The uninitiated try to "Load the Boat"

While the origins of the call Load the Boat are uncertain (Lloyd Shaw makes no mention of it), based on its number in Burleson’s Square Dance Encyclopedia, it was an early addition to the repertoire.  In fact, Load the Boat, Unload the Boat (pretty much backwards of Load the Boat), and Sink the Boat (ending with squared sets facing out) are numbered consecutively, so presumably joined the call list at the same time.

Western Star Dancers’ Bob Belleville developed Rock the Boat (Ends Load the Boat, Centers Single Circle to a Wave, Fan the Top, Extend), and you may hear it called at special events.

Perhaps in the more difficult programs they may use some of these calls, but it is safe to say you will never hear of some of these calls besides in this article.  Some were written for a special occasion; Load the Boat to Memphis was written specifically for a convention in Memphis and features stars representing a paddlewheel.  Load 1, 2, 3, and Anything is the number of right shoulder passes on the outside and anything for the Centers.  Load and Anything and Loaded (any call) are the same.

A dinghy is smaller than a boat, so Loading the Dinghy is Ends Pass In, Centers Partner Trade.  There are several Barge calls, but their relation to the Boat calls is undetermined.  To Load the Elevator, the centers roll back and do the outside thing, while the ends move in and do the center part.  Load the Square starts from a square and ends in an Eight Chain Thru formation.

All 8 Load starts from facing lines, and each side acts as the center of Load the Boat.  Love Boat again has the ends doing their usual thing, but the centers step forward and Yellow Rock the person in front of them, then to a Partner Tag. A Short Boat has the Ends pass one shoulder and Face In while the Centers Pass Thru and Face Out.

Most of the other Load and Boat calls combine other calls with some variation of Load the Boat.  Happy is the dancer who never has to worry about deciphering Load the Spin.

Below is a list of the call, along with their Burleson number for anyone so inclined to seek more information.

All 8 Load 3520

Chuck the Boat 1589

Curl the Boat 2358

Circu-load 5005

Fan the Boat 5073

Follow That Boat 4375

Load 1, 2, 3 And Anything 4682

Load And Anything 3737

Loaded (Any Call) 5080

Load And Fire 4683

Load And Flip The Diamond 3272

Load And Lock 3541

Load The Action 2386

Load The Bases 2387

Load The Boat 475

Load The Boat  Centers 1/2, 1, 2, 2 1/2, 3, Or 3 ½ 3376

Load The Boat To Memphis 4684

Load The Chase And Hinge 2687

Load The Column 4201

Load The Dinghy 2757

Load The Elevator 1056

Load The Raft 2492

Load The Spin 428

Load The Square 3214

Load The Star 3672

Load The Tag 4685, 4745

Load The Top 4016

Load The Windmill 3101

Load Up 3542

Long Boat 4159

Mini Boat 2601

Miss the Boat 2851

Mix the Boat 4285

Rock the Boat 4350

Roll the Boat 3228

Round the Boat 2002

Row Your Boat 2771

Scoot Chain the Boat 1231

Short Boat 4928

Track the Boat 5113

Turn the Boat 2981

Turn the Boat #2 4362

Unload the Boat 476, 4936

Unload the Boat #2 2847

In the interest of clarification for those of us with inquiring minds, the following information is presented.  Note that while there are C4 dancers, their program is not managed by CallerLab, and, thus, they can utilize thousands of calls and concepts.

From Bigpedia.com:

Dance programs
Dances are categorized as belonging to a particular dance program, or level of difficulty. This allows the caller to form his/her choreography from an agreed-upon and widely known list of calls that the dancers are understood to be able to carry out.  Dancers can be assured that others who dance the same program know identical calls.

When a dance is advertised as being a multi-program dance then there are either “tips” or special rooms available for the dancer at the various different programs.  There are nine different dance programs from which the dancer may choose. There is no requirement to progress to more advanced levels. One is encouraged to dance the program in which one is comfortable, and to only progress to another program if one has such a desire. One is also encouraged to dance a program at least one year after having learned it before progressing to a new one. This allows the dancer to get sufficiently confident in their dancing abilities, so they can attempt learning new steps that are built on a foundation of skills already learned and assimilated.

Seven of these nine programs are managed by Callerlab, the International Association of Square Dance Callers. In addition there are several high level unmanaged programs. Having managed programs allows modern western square dance to be an international activity. The seven managed lists are as follows. After the name of the program is an indication of the number of included steps at the moment (Aug. 2002). There is occasional adjustment of the programs. The tendency is to reduce the number of steps at the lowest level (Mainstream) so that there is less required learning time to achieve a controlled common level of dancing proficiency.

