Monthly Archives: November 2016

The Birdie Dance

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Dances like The Birdie Dance (A.K.A. The Chicken Dance) are the bedrock of a Square Dance party.  They never cease to delight children and adults of all ages.

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of. Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events. Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

Health Benefits of Square Dancing

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Excerpt from Dr. Oz’s site.

Still, there are things you can do to keep your mind sharp. The most important one is to get plenty of exercise, starting now. It’s true that brain volume shrinks as we get older, but several thousand new cells are created every day, and research shows that regular aerobic exercise jump-starts the process, slashing your risk of Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. My advice? Take some dance lessons. Dancing hits all the areas critical for healthy aging: You’re exercising, learning new steps, and socializing.”

–Majid Fotuhi, MD, PhD, chairman of the NeuroGrow Brain Fitness Center in McLean, Virginia, and director of the Johns Hopkins Memosyn Neurology Institute in Lutherville, Maryland

You can find the entire article here: http://www.drozthegoodlife.com/healthy-lifestyle/body/a566/doctors-talk-about-aging/

Submitted by Em Satterwhite

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of. Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events. Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

Square Dancing Is Good Healthy Fun

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Remember in high school when the gym teacher announced, “Today we are going to learn square dancing!”? You picked out a partner, usually of the same sex, and then the teacher went on to teach you the commands, also known as calls, such as “dosado” and “swing your partner”. Eventually, the teacher would put on a record of country music and test your square dancing skills by yelling out the calls in random order. Well, square dancing has changed a lot since then.

Have you seen square dancers twirling, laughing, and having fun at the state fair or at a dance convention? Do you want to meet people that will turn into life-long friends? Are you looking for more fun in your life? Would you like to have fun while exercising? You are invited to get fit through square dancing. Find out how much fun square dancing can be. Did you know that one and one-half hours of square dancing equals 30 minutes of aerobics and a 3 mile walk? Square dancing keeps the mind active and the body fit without strenuous workouts.

Submitted by Barbara Veres

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of. Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events. Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

 

Health Benefits of Square Dancing

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I want to address a crisis in America. The crisis is that too many Americans are overweight, stressed out, and have very little fun. I would like to bring awareness of an activity that addresses these three issues. It is America’s best kept secret, and I want everyone to know about it. I am talking about Modern Western  Square Dancing, and it is not the square dancing you learned in elementary or junior high. It’s good for mind and body. With all its moving, twisting, and turning, square dancing provides more than the daily dose of heart- and bone-healthy physical activity. Remembering all the calls — from “do-si-do” to ‘alemand’ — keeps the mind sharp, potentially staving off age-related memory loss, experts say. And the companionship that regular square dancing offers is an antidote to depression and loneliness. According to a 1994 Mayo Health Care Clinic Health Letter, “in one study researchers attached pedometers to square dancers and found that each person covered five miles in a single evening.” People want to exercise more but find it difficult to motivate themselves. Square dancing combines fun, socializing, making friends, and exercise.

Submitted by Barbara Veres

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of. Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events. Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

Free Food Anyone?

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QUESTION: Where can you dance 7 nights a week AND get free food? ANSWER: Try a square dance! Houston boasts (#??) clubs, offering opportunities to dance all week long. Square dancing offers great exercise (with or without the snacks) equivalent to two hours of brisk walking! As square dancing is a “social dance”, a majority of clubs offer free refreshments for your price of admission to the dance, to encourage dancers to meet and mingle. In addition to the simpler refreshments available at most club dances, almost every club also hosts a series of themed “specials” throughout the year. These can range from ice cream socials, to chili dog feasts, rice harvest festivals, “souper” bowls, cheesecake specials, or holiday events. So whether you come for the dancing, the socializing, the free food—or all three—square dancing offers something for everyone. To learn more about clubs near you, and current specials happening this month? Houston Square & Round Dance Council.

Submitted by Ann Bugh

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of. Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events. Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

Fun-Dangles? What Are Those?

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If you were ever a boy or a girl scout, you probably still treasure those cloth “badges” you loved to earn and show off. Each badge brings back its own memories. Each one symbolized a goal achieved or an experience shared. Moreover, every scout recognizes what it takes to get those “cooking”, “citizenship” or “camping” badges. So it is with square dance FUN-dangles!

Traditional western square dancing will always be rooted in American history, with timeless calls like “Do Si Do” and other basics that never change. However, some dancers also enjoy adding a “modern twist” to the fun—earning “fun-dangles”. For example, dancing 7 nights in a row earns you an “Eager Beaver” badge. Helping a class through basics makes you a “Square Angel”. Dance barefoot on the beach for “Sand Flea”. To earn a “Purple Heart”, dance in a square with 3 callers! “Grasshopper” requires you to dance barefoot in the grass. Want a “Crackpot” dangle? Prepare to dance a tip in the bathroom—with the caller. For a “Venus” badge, you guessed it, dance a tip without hands. Fun-dangles attach to your club badge. They are great conversation starters, as dancers who’ve “been there and done that” compare notes. In short, there are more than 100 wacky ways to add fun to modern square dancing. Want to learn more about Square Dancing, lessons, local dances? Houston Square & Round Dance Council. Want to learn what dangles are available and how to earn them? Tagem! Engraving Fun Dangles. 

Submitted by Ann Bugh

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of. Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events. Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

Square it up… It’s Exercise Time!

