Twirl your way to better health with square dancing

Have you heard that it is good for your brain to learn a new skill or a new language? That physical exercise and social activity are good for your health? You can get all this in one package – learn how to square dance.  Mastering the dance steps is like learning a new language:  do-si-do, allemande-left, right-and-left grand... 

Square dancing has the benefit of being low-impact but great aerobic exercise.  Mayo Clinic encourages Square Dancing: it burns a lot of calories, strengthens bones, and helps the cardiovascular system.  

A new study comparing country dancing with walking and stretching suggests that the demands that dancing places on the mind and body make it unusually potent at slowing some of the mental changes of aging, an effect not seen in those who walked and stretched.  In the study, the dancers practiced increasingly intricate country-dance choreography, with the group shaping itself into fluid lines and squares, with each person moving from partner to partner.

Square dancing involves constant movement along with quick directional changes that work together to keep the body in shape and in balance. It is also excellent mental exercise as the dancer recalls and executes the caller’s instructions, moving from one formation to another as they are “called out”. But you don’t do it all by yourself; the teamwork of learning together, to good music, makes it an enjoyable social activity as well.

Today’s Square Dancing revives the old “barn dance” style with a modern twist. It is characterized by dancers forming “squares” of four couples who dance specific movements cued by a caller. Square dancing requires lessons to learn the standard set of steps, from the basic to the more intricate.  

Find out more at Tallahassee's Capital Twirlers Square Dance Club Open House from 7-8 p.m. on Jan. 22 and/or Jan. 29 at the Tallahassee Senior Center second floor ballroom.   See a demonstration and participate in some basic steps.  Then stick around to join the fun when a beginner's class starts on February 5 taught by internationally known caller Elmer Sheffield.

Here are some reasons to enjoy square dancing.  It is:

•  So much fun that you will be smiling within minutes, laughing and wanting to keep on dancing.

•  Great physical exercise, involving almost constant movement without begin overly tiring, as you step in time with the music forming moving patterns with the other dancers in your square.

• Good mental exercise: learning each step, reacting to what the caller says and participating in the endless shapes that result.  The challenge is in not knowing what comes next; the next  step is “called” out to you. 

• Easy to learn, providing a great sense of accomplishment and teamwork.

• Danced to enjoyable music including Rhythm and Blues, Golden Oldies, Gospel, Rock, Country and Western, Holiday Songs, Current favorites and even Classical tunes. 

• A stress reducer.  If you make a mistake, half the fun is figuring out how to get where you need to go.  We laugh as we learn.

•  A fine way to meet people and make new friends.  It is more social than other dances since you  dance with three other changing couples in your square.

• An activity that can be done by anyone in reasonable shape.  You do not have to be graceful or coordinated to square dance.  You don’t have to worry about stepping on your partner’s toes, because you are usually going in different directions. No fancy footwork is required.

If you go

What: Capital City Twirlers square dance open houses

When: 7-8 p.m. Jan. 22 and 29

Where: Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St.

Details: Lessons begin at 7 p.m. on Feb. 5 and will continue on Monday nights for the next 12-15 weeks. There is a $2 charge per person per lesson. For more information contact (850) 745-4795 or capitaltwirlers@gmail.com.  Visit the Capital Twirlers Facebook at www.facebook.com/Tallahasseetwirlers or log onto www.you2candance.com for additional information about square dancing