Round Dance Instruction

Recently Club square dancers have expressed interest in learning to round dance. Starting September 7, our caller/cuer Steve Minkin will begin teaching beginner round dancing for the first 30 to 45 minutes of our workshops. We'll follow these lessons with square dance tips: SSD with new Plus calls, then full Plus tips. If non-members wish to participate only in the round dance instruction portion of the workshop, we will waive the guest fee.

Workshops

Circle 'n Squares holds regular workshops on Thursdays at Monroe Hall from 6:30P to 9:30P. We normally alternate between square dance tips and round dances. Since the end of our last SSD class last spring we have spent the first part of the workshop dancing at SSD level, and week by week, introducing Plus calls one or two at a time to bring our SSD dancers up to Plus level. The later part of the workshop is called at full Plus level.

Workshops are included in the dues that members pay each month; guests are charged a fee of $8.00 per workshop session. [Anyone interested in joining the Club should speak with a current Club member at a workshop.] Guest fees are waived for members of any other square dance club who'd like to join us on the first Thursday of the month.

Square dancing is learned in groups of eight, called a 'square'; round dancing is learned as a couple. Both dance forms traditionally define a 'boy' role and a 'girl' role, but any person can learn to dance either role and many of the best dancers can do both.

Circle 'n Squares club caller: Steve Minkin

Steve Minkin has been square dancing since 1980 and started calling just a year after that. Within a few years he had honed his skills and was calling professionally. Introduced to square dancing by his wife Rita, who had been square dancing since she was a child, he says he was instantly hooked by the music and the patterns and timing that form the choreography of square dancing. Steve is also a cuer for round dancing and enjoys calling and teaching line dancing and other modern and traditional forms of group dancing.

Besides calling for Circle 'n Squares, Steve calls regularly at Redwood Rainbows, Sebastopol Spinners, and Buzzin' Boots in Novato. He is well known in area schools, teaching all ages to square dance at beginner and advanced levels.

Resident guest caller: Dan Lyke

Circle 'n Squares is pleased to announce that we've arranged for Dan Lyke of Petaluma to call regularly for us at workshops. Local square dancers may know Dan from dances he's called around northern California, or as host (with Don Beck) of a series of pandemic-era Zoom sessions for callers, or as a software guru with credits in Toy Story movies. We're thrilled to have Dan join us and encourage any SSD or Plus dancers looking for dance time to join us on any Thursday evening.

Dan will be substituting for our master club caller Steve as workshop caller on the last Thursday of the month in months with five Thursdays starting August 31, 2023.