Wayback Machine. Did anyone here have to take square dancing lessons in elementry school?

[Javaman]

I did and it was miserable. This was back in the 1960's.

Now if they taught swing and lindy hop, it would have been different.

[jakeXT]

1. Looks like it's too complicated

[distantearlywarning]

50. "Top Flight Hepcat"

LOL!

[Jokerman]

2. Wow - Thanks for bringing up that strange memory.

I think I blotted that part of school out of my mind as it happened.

[Xyzse]

3. I remember them making us try it one day in Middle School.

That was in 1991.
I don't know more than that. I believe it was a massive failure.

[Kali]

4. I did.

I thought it was fun. Hell of a lot better than that half a pull-up I could do for the Presidents Physical Fitness Test, remember that?

[antiquie]

11. Me too. White stripes for gym shorts.

I could never throw that softball far enough.
I thought square dancing was a kick.

[LibbyTreehugger]

28. Amen

I actually liked it in the later elem. school years. Sure did beat those pull ups!!

[Chan790]

5. Yes.

It was great. We didn't have to dance swing or lindy hop...we did get to learn to waltz and box-step and other dances. It was the only time we ever got to make physical contact with the girls in gym class. (Religious private schools.)

I was always a charmer...I just didn't realize it until years later. Like post-HS later...there's something disheartening about getting to college and making female friends who will enlighten you so you can realize that half the women in your HS class were really into you, while you were oblivious.

It paid off as an adult.

[arcane1]

6. It was part of phys-ed in the 1970's for me.

Assorted line dancing, a break from only doing sports, I suppose.

[Phentex]

61. same here. I liked it at the time...

I think we did line dancing and some other stuff too.

[sammytko]

7. yes!

It was okay. The boys weren't too thrilled.

[leftyohiolib]

8. yes i did, in 2nd grade, we,the boys, were told to go ask a girl to be our partner. i got so

nervous about it that i threw up on the teacher. i went to her to tell her that i didnt feel well and vomited all over her dress.

[dballance]

9. Yep, in gym class.

LOL, totally forgot about that.

[Aristus]

10. No. We learned the Bunny Hop.

That was fun.

I'd hate to have to square dance...

[In_The_Wind]

17. Lololol

Did you ever try this one?

[pipi_k]

20. OMG that bunch

looks half dead next to these kids!

Wish I could dance like that, but I'd only end up hurting myself.

[Aristus]

21. Yeah, you laugh.

But I had a huge crush on a girl in my class, and I got to watch her do the Bunny Hop for a half hour or so at a time...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Yup. Hated it.

Hated the music, hated holding the boys' sweaty little hands, hated the ugly skirts, hated having to hop around like the klutz I was. Why they made us do that I'll never know. As far as I could tell, everybody, even the cool kids, hated it.

[Javaman]

13. In my gym class. they would set up a phonograph and the gym teacher...

would tap the beat to the music with a yard stick on the floor like a Russian ballet teacher.

The record would skip from so many years of playing it over and over.

My one take away from the whole miserable experience, (I was horribly shy), was the closing statement by the "caller" of the square dance on the record, "and that is all!"

I had to suffer through that mess for for two weeks every year for 4 years. 2nd through 4th grade. And to this day, I find the whole concept of square dancing, due to my PTSD (post traumatic square dancing), a truly annoying dance.

[cyberswede]

14. We did all through grade school - it was my favorite thing in PE

We were all really good at it by 5th & 6th grade. We danced some really complex dances, some even without a caller.

[sakabatou]

15. Yep

[July]

16. High school.

It was a coed unit in gym every year (the only coed one, if I remember correctly). Pretty easy unit, but I do remember that several of the boys had sweaty hands, which made it a bit less amusing.

[madmom]

18. Yes, but in jr high. That was out gym class.

[pipi_k]

19. Oh, yeah, and some

good and bad memories.

I was a kid during the 60s also, and we had the square dancing.

I loved it.

But it was painful, emotionally.

I've had Raynaud's Disease since childhood. That, and anxiety, made my hands cold and clammy. Nobody ever wanted to hold my hand...they always gripped my wrist instead.

While I understand it now, I didn't way back then, at the age of 9 or 10, when I felt like a dirty outcast.

Anyway. I loved dancing.

Not so much during junior high when the boys' and girls' gym classes had to mingle for a while to learn how to waltz.

[trof]

22. Didn't 'have' to, but did. In the 50s in Birmingham, Alabama.

I enjoyed it.
(OK, I was a dork.)

