Left to right: Rebecca Williams (an Egyptian), Steve Irons (Mark Antony), Susan Irons (Cleopatra), Kim Denny (Every Man’s Nightmare), and Dann Denny (Pickleball King)
Rebecca Williams
The Rancheros Square Dance Club enjoyed a wonderful night of square dancing with their sister club, the SaddleBrooke Squares. More than 40 people attended the event, with several having fun in their favorite Halloween costumes.
The Rancheros were especially pleased to have two of their attending couples take the top awards. Steve and Susan Irons won the top honors of the evening as Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Kim and Dann Denny swept second place with Kim dressed as “Every Man’s Nightmare!” and Dann as the official “Pickleball King.”
The square dance clubs welcomed back their winter caller, Bob Asp, for the first dance he has called for the winter season. The club’s summer caller, Dean Singleton, also came with wife, Nina, for the fun.
All the Rancheros pictured just returned from a square dance weekend in Albuquerque, N.M. A nationally recognized caller, Mike Sikorsky, was the caller for the weekend and there were dancers from New Mexico and many of the surrounding states in attendance. Some of the group also enjoyed the aerial tram up to the top of the Sandia Mountains for a great view of the surrounding area, went to a Native American Indian cultural museum, or peeked into some local quilt shops. On the way, a stop in the El Mal Pais National Monument offered a great view of a natural stone arch and some beautiful sandstone bluffs.
If you line dance, ballroom dance, or don’t dance at all, you can enjoy modern square dancing. There are no complete routines to memorize and no sets of positionally fancy dance steps. You don’t need to have any rhythm either! If you can walk, you can square dance. You learn basic moves, but you do not know in what order they will be called by the caller. This makes for a constantly challenging and surprisingly fun time. The unknown or unexpected calls makes recovering from occasional mistakes a part of the fun with your square of eight friends all sharing a laugh.
Modern square dancing is social. You are constantly changing partners with the other people in your square of eight so you get to know a lot of people. We use computerized squares to be sure that everyone gets to mix and mingle. And once you learn, you can square dance anywhere in the U.S. and around the world! Dancers have enjoyed square dancing in Germany, Japan, and many other countries.
The group plans to offer lessons again starting in early January. If you would like to learn more about square dancing, look at the Rancheros Club website at www.saddlebrookeranchhoa.org: select “Things to do,” “Clubs,” then “Square Dance—Rancheros” or contact Rebecca Williams with questions at [email protected].