The following information is published with ROUNDALAB's permission from the ROUNDALAB Reference Manual compiled by Richard & Jo Ann Lawson, 1987.

Role of the Round Dance Leader

Doc and Peg Tirrell
Cresskill, New Jersey

How many dancers take for granted the individual who stands up with the microphone and cues the rounds at the square dance clubs? Who is she or he? Why does he do it? How did he get involved? And what does he really do for the club? We hope the following thoughts will help you to better understand and appreciate the role played by your round dance leaders, be they male or female, and their spouse or partner.

Round dance leaders enter the activity in several ways. They all enjoy couple dancing and have a desire to be a leader or to promote the activity; they were asked by other dancers to teach them how to round dance or to provide a program for a club; or were handed a "mike" and "drafted." In any case, they wish to encourage more dancers to double their fun and join the round dance circle. It is certainly not for the remuneration — which in most cases barely covers expenses.

Becoming a round dance teacher involves major expenditures which today can easily approach fifteen hundred dollars. The bare necessities include a variable speed record player, speaker, a microphone, records, a record case, books and other paraphernalia. In other words, everything a caller must have. Often a leader will add a wireless mike to this basic list. Over a period of time, the round dance leader will accumulate a large number of records whose choreography is now passé. To keep these records available, a cross filing system is invaluable for searching out "oldies" and "flip sides." We also like to keep a record of dances taught and programmed for future reference and planning.

The conscientious round dance leader must put in many hours of practice and thought learning dance sequences and planning ways in which to teach them. This may even require rearranging their household furniture to provide practice space! The leader must appear relaxed at the microphone so that the dancers will feel secure in his cueing. It is an art — cueing at just the proper moment! The cues should reach the dancers in sufficient time to allow him/her to blend from the previous figure into the one being used. If the cure is dancing and cueing simultaneously, he will be cueing one figure and doing another!

Never underestimate the value of your round dance leader. In Northern New Jersey our round dance teacher quite frequently becomes the time keeper for the dance since dancers immediately "square up" at the conclusion of the round dance section. It is up to the round dance leader to see that the quiet time between the tips is not too long so that dancers become restless. When a club has a visiting caller, the round dance leader often acts as an advisor to the caller as to the "traditions" of the club. A round dance leader also should confer with the caller to program the last hour so that the dance ends on time.

In programming, a round dance leader must be aware of the ability of the dancers. He must provide a variety of dance rhythms and levels yet program to what the round dance circle can accommodate. Like the square dance caller, he must be able and willing to change his planned program to fit the floor, the object being to have as full and happy and pleasurable a round dance circle as possible. We believe that it is better for dancers to come onto the floor, rather than be forced to leave — therefore we program our more difficult dance first, followed by the easier round. Also for variety, it is preferable not to program two similar dances in the same tip.

Square Dancing, May, '83