Jim's Australian Square Dancing Blog

Where did the great Australian square dancing boom come from?

Why do we never hear anything about it -- the greatest boom in public participation entertainment in Australia's dancing history?

When will it return?

In the first question, Henry Ford played an important role. 75 years ago he used to vacation at the Wayside Inn, in Sudbury, Massachusetts. There he became interested in the dance program conducted by a dancing master named Benjamin Lovett. This program included the gavotte, mazurkas, the schottische, the minuet, the Virginia Reel and other square and round dances. Mr. Ford tried to hire Mr. Lovett, who declined, pointing out that he had a firm contract with the Inn.. This posed no problem for multimillionaire Ford who simply bought the Inn and Mr. Lovett's contract with it. Mr. Ford considered square dancing a great public benefit and entertainment, which deserved promoting. He took Mr. Lovett back to Detroit with him and used him to establish a broad program for teaching square and round dances, including radio broadcasts and programs for schools, plus production of an important book of dances. Mr. and Mrs. Ford built a beautiful dance hall in Greenfield Village and named it Lovett Hall. That was in the late 1920s. It is still in use.

Prior to this, American dancing, which was based on dances brought from their homeland by migrants particularly from France and England, had been in decline, but Henry Ford's promotion changed that.

The Americans found there were so many traditional dances to remember that they needed a "prompter" who could direct one or two sets (eight dancers) at a time. He was later known as a square dance caller. Then came the arrival of amplifying which enabled the prompter to call the dance for large numbers of sets. During the Australian square dancing boom of the 1950s, on Monday nights I regularly called the dance for 500 sets (4000 square dancers) per night in Centennial Hall Adelaide, plus thousands in Melbourne ballrooms on the other nights of the week.

THE GREAT SQUARE DANCE MYSTERY

Why is it that most young Australians have no idea what square dancing is all about?

The reason is that they've never seen it on television in any of the nostalgia programs - and the reason for that is interesting. During the square dancing boom, for a few years it became so popular that many young people were going out sometimes three and four times a week square dancing. This had a disastrous effect on cinema audiences, and some cinemas closed. So, newsreel cameramen - who provided all the moving pictures from those days that we see on television - were forbidden to film square dancing, even though there were some unique pictures available of huge dancing crowds kicking up their heels. One leading newsreel cameraman, who was
a friend of mine, said "Sorry Jim. We are not allowed to film square dancing. The cinemas are our customers."

A feast for young dancers:

So many people ask me when is square dancing coming back? Answer is that it's never gone away: it is enjoyed in many small clubs all around Australia but the numbers are very few compared to what we had in the square dance boom days.. Many club members like it that way but right now hundreds of thousands of young ones are missing out. I love rock'n roll. It is so simple, so easy to join in and great fun. But you see many young ones trying to make up routines to make their dancing satisfactory and interesting. Hey! That's what square dancing is all about -- a treasury of routines which are fun and satisfying when you dance them. They were passed forward from our ancestors for our enjoyment -- contrasting rhythms of two/four and six/eight, quite different to our rock 'n roll beat and providing variety which adds to the enjoyment and satisfaction of dancing - the do-si-do, the chains and stars, the Square Waltz, the Grand Square and particularly the Virginia Reel - popular 100 years ago, which could add life and fun at any modern rock dance or party.

Variety. Lack of it creates a vacuum. The great square dancing boom swept into an entertainment vacuum at the end of World War 11. People wanted more than just the jitterbug; they wanted something interesting, with variety, which helped them to get together; something interesting and enjoyable they could do to music Above all, they wanted fun and that became the motto "Square dancing is fun".

Keep it simple and it will go. In the great square bouncing boom we were helped by a couple of wonderful promoters -- including John Brennan, the proprietor of Earl's Court ballroom and his sons, in particular Barry Brennan who promoted square dancing with passion because he believed in it. At the start of the square dancing boom, we were lucky in that we had had a brief visit from a great American caller Joe Lewis. He stirred up a little interest, and a physical education teacher and also a great square dance teacher Bill McGrath then played a big part. As interest developed, with the cooperation of these promoters, we reshaped the square dancing to suit Australians -- dumping the American twang in favour of clear diction, dumping the hillbilly dressing in favour of comfortable casual wear for men, with pretty (quite often off the shoulder) frocks for women. Very soon there was a multimillion pound business in women's square dance frocks and I was told that at one stage more than half of all the records sold in Australia were square dance records.

