Chapter 8: Dance at Grandpa's

"People had begun to come. They were coming on foot through the snowy woods, with their lanterns, and they were driving up to the door in sleds and in wagons. Sleigh bells were jingling all the time.

The big room filled with tall boots and swishing skirts, and ever so many babies were lying in rows on Grandma's bed. Then Pa took his fiddle out of its box and began to play, and all the couples stood in squares on the floor and began to dance when Pa called the figures."

After a wonderful run of maple syrup sap, Grandpa and Grandma decide to celebrate with a dance at their house. Everyone is so excited; Ma will get to wear the special delaine dress she keeps wrapped in tissue paper. Laura and Mary have never been to a dance, so they are filled with anticipation.

The day arrives and they all pile in the wagon for the trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Pa helps Grandpa in the woods all day and Ma helps Grandma, Aunt Docia, and Aunt Ruby prepare for the party. At last it is time and Uncle George goes out on the porch and blows his horn to summon the neighbors.

So many people come the house is filled with laughing, shouting guests. Pa plays his fiddle and the crowd dances the complicated patterns of the square dance until they can't dance anymore. Than it is time for maple syrup on snow, and after that a groaning table loaded with pies, cookies, cakes, bread, cold boiled pork, and sour pickles. By that time the syrup is graining and everyone gets a little dish of maple sugar candy to top it all off.

The music and dancing went on and on and before Laura knew it, it was morning and she was waking up in Grandma's bed. Time to go home and take care of the animals, but what a fun, fun time they had to remember!

Thoughts:

This week was a perfect juxtaposition for me; I needed to host an end-of-the-year party for my preschoolers and I needed to try square dancing. Voila! Square dancing preschoolers were the answer. Of course, since we had it on a Sunday, other family members were invited, so it wasn't just preschoolers. But we all had one thing in common---we had no idea how to square dance.

The square dance originated in 17th century England with various other European influences. However, it developed so strongly in North America that it is thought of almost wholly as an American dance form. There are two main types of square dance, Traditional and Modern Western. Modern Western is a standardized form where you are expected to be at least functionally proficient with the moves before joining a dance. As it turns out, I'm really more a traditional square dancer.

I went to the local library figuring, "I'm in the country now. There will be a whole section of how-to books on square dancing. Probably some videos and sound tracks, too." There were two books. In the basement. The lovely, helpful librarian had to go down there and fish them out for me. One was a serious tome on the subject. It had phrases such as:

"A caller must be a teacher and a leader, and very capable in both roles. No one can call for a teacher and no one can teach for a caller. Leadership is all-important. You are working with something alive and vibrant; a thing of motion, a constantly changing pattern. The Square Dance has lived and breathed for over three hundred years. It lives and breathes, changes and grows, as does any living organism."

Come again?

Needless to say, the other book was much more help. It had simple "games and mixers" which were just about all we could handle. In all honesty, it turned out they were all we could handle, and then some more complicated routines in the back. Each dance had the page music to go with it, though in retrospect, I should have copied the calls so the caller didn't have to squint over the pianist's shoulder, all stuck back in the corner where no one could hear her. And I could have used a copy of the movements to refer to!

"Aunt Docia and Aunt Ruby helped each other with their corsets. Aunt Docia pulled as hard as she could on Aunt Ruby's corset strings, and then Aunt Docia hung on to the foot of the bed while Aunt Ruby pulled on hers.

'Pull, Ruby, pull!' Aunt Docia said, breathless. 'Pull harder.' So Aunt Ruby braced her feet and pulled harder."

There were no corsets to don, but there was a pleasant, panicked flurry to get ready for the party. Just as Aunt Ruby and Aunt Docia styled their hair, all the ladies had to have appropriate pioneer hairstyles. Sadly, some of us had our pioneer locks chopped off a short time ago due to the fever, so we had to content ourselves with our best approximation.

After the usual preschool preliminaries it was time for our square dance tutorial. I chose the "Irish Washerwoman Mixer" due to its simplicity and the fact it was first in the book. It went like this:

All join hands and go to the middle. (All walk 4 steps to the center of the circle)
And with your big foot keep time to the fiddle. (Stamp foot four times)
And when you get back remember my call. (Take four steps back to place)
Swing on the corner and promenade all. (Each leader swings the partner on the left around, places her on his arm, and promenades around the circle for the chorus)

We would have struggled anyway, but it was made especially challenging by the fact that a large percentage of our group was none to clear on terms like "left" and "counterclockwise". In fact, some of them seemed a little confused about "in a circle", as in our practice couples wandered off in all directions, some of the pairs led by high schoolers! Nevertheless, I felt us ready...at least as ready as we were likely to get. Here is a video of our professional-quality performance.....



It didn't go as badly as it could have, and after a few tries, an 'elite' team of eight dancers decided to try the more complicated routine. To the tune of "Turkey in the Straw", we were to perform these movements:

First Pa and Ma go straight uptown, (first couple walk across set to couple #3)
Bring that opposite couple down, bring them down. (first couple walks backward with couple #3 following)
And push them back. (couple #3 walks backward to place with first couple following)
Separate, go round the track, lady go gee, gent go haw (couple #3 steps apart and lets first couple go between them)
Right allemande just Pa and Ma. (when first couple meet back again, they take right hands and turn once)
All swing on the corner like swingin' on a gate. (All swing the lady on the left)
Promenade corners and don't be late. (promenade new partners round the room)

You're supposed to keep this up until everyone has had a turn and you're back with your original partners. If it sounds complicated and hard to follow, that's because it is. Particularly when one must remember whether one is a gentleman or a lady for that particular go-round. Within one try things had devolved into a sort of line dance that very shortly ended in chaos. But everyone enjoyed themselves, so like Laura's somewhat more traditional square dance, it was a resounding success! Here is the video of our second dance. It looks much better on tape than it did in person.

Then it was time for refreshments. We had old-fashioned kettle corn from the microwave, old-fashioned ginger snaps from the bag, chips and salsa for a international flair, old-fashioned apple pie from a box in the freezer, and of course, a piece of maple sugar candy to top it all off. That at least had some faint flavor of authenticity, since it was left over from last week's experiment.

It was fun to try something new, even though it was something I'm absolutely not good at. I have never had grace or flair; my talents lie in a sturdier direction, but no one was worried about how they looked or how they performed. That's the beauty of childhood, and an attitude we lose all to quickly as we age. I enjoyed stepping back into it for a little while. In fact, I was so loosened up that I even had a "Sound of Music" moment in the field out back after the party. You'll have to admit, that's pretty doggone loosened up!