With the enthusiastic help of the Brunswick-Bath Sage Swingers Square and Round Dance Club, for the second year, the Wiscasset Senior Center sponsored a free introductory level square dance last Friday evening in the Wiscasset Community Center gym.

For two and a half hours the caller, Walt Bull of Topsham, kept three squares of dancers eagerly learning the first few calls of the so many more that will follow as these beginners started to absorb the flow of the dance. "Circle to the right, circle to the left, head ladies chain, side ladies chain, do se do your partner, allemande left and promenade." By the last hour of the evening, these folks were easily responding to Walt's calls and enjoying them all together in singing calls.

The best part - everyone was having a ball. The part they never stopped to think about was how much good and natural exercise their bodies also were enjoying! Surprisingly, a square dancer who dances every "tip" in an evening racks up the equivalent of about six miles of walking!!

You say you can't dance… have two left feet. If you can walk across the room for breakfast, you can learn to square dance which is all walking steps. If you have a lot of rhythm in your make up and feel the beat of the music, so much the better because what goes with square dancing is round dancing, of course, -- another companion of the square dance world.

Those who enjoy ballroom dancing are perfect candidates for round dancing, which is ballroom dance steps put to a definite pattern and cued just as squares are called. It is a beautiful thing to watch round dance partners circle the perimeter of the hall, all in perfect step and movement with each other, the cuer and the music for a waltz, two step, fox trot, cha cha, rhumba or one of the many other old and new dance steps.

For empty nesters or retirees, to get involved with square dancing is to open to a new and exhilarating page in your life's book. Your list of great friends will multiply, and once you learn Mainstream and Mainstream Plus, you can dance anywhere in the world you might travel as square dancing is always called in English. For those dancers wanting more, there are the advanced and challenge levels. But for downright relaxed fun and pleasure, Mainstream Plus says it all, as proven by the many couples who enjoy dancing into their 80s.

We want to thank caller Walt Bull for a great job and also the folks who came to dance. The Sage Swingers, whose regular caller is the well known Bill Fulton of Skowhegan, are celebrating their 40th year as a club this month. Their regular fall beginners class started in Brunswick at the Jordan Acres Elementary School on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. This was an introductory class as will be the one on the following Tuesday, Sept. 19, and then regular classes begin, with Bill Fulton the caller-teacher. Check it out - you might just get hooked!

This is cache, read story here