CHANUTE — Promenading around the dance floor for a night of square dancing is often thought of as either being an activity for older people or something taught in grade school. Though its general popularity is losing steam, that doesn’t stop a local square dance club from do-si-doing.
Square dance caller Bruce Main of Liberty says “most people think square dancing is for older people. The truth is older people have been square dancing for 40 years.”
Saturday the Chanute Do Si Do Square Dance club got together at the Central Park Pavilion Community Building. People came from as far as Wichita to join in on the dance.
Main, who says he will be an old “die-hard” when it comes to square dancing, also calls it economical. It only costs $6 to get into the club and you get two and a half hours of entertainment and food — compare that to a dinner and movie date night where a person could spend at least $20 just for the tickets.
Ruby Smith, Independence, travels to compete in square dancing competitions and has made dancing a family affair by having taught her children how to dance when they were growing up, she said.
Smith is not the only one who has found square dancing to be a family event. Many people have met their husband or wife through square dancing.
Clyde Lowe, Do Si Do member and whose parents helped start the club 66 years ago, met his wife at a square dance get-together.
Lowe also has played matchmaker by introducing other members to each other.
In addition to square dancing being a social interaction it is also “clean fun,” according to Lowe.
“People who don’t want to bother with the booze can come dance and just have fun,” he said referring to a cardinal rule of no alcohol among all square dancing clubs. “If someone comes in and has even the smell of booze on their breath we will escort them to the door.”
The reason for the no-alcohol policy is because drinking lowers a person’s reaction time, Lowe said.
Multiple studies link square dancing to helping with delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease because of the mental stimulation that goes into square dancing.
Participants have to constantly keep their minds engaged as they listen for the next command the caller gives. Exercise is also a major benefit to square dancing.
“A night of square dancing has been proven to be the equivalent of a three- to five-mile walk,” Lowe said.
But even though square dancing is proven to be beneficial to people’s health, it is a dying field.
“It goes in phases. It gained popularity in the ’80s and then dropped back down,” Lowe said. “We hope it picks up, we just hope.”
