional” square dancing, continue to thrive in certain parts of the country. Generally speaking, however, enthusiasm for all forms of this European-American hybrid has floundered in recent decades, according to the United Square Dancers of America.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO TOP OF HOME PAGE