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Do-si-do your partner and allemande left to corner.
That’s one of the most popular square dance calls that Kendall Smith makes whenever members of the Square Dance Lloydminster and Area club get together for some toe-tapping.
Smith set up a booth at the seniors’ fair earlier this month at the Legacy Centre to promote the club and square dancing as some fun, low-impact exercise.
“I’m hoping to get more seniors out. Right now, we have only three or four members who are seniors,” said Smith.
“Who knows, maybe I can start an afternoon square dance at the Legacy Centre.”
Smith says square dancing is a nice, easy exercise that’s easy on the hips because there’s no hard motion.
“It’s very easy on the body. It gets you having fun and socializing with people. You get to laugh and have fun,” he said.
The club meets every Wednesday night at the Bio-Clean Aquatic Centre Meeting Room from 6:30-8:30 p.m. with free admission for first-timers and just $5 per week after that.
“It’s a nice easy floor to dance on; it’s easy on the hips,” stressed Smith.
He says joining the club is a great opportunity for seniors who may have been isolating at home for the past two years during COVID to step out and reconnect.
“Here, you get a chance to come out. You get to chat with your neighbours,” he said.
It may be the best fun, ever according to the wording on the club’s calling card.
Smith says the pandemic put the Lloyd club on pause until a restart this past October, unlike clubs in North Battleford, Kindersley and Unity that may never re-open.
“We’re trying to get things up and going again,” he said, noting they have 20 members and hope to rebuild to the record of 100 members set in 2005.
“We are a group of people who like to have fun. We like to laugh. When I say circle left, everybody circles right,” said Smith with a laugh.
Smith notes members include farmers, oil rig workers, doctors, nurses and clerical staff with a learn while you dance approach.
“I teach every dance before it’s danced, so you don’t have to know a single thing about square dancing,” he said.
Smith recalls learning on the fly too after his wife “dragged him out” to a dance and then quickly found himself promoted to a caller, so he had to learn how to call. The rest is history.