Square Dancing

It’s Houston, it’s summer, it’s hot—too hot to walk outside.  But you still need to exercise.  So your best options are #1 hitting the treadmill in the gym…or #2 walking the air conditioned mall, right?  But after the first 1000 “tread-mall” miles, boredom sets in.  Time for option #3: Square Dancing.  Yes, that’s right, square dancing.  Did you know that a typical evening of square dancing is the equivalent of 2 hours of walking?  Best of all, this “walking to music” comes with mental challenge (following calls) social interaction (dancing) and lots of laughter (mistakes were never so much fun).  It’s inexpensive (typical dance admission is $5.00) and no two dances are ever the same.  There are more than 20 active square dance clubs in the greater Houston area, with several hundred dancers, open to couples and singles alike. Each club features different callers and options like line dancing or round dancing, special events., so you can dance almost every night of the week at a different club.  Most clubs offer basic lessons annually, so there are always classes going on from BASIC to PLUS, and on up. To learn more about square dancing in the Houston Area go to…….

Submitted by Ann Bugh

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of.  Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events.  Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

Wade Driver: Professional Square Dance Caller

Square Dancing

In 1957, Wade Driver learned to Square Dance from his father. Doc Driver in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was born. It was then that he performed his first singing call and has been calling ever since.

From 1957 until 1966, Wade attended and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and served his time as an officer in the Navy. Upon discharge from the Navy, he began to pursue a civilian career while continuing his education at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta.

In 1975, after moving to Houston, Texas, Wade quit his regular job to pursue Square Dance calling as a full time profession. In December of 1975, he produced the first records on the “Rhythm” label.

Since 1975, Wade has made Rhythm Records one of the top Square Dance labels in the world. He personally has recorded such hits as “Some Broken Hearts Never Mend”, “Boogie Grass Band”, “Dream Lover”, “New Attitude”, and many others. The success of the label is due primarily to Wade’s management and musical skills.

Wade and his wife, Helene, live in Spring, Texas. In addition to calling at home, he travels all over the world calling various Specials, State Conventions, Square Dance Resorts, and other Festivals. He has called in almost every state in the union as well as Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, England, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Canada.

In addition to his Calling career, Wade is a realtor with First Millennium Realty. This allows him the freedom to cut back on his traveling, but still call as often as he likes.  Helene is from Vasteras, Sweden and is a registered nurse specializing in orthopedics.

Wade has three children, two step children, and four grand children.

Wade has been a member of CALLERLAB since 1975 and is a past member of the Board of Governors and the Executive Committee. He is a  recipient of the CALLERLAB Milestone Award. 

Wade says, “Those of us who have made our living as Square Dance Callers owe it to the activity to put back into the activity as least as much as we have taken out. Square Dancing is a fun recreation. Callers should make sure that it always stays that way”.

Content from Wade Driver Website:  Wade Driver: Professional Square Dance Caller

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of. Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events. Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

Bob Baier: Professional Square Dance Caller

Square Dancing

With over 43 years of experience, Bob Baier serves as one of the nation’s finest square dance callers. Bob’s introduction to square dance calling came at the early age of 15 after taking square dance lessons at the age of 11.  He learned to call from Jim Hale and Red Dongue in 1970 at the Houston Callers Association. Since this time he has enjoyed being involved in square dancing and calling. Bob s calls in excess of 220 dance sessions a year.

Bob instructed his first square dance class in 1971 with 2 different teenage groups in Houston. Since he left Texas A&M in 1976 to become a full time professional square dance caller, he has been a featured caller for many festivals and dances in over 36 states and internationally in countries including Canada, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and Germany. Bob worked with the Winter Texas in Pharr South for 19 years before taking a full time job with the Harris County Toll Road. He is the field operations supervisor for the Patrons Emergency Assistance Team, or P.EA.T. It is Harris County’s first responders for their toll road system. He has been with H.C.T.R.A. for 10 years.

In Houston he calls at various clubs around town and teaches two weekly mainstream/plus clubs (Frontier Squares and Hey Lollies) and an Advance group (Bob’s Best).

Born and raised in Houston Texas, Bob is married to his long time love Dena. He has two wonderful children Michelle (28) and Young Bob (26). Michelle is a graduate of U.T.D with her master’s degree in Communications Disorders. She and her husband Dustin live in Kingwood Texas and have a 28 month old daughter, Lauryn. She is Bob and Dena’s 1st grandchild and the apple of their eye. Young Bob also lives in Kingwood and works for Harris County Fleet Services in Houston.

Bob records for Elite Records, which is owned by one of his best friends, Pat Barbour. He is an accredited member of American Callers’ Association. He is also BMI/ASCAP licensed. He also has a new record coming out called “Come on ring those bells” on Ego records produced by his good friend Paul Cote.

When asked what he does in his spare time, he smiles and says square dancing, water skiing and “I just look forward to seeing you in a square.”

Content taken from Bob Baier’s Website:  Bob Baier: Professional Square Dance Caller

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of. Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events. Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

Square Dancing is a Wonderful Entertainment at Parties and Social Events

Square Dancing

Call it a hoedown, shindig, barn dance, or whatever creative name you can think of, there’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned Square Dance.  Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of.   It’s a wonderful activity for entertainment at any kind of social event.    A good Square Dance Caller will have your group dancing in less than a minute, guaranteed… no previous experience required! You’ll be amazed at how quickly your group will respond and how much fun you’ll have!  Your guests will leave with a smile on their faces and a song in their heart!  If you are on the committee responsible for booking entertainment for your party or social event, book a Square Dance Caller.  Your group will have a memorable evening.  And you’ll be a star!

Garland Smith: Square Dance Caller & Entertainer

Square Dancing is a great activity for any kind of social event. Square Dancing provides a synergy and team-building experience that is unlike any other activity that I know of. Garland Smith specializes in providing square dance and line dance entertainment for parties and social events. Garland uses Square Dancing, line dancing, circle mixers, contras, and other specialty dances to provide a unique party experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.