Square Dancing at MIT

The place: M.I.T. Student Center. The time: Eight o'clock, Tuesday evening. The atmosphere: Jovial, integrated singles scene. Music with a beat made for dancing. Respectable, somewhat subdued lighting.

What's this, you say, a hopping new dance club on the M.I.T. campus? Think again. This is square dancing.

While it's no funket-out, too-cool downtown disco, the M.I.T. square dance club, Tech Squares, really is a lot of fun--as almost any dancer will tell you.

This intrepid reporter travelled not once, not twice but three times on T and on foot, through rain and through the Infinite Corridor of some M.I.T. building, to gather information on the dance some call square. As a reporter, one trip would have been enough. As a dancer, she wanted more.

When you think of square dancing, you might imagine a bunch of straw-chewing men in overalls fiddling in a run-down barn. But the crowd at Tech Squares is not made up of country hillbillies. The folks there are sophisticated, technology-aware urbanites.

Claiming twenty-five as the club's average age, Tech Squares is proud of its members' youthfulness. Brighteyed and bushy-tailed Wellesley and M.I.T. undergrads promenade alongside mature computer technicians. Some dancers make Tuesday nights a familyaffair; one man square dances with his baby on hisback.

But the bogus nature of Tech Squares' reputedyouth doesn't really matter. You can hang aroundHarvard if all you want is bright-eyed and bushytailed.

At first glance, Square dancing looksesoteric and confusing, but it soon loses its auraof mystery. (See sidebox on terminology.) If acaller is good, the moves come relatively easily,and dancers "get into the groove" as the eveningprogresses. Anyone who feels graceless should trysquare dancing. The swing and the swirl of it,the twirl and the taunt of it will make eventhose with two left feet feel like a pro.

A typical Tuesday evening at Tech Squaresconsists of three or four tips for people learninghow to square dance, interspersed with moredifficult tips for club members.

The dancing proceeds according to the caller'swhim. A typical sequence might be: "ladies chainwith a courtesy turn, then chain those ladiesright back again," or "left allemande with yourcorner, do sa do your partner. "When the moreexperienced club members are dancing, the callsget more florid, evoking tropical scenes ("make anocean wave"), carnivals ("ferris wheel"), andhelicopters ("rotary flight").

Tech Squares moves fast, teaching in an eightweek course what most clubs take six months to do.Members of the clubs attribute this to thetechnical acuity of many dancers--this is M.I.T.,remember?--which allows them to learn thecombinations easily.

Not everyone feels that Tech Squares is themost hard-core square dance club around. DorothyStark, and IRS employee who has been squaredancing for eighteen years and has written andarticle on the pastime, says that "in Floridalittle old ladies will dance you under the table.They wait all day, save up all their energy."

Most square dancers say they do it because"it's fun." But since Tech Squares is atM.I.T.--and many of its members do technical worklike software engineering, banking, and taxassessment--this reporter sought a more thoroughanalysis.

Bill Kim, president of the club and eight-yearmember, hypothesizes: "Square dancing appeals toboth the left and right brain. The right brainlikes the dancing, the expressiveness. The leftbrain enjoys the patterns."

Caller Don Beck, who founded the club back in1967, is a mechanical engineer. "The intricatechoreography appeals to engineers. We're atechnically oriented club."

Indeed, there are even computer programs whichprogram dance combinations. But the idea of BigBrother as square dance caller does not appeal tomost.

Despite the strong left-brain bias of TechSquares, there is certainly a more right-brainedappeal to the club. The music is especiallynoteworthy; it is selected from a wide range ofsources and is really somewhat bizarre.

One night Beck spun such tunes as "Ob la di, Obla da," "All of Me," an old Elvis tune, as well asthe traditional favorites like "Amarylla ByMorning."

The social aspect of the club is an importantfacet, and the fledgling square dancer must bewilling to make the appropriate and necessaryeffort. Quoting from a handout on square danceetiquette:

Square dancing is an active yet intimateactivity SO USE ADEQUATE DEODORANT AS WELL ASTOOTHPASTE AND/OR MOUTHWASH.  ***

We don't pair up and dance with the samepartner all evening. Share the wealth andcirculate!  ***

And finally a word to the wise from the bookSquare Dancing: The Other Stuff!

Square dancing is a way to have good, cleanfun without the need to lower your inhibitions.And think about this: how would you like it if anout of control dancer in the square wasuncontrollably swinging your spouse?

If you can comply with the above rules(it may be a stretch), follow a beat, can dealwith a certain age gap between you and yourpartner and like watered-down country western,square dancing could be for you. It may not be adown and dirty dance club, but Tech Squares hasplenty to offer if you get a kick out of do sado's, promenades and a jaunt through the M.I.T.campus.PhotoLily J. WoundThe subtle joy of square dancing.