'Friendship set to music': National Square and Round Dance Festival comes to Calgary

Square and round dancers from all across Canada are gathering in Calgary for their biannual festival celebrating their passion.  There are also a number of international guests coming to dance.

"We've got people from all over the world coming," said Dawn Gilchrist, one of the festival organizers. "We've got people from Australia, Malaysia, Sweden, Germany, the U.S., obviously.

"It's about camaraderie and friendship," Gilchrist said, continuing. "They say square dancing is friendship set to music and that's exactly what we do -- we meet people that we haven't seen in a long time, we meet new friends and we just have a good time."

The event is held every two years. The last time it was held, organizers in Fredericton, N.B., hosted more than 350 dancers. This year, by contrast, Gilchrist says 650 people have registered for the three day event that kicks off July 17th.

She says the majority of participants are in their senior years, but people of all ages can dance.

"We have members from eight years old, up to my 93-year-old father-in-law will be here so yes, we have members from all walks of life, all ages," she said.

And not only does square dancing offer cardiovascular benefits, but Gilchrist says it offers abundant neurological benefits as well.

"Square dancing is one of the best benefits to help stave off Alzheimer's actually," she said. "It uses all parts of your brain, you have to listen to music, you have to listen to a caller, you have to execute the moves, you talk to your fellow dancers, and it's just an all around good brain workout."

Third generation caller

Lorne Smith is a third generation caller who guides dancers through their square dance steps. He started in his 20s and has been calling for close to 40 years in Calgary and western Canada and says some callers use a script and others do right off the fly by visualizing where the dancers are.

"It's like playing chess, we're moving to a checkmate, checkmate is the end result to an element left," he said. "With flow, we have to watch music, the hand usage, body flow, timing with music because every call takes a certain number of beats.

"Some calls take four, some take six," he added. "Some take more than that so we have to deliver the command approximately two beats before so they're ready to start the next command, the dancers have no idea what you're going to do move to move."

Round dancers

Mary Nelson is a round dance cuer from Sherwood Park, east of Edmonton. She's been to a number of festivals and says they're social events. She says round dancing combines a number of different disciplines.

"We dance in a circle, we dance with our partner," she said. "As opposed to a square with three other couples so it's just you and your partner out there, the round dancing is like ballroom dancing, it's waltz, two step, rumba, cha cha, jive, tango, slow to step valero, I can continue on."

Nelson is looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones this year.

"We have cuers up from California this year, from Montana, from different states so it'll be really fun," she said. "We can do an evening dance for two hours and we can cover 10 different rhythms so you're constantly thinking on your feet, you're moving, you're exercising your body, your mind."

Gilchrist said the event is open to the public to watch all the varieties of dancing at the Glenmore Inn and Convention Centre from July 17, to the 20th.

"The public will have to stop at the registration desk and get a spectator ribbon and sign in and out, but yes, you can come and watch," she said. "What you're going to see is a whole lot of people having a good time, you're going to see people dressed like me with the full crinoline on and it we're all just going to dance and have a really good time."

Learn more about the festival here: www.squaredance.ab.ca