Mainstream – 68 calls

Plus – 32 calls – 100 calls total

Advanced 1 (A1) – 48 calls (and concepts) – 148 calls (and concepts) total

Advanced 2 (A2) – 37 calls (and concepts) – 185 calls (and concepts) total

Challenge 1 (C1) – 73 calls (and concepts) – 258 calls (and concepts) total

Challenge 2 (C2) – 72 calls (and concepts) – 330 calls (and concepts) total

Challenge 3A (C3A) – 81 calls (and concepts) – 411 calls (and concepts) total

There is an alternative dance program managed by the American Callers Association, called the “1″ floor dance program, which consists of 66 steps at the moment. Its intention is to create a dance program that is more accessible.

Calls and concepts
Besides the call of the step to be performed, a “concept” is an additional layer of complexity which can be put on top of the step to make it more challenging. Not surprisingly “concepts” are first introduced when learning the higher dance programs.  To show how concepts work we could take a hypothetical call entitled “Walk” which is defined as walking forward, and apply a hypothetical concept entitled the “Backwards” concept or even the “Sideways” concept, and the results of the walk call is entirely different.

http://www.bigpedia.com/encyclopedia/Western_square_dance

The American Callers Association (ACA) focuses on traditional square dancing, and abhors complicated, newfangled stuff, as you will find in CallerLab’s programs.  ACA used a “1 Floor” program, using calls that we would recognize as Mainstream, with a few Plus calls thrown in.  Their objective is to let everyone dance every tip.

Here is the list of the ACA calls:

1 Dancer naming
2 Forward & Back
3 Allemande Left & Right (arm turns)
4 Promenade (full,1/2,and single file)
5 Right & Left Grand & Weave the ring
6 Circle Left,right,1/2 & full 4& 8
7 Swing
8 Right Hand Stars & Left Hand
9 Pass Thru
10 Partner Trade & California Twirl
11 Do Sa Do
12 See Saw
13 Separate round 1,2,or more
14 Courtesy Turn
15 Ladies Chain Two, Four, & 3/4
16 Star Thru & Slide Thru
17 Pass To The Center
18 Grand Square
19 Bend The Line
20 Square Thru family (1-5)
21 Lead Right & Circle To A Line
22 Star Promenade
23 Thar Family (Shoot the Star)
24 Slip the Clutch
25 Rollaway Half Sashay (Ladies in Men Sashay)
26 U-Turn Back & Back Track
27 Wheel Around
28 Ocean Wave Right Hand, Alamo
Style & Left hand
29 Pass The Ocean
30 Swing Thru
31 Run Family(Ends,centers,boys, girls & cross run
32 Double Pass Thru
33 Trade Family (Couples,Ends, Centers,Boys & Girls)
34 Right & Left Thru
35 Wheel & Deal (Lines Out and Two face Lines)
36 Extend
37 Zoom
38 Centers In
39 Cast Off (1/2 & 3/4)
40 Touch 1/4
41 Trade By
42 Flutter Wheel & Reverse Flutter
43 Circulate (All Eight, Ends, Centers,Couples, Split, Box, Single)
44 Veer Left & Right
45 Sweep A Quarter
46 Hinge (Single, Partner & Couples)
47 Eight Chain Thru ( 1-8)
48 Ferris Wheel
49 Spin The Top
50 Walk & Dodge
51 Fold & Cross Fold
52 Spin Chain Thru
53 Tag The Line (In ,Out,  Right,  Left, & Half Tag
54 Turn Thru (Extend Trade and Extend -EasyTeach)
55 Scoot Back (Same teach as above except out facers Fold)
56 Recycle
57 Cloverleaf
58 Dixie Style To A Wave
59 Teacup Chain
60 Diamonds (Curculate,Flip & Cut)
61 Load The Boat
62 Ping Pong Circulate
63 Track Two
64 Relay The Ducey
65 Follow Your Neighbor
66 Anything & Spread
67 Coordinate

Dosado is one call that is common to most American folk dances, reflecting the common French source.  Is it any surprise that such a ubiquitous call should provoke flock of variations?  This article is a bit long, but engaging.

Dosado

Modern Western Square Dancing is a relatively recent development, a codification of various calls associated with country dance in the 1940′s.  The roots of square dance go much deeper into the past.  The French Quadrille was one of the early forms of couples dance.  Before this time, most dancing was done in lines.  Here is a video of  a quadrille being performed.  Many of the movements are familiar, but the fancy footwork has been lost.

Quadrille

One of the first calls taught by Western Star Dancers is the call Yellow Rock, which, of course, means to hug your corner.  Yellow Rock is quite well known in the square dance world; square dancers tend to appreciate opportunities to hug and be hugged.

WSD uses the call Stack the Wood cue hugging your partner, but someone somewhere decided that we need more rocks and so other colors of rocks have been assigned.

Red Rock is the same as Stack the Wood and means to hug your partner.

Green Rock is the cue to hug your right hand lady.

Orange Rock is the cue to hug your opposite.

Blue Rock is the cue to hug the caller.  Probably Rich Reel, our caller extraordinaire should get more  Blue Rocks.

Peace, Love, and Yellow, Red, Green, Orange, and Blue Rock on!

