Grab your partner and head over for some Cook County square dancing fun
Mar 09, 2024 03:49AM ● By Editor
Photos by Boreal Community Media
A Boreal Community Media Exclusive - March 8, 2024
If you haven't already known this fun fact, you can learn square dancing right here in Cook County in the Log Cabin Building by the Cook County Community Center. A local husband and wife team, John and Gwen Mattice, share their talents with locals, even those who claim they have two left feet!
Classes are held on Wednesday and Thursday nights from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Log Cabin Building by the Cook County Community Center. Wednesday night is for the more advanced dancers, although they are still learning new calls but dancing more. Thursday is focused more on the beginners who are learning calls.
There is a free will donation box for those who can afford it, but according to John and Gwen, "We don't want you to feel like you can't dance if you can't afford it". John graciously set some time aside to answer Boreal's questions.
A Boreal Community Media Exclusive - March 8, 2024
If you haven't already known this fun fact, you can learn square dancing right here in Cook County in the Log Cabin Building by the Cook County Community Center. A local husband and wife team, John and Gwen Mattice, share their talents with locals, even those who claim they have two left feet!
Classes are held on Wednesday and Thursday nights from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Log Cabin Building by the Cook County Community Center. Wednesday night is for the more advanced dancers, although they are still learning new calls but dancing more. Thursday is focused more on the beginners who are learning calls.
There is a free will donation box for those who can afford it, but according to John and Gwen, "We don't want you to feel like you can't dance if you can't afford it". John graciously set some time aside to answer Boreal's questions.
What is your role with the square dancing event here in Cook County? How long have square dancing nights been happening here?
My role is to provide the place and time to dance, provide lessons to teach people how to do Modern Western Square Dance (MWSD), and be the caller for dancing. I have been calling here since 2017.
How long have you been square dancing yourself?
Both my wife and I have been dancing for approximately 25 years. We got started in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the mid to late 1990s, took a break for maybe 3 years and then started again. I started calling in around the early 2000s. There had been a good caller in the area up here (Finland), but he had some health problems and stopped calling. Since there wasn't a caller up here, we knew we couldn't dance (closest caller was in Thunder Bay), so I decided to concentrate on calling. I had started calling in Arkansas with help from the caller in our club. We moved up here in 2015 and I started calling soon after that. I had been to Caller's School in Topeka in both 2010 and 2011. These are 5 day long, intense sessions with accredited caller coaches accredited by Caller Lab, the International Association of Square Dance Callers.
Do people need to have any experience with square dancing or can someone with two left feet jump right in and learn?
You can certainly dance with two left feet. I have said before and I truly mean it. If you can walk into the building, you have demonstrated that you have mastered the footwork required for square dancing. Fancy footwork is not a requirement. Most people don't do fancy or even try, they just dance. Since you need to know the calls to dance, it really helps to take lessons to learn calls. If you don't know the calls and the caller keeps calling, you will break your square down almost immediately. If the caller will wait for you and if the other dancers in your square are tolerant and helpful, you can slowly learn that way. If you are at a large dance and there are several hundred dancers on the floor, you can't expect the caller to stop and wait for you. I try to give lessons a couple of times a year. My lessons are around 8 weeks long. Most places are 12 to 14 weeks long, but I don't know if people here would tolerate that long, and we're not trying to learn that many calls. Our experienced dancers are using about 50 calls, the normal entry level is Mainstream which uses 68 calls, the next level is Plus which uses 99 calls.
You can certainly dance with two left feet. I have said before and I truly mean it. If you can walk into the building, you have demonstrated that you have mastered the footwork required for square dancing. Fancy footwork is not a requirement. Most people don't do fancy or even try, they just dance. Since you need to know the calls to dance, it really helps to take lessons to learn calls. If you don't know the calls and the caller keeps calling, you will break your square down almost immediately. If the caller will wait for you and if the other dancers in your square are tolerant and helpful, you can slowly learn that way. If you are at a large dance and there are several hundred dancers on the floor, you can't expect the caller to stop and wait for you. I try to give lessons a couple of times a year. My lessons are around 8 weeks long. Most places are 12 to 14 weeks long, but I don't know if people here would tolerate that long, and we're not trying to learn that many calls. Our experienced dancers are using about 50 calls, the normal entry level is Mainstream which uses 68 calls, the next level is Plus which uses 99 calls.
Did it take awhile for people to warm up to this or did you have a good turnout right away?
We had a good turnout right away, but then it dropped off. Not really surprising. Like a lot of activities, some people will try it and then decide it is not for them. Think of curling, golf, bowling. We usually have a square, which needs 8 people with 4 women and 4 men or people that can dance those parts. Once we had two squares. People have other things going on in their lives and can't always make it.
We had a good turnout right away, but then it dropped off. Not really surprising. Like a lot of activities, some people will try it and then decide it is not for them. Think of curling, golf, bowling. We usually have a square, which needs 8 people with 4 women and 4 men or people that can dance those parts. Once we had two squares. People have other things going on in their lives and can't always make it.
Do you have all ages attending or mostly the 50+ crowd?
We have all ages, but mostly younger, not older. Keep in mind I am 76 years old, so my definition of younger may be different than yours. We have several North House Interns. A lot of our dancers are between 30 and 50. People who are 50 or 60 can still be very agile, both physically and mentally. When I give lessons, I am surprised at how fast people learn and how quickly they look like they are having fun.
