Once a year in April, the University of Maine at Presque Isle has events instead of classes. This “ University Day.” There was a new event this year run by Leo Saucier. He has been teaching at University of Maine at Presque Isle for 18 years, yet he has only done the square dance once. While it seemed like it would just be a simple process, the event turned out to be basic instructions on the calls and movements of a square dance.
When asked what the event was about, Saucier said, “We explore many different forms of dance at the basic level.” What he meant by this is that he uses basic dance to help future P.E. teachers learn that dancing can improve a person’s health. And how long has he been doing this? Saucier said, “This is the 15th year of dance, but I am not a dance instructor.” To clarify, dance instructors are people who teach dancing for their source of income. Saucier is a P.E. teacher and does this as a part of his teaching. Out of the 26 people participating (not including the reporter), only six people were actual members of Saucier’s class. These students were only six of the 11 normally in his class.
While in the dance area, this reporter learned some of the basic instructions of a square dance. Traditionally in a square dance, only male-female pairings are allowed. The men stand on the left of the women, and are in a square shape at the start. They have a total of eight people per square, and the pair that is closest to the source of music is called the head pair. When they start, the people turn to their partners, then their corner. The corner for men is the lady on their left. The corner for women is the man on their right. Whenever the participants have to turn (or pivot), they turn to the inside of the square. Join 16 is everyone linking hands, and circle left (or right) means walk left (or right) in a circle.
The last thing that this reporter learned was what a do-si-do means. A do-si-do is when the participants circle each other without turning their bodies, until instructed otherwise. They end the do-si-do with a right-hand turn.
Attending the square dance was a surprisingly educational experience. We learned that being a square can actually be pretty cool.