Square dancing has its own set of jargon, like other hobbies and vocations.  Many of the terms used in calls are pretty clear and self-explanatory:  Run, Circulate, Courtesy Turn, and so forth.  Why some calls have the names they do is much harder to explain.  Why is it a California Twirl, and not a Tennessee Twirl, for example?  More research is needed.

Alamo is that place in Texas where the Mexicans beat up on the Texians.  The Spanish named their mission Alamo for the cottonwood trees in the El Paso area.  Interestingly, Do-paso also derives its name from El Paso.  The folks down there didn’t like doing a plain old Do-si-do, so they developed their own version.

Thar is the name of a desert in northwest India and Pakistan.  Thar is also the alternative spelling of a Himalayan goat, tahr.  Thar is often used in dialects meaning there:  Over thar.  In square dance usage, it was possibly started as a masculine form of star since it is a gender-specific call—women star and men thar.

Allemande is a French term for Germany (Left Germany?).  An allemande is also a movement in a dance suite.  Square dance usage likely comes from the latter, but it could also be a corruption of some other phrase.

Sashay is another term from the French, the verb chasser. A chassé is a sliding dance step, and sashay is the Anglicized spelling.  To sashay, of course, is to walk showily or to strut.  Callerlab decreed that there is no Sashay call, but only the position of female on the left in a couple.

Promenade is another French word for walk.  To promenade is to walk leisurely in a public place, to see and be seen.  A promenade is also a place to promenade and sashay.

Box the Gnat probably has a colorful history as a name, but the call describes the hand actions:  the lead dancer makes a box with his hand to capture the gnat that is his partner’s hand.  Maybe someone was drinking too much moonshine.

A Flutterwheel is a waterwheel that is gets its water from a chute or flume (as opposed to using river currents).  Flutterwheel is also the name of a quilting pattern.  Since square dancing using both forward and reverse flutterwheels, and has country origins, it is safe to guess that the square dancing term is related to the quilting term.  Take a look at the pictures on Google.

Acey-deucy is a variation of the game of Backgammon.  A Navy chief petty officer once told me that there are two kinds of ships in the Navy:  Acey-deucy ships and Cribbage ships.  Both games help pass the time at sea.  How the board game became “ends circulate and centers trade” in square dancing is mystifying.

–Daryl Daniels, Linguist

This little ditty has been around for some time, the author is unknown

Are you an active member,

The kind that would be missed

Or are you just contented

That your name is on the list?

Do you attend the meetings

And mingle with the flock

Or do you stay at home

And criticize and knock?

Do you ever work on committees

To see there is no trick

Or leave the work to just a few

And talk about the clique?

So come to meetings often

And help with hand and heart

Don’t be just a member,

But take an active part.

Although the Board of Directors can decide on the direction in which the club is moving and make decisions on the policies, it is up to the membership to make the club workable.

In the movies we see the ladies with big hair and lavish gowns in quadrilles with men in frilly shirts and ornate waistcoats.  Except for a word or two between dance partners (leading characters, naturally), the set is silent and precise.  Square dancing, too, and be silent and elaborate, but that’s for the Challenge program and the occasional performance troupe.

Western Star Dancers unofficial motto is We’re here to have fun.  Gay square dancing has developed a list of responses dancers can make while completing a call.  A couple years ago, Joe/Todd noticed that Ping Pong Circulate sounds like King Kong Circulate.  Soon, they had most of the club huffing like a gorilla into the next spot in the formation.  Giggles and chortles ensued.

This list has evolved over the years.  Some of the sound effects go out of style, and others blossom into being.  There is a practical purpose to this silliness.  These bits of styling serve both as a cue for the dancers, and as a means for all the squares on the dance floor to synchronize their steps.

As with all styling, this is not required.  Only do what you are comfortable with; smooth dancing should be your aim.

Square Dance Sound Effects

Felix Fornino, Lifetime Member and former club administrator, had a serious addiction.  In this article reprinted from Quarterly Selections Felix discusses dangles and the joy and challenge of collecting them.

Dangles are Merit Badges for square dancers.  While there are several standard dangles, the original, one-of-a-kind dangles are most prized.

Making dangles is quite easy.  Shrinky-Dinks produces inkjet compatible plastic sheets.  A design (2.2 inches square), any or as much color as you like (but faded out a bit, as per the instructions), is printed on the Shrinky-Dink plastic.  Twelve designs fit on one page.  The designs are then carefully cut into 2.2 inch squares or other shapes.  Use a small paper punch to make holes for the drop hoops for connecting the dangles to a badge.  Line a cookie sheet with brown or parchment paper and place the dangles so they do not touch, and bake as directed.  When the dangles are shrunken and flat, remove them from the oven.  Have another piece of paper handy to flatten any recalcitrant dangles (you can reheat them if necessary).  After they have cooled, the dangles should be sprayed with a clear finish to seal in the colors.

Or you can have them custom made, but they can be pricey.  The special star dangle for the WSD 25th Anniversary, for example, made by The Badge Works (Riverside) cost almost $5 each.

Fun Dangle Memories