Ok, back to good stuff:
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Sure, I understand the concept. Itâs the same evolution as square dancing. White settlers on the US frontier didnât know the steps to various dances popular âback east,â and so someone would call out the steps while the music played. The tradition stuck.
Thatâs not the history of square dancing, so no, theyâre not analogous. In a meeting in 5 minutes, so I canât expand on that right now, but thereâs a lot more sophistication to these activities than most people realize.
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I had an great aunt and uncle who were involved in the square dancing circuit in and around the NC / Va areas. I never saw them dance but did see their matching outfits once. They were cute together.
Square dancing does have an interesting history. Especially in regards to the âcallersâ:
"The African and Native American influence has largely been erased from the popular understanding of square dance. âDesignated as the official state folk dance of 31 states, square dancing is not exactly revered for its racial diversityâand pop culture portrayals lean heavily on a mythology of reeling white farmers, not people of color,â writes Erin Blakemore for JStor Daily . But square dancing was also shaped by black Americans, she writes, in ways that were ârooted in the legacy of slavery.â
In the nineteenth century, enslaved people were often used as the ââcallersâ who prompt dancers to adopt different figures like the do-si-do and allemande,â she writes. Black musicians also performed (and at times likely created) the music that dancers moved to. Among themselves, enslaved people âalso started to adapt these popular dances,â she writes.
Over time, callingâwhich was not a part of square dancing before the nineteenth centuryâ âbecame an art form in its own right, humor and entertainment,â writes History.com. Black callers and musicians âcontributed their own steps and songs to the tradition."
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Are square dancers still stuck in a gender binary, like most other dancers?
Good take on that:
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Cool, thanks for this.
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Not in Modern Western Square Dancing. Gay, straight, or any other, one dances oneâs position, and the term âladiesâ and âgentsâ refer (jokingly) to that position, not to sex or gender.
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Cool, though as you can see in the comic I linked to by Maia Kobabe, some might nevertheless find that terminology uncomfortable at best.
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âLeadâ and âFollowâ are the more common ways to reference the positions, but in the right crowd â with, for example, an LGBTQ! caller or home club â itâs very much used as an in-joke.
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In a studio I attended pre-pandemic, dancers were separated into leaders and followers. Anyone could join either group, to learn that part of the dance. Some students adopted different names in each role, so their partners knew what to expect when they asked (or were asked) for a dance.
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Now to get the Enbridge one halted too. 
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And the Pebble Mine, while weâre at it!
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Ya donât sayâŚ
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From 17 to 75%.
I mean how do you put lipstick on that pig if youâre one of the far right in the US? He lost bigly at the polls but thatâs a paddlinâ
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Democrats are trying to drum up support in one of the reddest states in the country.
The group Alabama Democratic Women will be attending the national Women Build Back Better event today and Saturday. The event supports President Bidenâs recovery platforms and trains women in campaigning and advocacy.
LaTanya Millhouse is the president of Alabama Democratic Women. She wants to expand her organization statewide.
âIâm on the road to blue. I am hopeful that Alabama can be blue," she said. "Weâre gonna try to pave the road blue. I want us to be one of those major vehicles in taking the state blue.â
Go team!
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