The YWCA gave lessons.
There was Square Dance Night for adolescents and young teens every Saturday.
Something to 'keep us out of trouble' I guess.

I really got into it and learned to call the dances.
And I still remember the calls.

Swing 'em high and whirl 'em low
And keep on swingin' your calico
Allemand left with your old left hand
Back to your partner with a ring and left grand.

Men to the center and back to the bar
Ladies come in with a Texas star

Ah, memories.

[LeftyMom]

23. Elementary, junior high AND high school. California, 80's and 90's.

I think our teachers just liked having a PE unit we could do inside during the rainy season.

[mulsh]

24. My father taught grade school in the 50'ws & 60's

he taught his classes square dancing but he and the other teacher who taught square dancing decided to mix it up with more current music and dances. When he gave me his mostly swing, opera, and symphonic record collection I found Chuck Berry, James Brown etc records scattered among the Puccini and Beethoven records.

I took square dancing in the fourth and fifth grade. It wasn't too bad. My father never tried to teach his own kids how to square dance and his rock n roll and soul records were in his "school supplies" stash in our garage. We were forbidden to touch that stuff under penalty of death and endless lectures.

[GoCubsGo]

25. Yep, in junior high.

It was the only part of phys ed that I ever enjoyed back then. They split the boys and girls up for PE, and I don't think the boys were ever made to square dance. So, half of us had to be the "guy" half of the partnerships. I was the fat kid, and always got stuck being the "man", but I didn't really mind. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference in square dancing. I still liked it, and wouldn't mind getting back into it.

[blogslut]

26. Yes, and I loved it.

Anything was better than running the fucking mile. I get a cramp in my side just thinking about it.

[Ineeda]

27. Yup - allemande left and dosey doe

in junior high gym, also in the 60's. Also a bit of ballroom, which was WAY worse.

[UTUSN]

29. Yes and YES and I was a STAR and MGM missed out on ME!1 n/t

[LadyHawkAZ]

30. Nope. Private religious school, dancing was frowned upon

[blueamy66]

56. Well now, I went to a Catholic school and we had to square dance.

Not fun at all...

[LadyHawkAZ]

57. Mine was Presbyterian

No dancing, it encouraged sexual contact. A policy that became ridiculous after both the bus driver and superintendent got busted for molesting students.

[blueamy66]

58. Yeah, go figure.

Where did you go to school?

[LadyHawkAZ]

59. California n/t

[TrogL]

31. ewww cooties

[Cadfael]

32. Thanks for reminding me

Up until now I'd successfully blocked that memory.

[Brother Buzz]

33. Yes, kindergarden 1950's

We practiced all spring and performed at the school May Day shindig. The boys got to wear red bandannas, how cool is that?

[femmocrat]

34. High school.

I thought it was fun. Our gym classes were not coed in those days. I hated just about everything about gym classes, especially the calisthenics and the hideous gym uniforms.

[rudolph the red]

35. We didn't have to take it

but there was a square dance club that met every morning in the gym, 30 minutes before classes and, believe it or not, it was very popular. I think everyone enjoyed it because of the gym teacher who ran it, he was a really funny, happy man and everyone loved him. This was in the late '70s in Boulder CO.

[MountainLaurel]

36. High school in the late 80s

The most notable thing I remember is that the guy who was assigned as my partner accidentally blew his head off the following year playing Russian roulette while drunk (looks like that gun education lesson worked real well for him).

[pengillian101]

38. Oh, what an awful memory to have.

Sorry.

[RebelOne]

37. It has been so long ago, but I think I did. n/t

[csziggy]

39. Fourth grade we had square dancing on Fridays as a reward

If we behaved all week. It was not structured, just a good time for all, and was lots of fun for those kids whose feet would cooperate. I have always been a miserable dancer, so I didn't dance much - but I had fun watching.

[hibbing]

40. Yes...Phys Ed Class

Hey,
Funny topic for a thread and looking back on it was really strange. I remember our bad ass big burly PE Teacher "Mr. V" putting on a record in the gym that called out the square dance moves. I don't recall it being anything horrendous at the time.

Peace

[deerheadgal]

41. Yes!!

I went to a one-room country school (in the 1960s). We had 12 students and learned to square dance to celebrate the Kansas Centennial in 1961. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, either.

[fizzgig]

42. we did line dancing

[GReedDiamond]

43. Yes, but it was a fleeting phenomenon...

...which occurred one year during elementary school, while I was in the 3rd grade, circa 1963.

