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October 2007 Blog
Rick Hampton Square Dance Caller
Oct 1st
I comment on the state of s/d here on this blog, as well as other forums.......
This is a posting I made tonite on the Callers Internet forum.......Comments?
EMAIL
Here it is.............
..........."So as I was watching the new season of TV, The Old Folks in the
funny blue
S/D clothes are back.
The spot (commercial) goes ..........we love to Square Dance, It Hurts,
we're old and arthritic but Aleve makes us feel better............Wouldn't be
it
better if, say a Health Club ran a spot that had 40ish folks saying
Square Dancing is the best low impact workout we've even found, Our kids are
welcome and we don't have to dress weird- It's only 10 dollars a person and
what fun!!
Wishful thinking, Our image is what we callers have allowed it to
become-Don't blame anyone else-"We" did it--, most of the Aleve era dancers
will be
gone in a very few years (say less than 5), and calling will be a footnote, no
one to call to. History! Gone! Oh Well etc.
OR Change the image, start tonight, wear casual clothes to call/dance in ,
accommodate the reality of new dancers work/family schedules,Make s/d a 10
week fun thing for the many, and the 52 week route available for the few and
lead all dancers to a new generation of success. We are truly at the
crossroads-
the 75+ crowd is leaving and what will we do in the 30 years it takes for
the 45 year olds to reach 75??????"..........
A Good Class tonite- we need girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-Huh??-Yep Girls!!
Rick
Oct. 2nd
The Visalia Class got their Plus Certificates tonight- Granted it's Vanilla
Plus, but a great class!!!- 85% or better stayed the year and ALL joined the
club- This is what fun, including class members on travels to class level events
and a relaxed dress code accomplishes. Wed it's the first nite of
Advanced Class- I hope to see some new folks, but we'll see.
Rick
Oct 5th
Well I found out that some of the Fresno Advanced dancers have decided to re
start up their workshop. The same folks who asked me to expand my
program-after theirs folded. Why on earth would you want to compete, and
split up the tiny pool of dancers??? Why would you do this after 1)Y'all asked
for me to expand 2) After I did and we had a hugely successful kickoff. I
never would have agreed to be a placeholder, and I hope you know what the hell
you're doing. Maybe I don't appeal to the all workshop/never dance crowd-
If so that's OK WITH ME!!!!!!
Rick
Oct 12th
A busy week- All groups met- (Frazier even had 5 people show up-Yay), # 2
Kid's B-day party (Tonite) and then 19 dances in 20 days ahead. I wonder how the
above mentioned Monday Workshop went?- Don't really care but curious. The
callers forum is actually having a decent discussion of the state of s/d and
maybe would should change some things-Dress- Anal attitudes about alcohol-and if
it's too hard to learn- I say yep, yep and yep!!!!! My medicine for what
was formerly thought to be Gout (Turns out it's a bone "mouse" in my ankle- Yep
the podiatrist called it a mouse) Makes my tummy hurt WAH-WAH.- See YOU soon I
hope
Rick
Oct 14th
A fun 2 nites- THANK YOU-Fresno/Visalia Visitors to the Bakersfield
Club!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't forget they have Michael Kellogg next
Month!!!!!!!!!!!!! We must support each other. San Luis Today and a fun
afternoon- THANK YOU-To the Cuesta Squares Fly In attendees who stopped
by!!!!!!!!!! I hear 90+ people enjoyed Darren , Dave and Anne's calling- The
sizable amount of folks who stopped by my dance were tired but happy!!!- This
week it's Mon-Sat between Visalia, 3 kern County trips and the O/C and Redlands-
Yee Haw (By the way the Monday group barely made the minimum- I TRULY hope they
make it on the 4th Sunday- again support all or lose all)
Rick
Oct 22nd
A good trip to the Bay Area, It's nice when personal and professional things
work together. A great nite at the Outlaws, Glad to help Eric out, Thanks Norm
for taking good care of Whirlaways. .......This last weekend I seemed to drive
thru many of the SoCal Fires, all of which started shortly afterward-It Wasn't
Me!!-Seriously-Pray for this disaster to end. JH tells me the Monday
Fresno group is holding at 4 1/2 squares, He (and I) hope that those 4 1/2
squares will be there Sunday, After all they're dark Monday-This is a nice
attempt to "work together", although I have been seriously "outta the loop"- If
the overlap (which has been 3-4 squares) can be grown by the difference- We
should have 7 squares Sunday- Anybody care to take a bet- I truly hope it's not
back to status quo, but we'll see- The decision on my expanded Sunday program
rests entirely on 10/28 and 11/11. Again I truly hope it will work, I kinda
doubt it- Stuff Happens
Rick
Oct 27th
5 days later and 1500 miles-A fun week and I'm tired- LA traffic sucks, Yet a
great nite at FunWuns (albeit we started 8 minutes late) A Fabulous nite
at Whirlaways Thank You NEW Visalia Group!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bear Stew was
eaten- Yep a dead bear, Tasty (I tried a spoonful) Later Today it's Clovis, then
a normal M-Thursday and the a weekend off!!!!!!!!!! YAY
Rick