A simple secret. The most important thing was that most of us who promoted square dancing were complete beginners ourselves. We did not know any of the complicated stuff -- and therefore we didn't teach it! This meant that the square dancing we presented to the public in Australia was much simpler than the square dancing danced in the few small clubs. This became the secret of the boom which developed: because we kept it very easy, we enabled hundreds and later thousands and then scores of thousands to join in the dancing very easily -- enjoying getting together and meeting new people, fun dance routines, clapping, stamping their feet, having a picnic supper on the dance floor, etc.. We were just plain ignorant. We arranged the square dancing to suit ourselves -- and it worked!. We did not know anything about the long, wonderful history - the cotillion, the great quadrille, etc. - and where it all came from -- and we didn't know how much we owed to Henry Ford.

Jim Vickers-Willis
Author of "The Standard Australian Square Dance" (Rigby), "The Magic of Life" (Sid Harta).
For more information, visit our website at www.vickers-willis.com

http://www.vickers-willis.com

Will Square Dancing come back as a major public entertainment?

Of course it will - the boom which closed many picture theatres in the 1950s was not a fluke; it filled a need - people love to be able to do something to music, to let their hair down and really enjoy themselves; to forget themselves and have the opportunity to meet lots of other people in group circumstances.

There is no doubt that one of the main reasons I was so successful in bringing in scores of thousands of new dancers was that I was a new square dancer myself, I didn't know all the complicated stuff and so I taught everyone very easy and directional square dancing. On many radio programs when I ran out of dances, I called the same ones over again! It made it very easy for newcomers to join in and I found everyone, stamped, tapped their feet, relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

As with other sports and skills, some good square dancers love to go on learning more and more complicated steps and they thrive on mastering them. However, it is daunting for a beginner to join in. For those who would like to see square dancing occupy a deserved place as a major public entertainment, it is worth thinking about ...

Best Wishes,

Jim Vickers-Willis

Beth and I were a young married couple with a mortgage who, in addition, had two babies born who had set up world medical history - and required many operations.

Just after the World War, people no longer stood around the piano and sang or recited as they had done in pre-war days - and there was an entertainment vacuum; we were too "sophisticated" for that old stuff! Mostly we just stood around at parties and talked and drank. Then in swept square dancing!

One night at a square dance party in our home, one of our friends (who always brought half a dozen bottles of beer in the boot of his car) forgot to go out and get them all night. He was so busy enjoying himself square dancing! This impressed us. We were also impressed with the fact that it was a clean, healthy, good-fun type of entertainment in which people let their hair down, and really enjoyed themselves. I became a caller and my wife a fine dancer, who later became the "number one" lady in our exhibition set. After running small dances for charities with just a few squares, plus an article I wrote in the main daily paper, we were invited one afternoon to do an audition at a large ballroom which was planning a big promotion with radio backing. The other caller who was auditioning for the job "called" the dance to an empty hall in front of these ballroom and radio executives. When I came on to the stage with my band, scores of square dancers who had heard about our audition came in from the darkened lobby and formed up sets in front of the stage - all clad in colourful Western outfits.

They stamped and clapped and, after they had danced, we invited the ballroom and radio executives to join in the sets - and I taught them all to square dance! Soon they were clapping and stamping, too. We were in - and it went on from there until I was calling square dancing for 1,000, then 2,000 people per night in Melbourne, and 4000 in Adelaide. The boom went on for 2 years and caused some picture theatres to close. There were scores of callers, millions for charities. Then I contracted polio and entered an iron lung - seven of my radio square dance programs were taken off the air in one week.

The rest is history as they say.

Many people around the world continue to enjoy square dancing.

We'd like to hear your stories of square dancing too. How did you get started? What are your keenest memories of square dancing?

If you have questions about square dancing or comments you'd like to make please click on 'leave a comment' below, then start blogging - I'd love to hear from you.

Best Wishes,