Square Dancing in Tallahassee

Last night we visited the local square dance club, the Capital Twirlers. Brindlee Mountain Promenaders it definitely is not, but the level of dancing was better than we expected. Their caller, Elmer Sheffield, was good, the floor was just right for dancing, and the calls were challenging. The average age of the members is a bit higher than Brindlee, or so it appeared. But several members told us that many of the regulars were not there last night, so we will see. Maybe there will be a few more people closer to our age there next time.

A few of things of note …

The very first call in the very first tip we danced to was tea cup chain. Anyone who has danced with me at Brindlee knows that is my very favorite call. NOT!

The last song we danced to was "It's Only Make Believe," which is my all-time favorite. It was nice to hear it, but rather sad, too. No one can sing it as well as our favorite caller, Mr. Wayne Mahathey.

The group round dances in between the square tips, which neither Bill nor I enjoy. Not only that, but for two hours of dance time, it appears like the square dancing part only accounts for about 50 minutes. The rest of the time is round dancing and/or just visiting. The square dance tips are not our usual 15 - 25 minute sessions that Wayne put us through!

The Capital Twirlers dance the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Mondays (and 5th Mondays, if there is one), but sometimes they (for various reasons) skip one Monday and dance on the off Monday instead. Instead of an e-mail list or a website to announce these changes, it sounds like they just call around each week to see if anyone knows whether they dance that week or not! Sounds rather unorganized to me.

And they have not had new member classes in years. Which means the club will eventually die.

Next Monday is one of those nights that they normally dance but this month will not dance (I forget the reason why). So we will have to wait two weeks. But I imagine we will go back. Maybe if more of the regular members are there, the dancing time will increase. Who knows? But it sure looks like we need to stick to our plan of attending more of the specials that are on Saturday nights around the tri-state area here, if we want to really dance our feet off!