WHAT IS A SQUARE DANCE CALLER?
When early colonial settlers came to America, they brought many forms of dance to their new home. Square dancing, one of the oldest forms of American folk dancing, evolved from several different Old World group dances, mainly the English country, or contra, dance and the French quadrille. In the American version of square dancing, four couples form a square and dance. An American addition to square dancing is the caller. The caller is someone who calls out the dance steps in time to the music. At first dancers memorized all the steps for a particular dance, but eventually the dances became so complicated that it was necessary to have someone yell out cues so that dancers didn’t have to remember so many steps. The caller didn’t just call out “do-se-do your partner”; a good caller also came up with colorful sayings or witty lines that he would say in between the cues such as “Don’t be bashful and don’t be afraid. Swing on the corner in a waltz promenade.” A caller might also come up with