As I recall, it was implemented through PE class.

Personally, I preferred dodgeball to square (or any other kinda) dancing.

[trueblue2007]

44. i took square dance and I LOVE LOVED, LOVED IT!!!!

[grasswire]

45. oh yes

"There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight...."

[B Calm]

46. We did it in grade school. The boys hated square dancing, but the girls loved it.

[AngryOldDem]

47. I did.

And as much as I hated gym, I hated it even more during Square Dance Week.

I can still remember the record player and the calls -- Swing Your Partner Do-Si-Do...I have to stop before the flashbacks get too bad.

[Art_from_Ark]

48. Was your instructor Bugs Bunny, by any chance?

[distantearlywarning]

49. Yes, unfortunately

6th grade. The boys and girls were just starting to notice one another and we were all terribly shy about it, so it was an incredibly painful experience.

And I just thought the whole square dancing thing was just completely ridiculous anyway. I had no interest in "country" culture or that kind of music even at that young age, and did not want to wear the calico skirts or any of that crap because I was a tomboy. I would have even preferred ballroom to "do si doeing". Or pretty much any other activity, actually.

But I was the kind of kid who actually enjoyed competitive sports. My favorite units in PE were the ones where we got to play tennis or badminton. I also liked running long-distance track. Team stuff didn't do much for me (too much hoo rah nonsense and picking teams was always about who was popular rather than who was actually good), but I liked anything individualized and competitive.

[GreenPartyVoter]

51. 2nd grade, 1977-78. I love to dance, so I was ok with it.

[annonymous]

52. Yes, both elementary school and junior high school

My elementary school had a dance festival every year, so I had to learn various dances for the festival. This was back in the 70's. In junior high, dance was part of gym class.

[Kingofalldems]

53. Nuns did not allow dancing of any kind.

[PassingFair]

54. I absolutely loved it. My favorite "gym" activity.

Went a couple of times to "barn dances" as an adult, and it was even more fun when I was loaded!



I went to a wedding in Scotland where they did line dances like "Strip the Willow"
at the reception, and my grade school lessons paid off, as I was able to figure out
the rhythms and the moves as I went along.

SOOO much fun!

[Still Blue in PDX]

55. I thought it was fun,

but I hated sports and calisthenics, so anything was an improvement.

[eppur_se_muova]

60. Yes, and I have no idea why.

It wasn't for any class I was in. A teacher just showed up one day and told our teacher she needed a few more boys for square dancing. Our teacher picked out 4-5 boys, including me, and sent us off to the gym. We spent a few weeks doing square dancing instead of study hall. To this day I have no idea what that was about.

[LiberalEsto]

62. Yes

It wouldn't have mattered what kind of dancing they taught. I was considered one of the losers and none of the boys wanted to be partnered with me.

[RobinA]

63. Yep!

I absolutely loved it. It was the only thing in gym class that actually fun.

[ashling]

64. No, but I had spelling in elementary school

We had square dance and folk dancing in Jr. High. They would open up the divider between they boys' and girls' gyms.

[Javaman]

67. My, aren't you the charmer. nt

[ashling]

68. Sorry

trying to be cute (not offensive) sometimes I slip up.

No offense meant

[IrishAyes]

65. Fortunately, Catholic schools don't frown on dancing. Twerking maybe, but not dancing

in general. Since my dad was career military, we moved a lot so I had to spend temporary spaces in public schools more than once. I grew up with square dancing, but it was so lonnnng ago that it wasn't considered quite so square.

[Arkansas Granny]

66. Not at school, but we learned at 4-H camp.

[Blue_In_AK]

69. I can't remember if it was grade school or later,

but, yes, somewhere along the line I learned how to square dance. Very appropriately named.

[haele]

70. Actually, yes. 1966 in Santa Maria, CA.

We did it right after last recess in the portion of the day when we were doing art (looking back, art was at the end of the day because the teachers knew we didn't have the attention span to keep "learning&quot .
They always had the "school work" stuff was always in the morning, and it would get easier and more interactive as the day went on. I guess the dancing part of art was to "teach teamwork" and also get the rest of the recess energy out so we could settle down and paint or build things.
Square dancing was hard. There was a whole lot of falling down that first half hour or so.

Haele

[AgingAmerican]

71. We had to in HS in the 70s

I got paired up with a girl whose hands were so calloused that they felt like sandpaper, and her palms were super sweaty. Not a good memory.