There is (is not) a life beyond Square Dancing!

Manfred Müller, Emden, Hot Shoes Aurich

I don’t know whether you have made similar observations to those that have prompted me to ponder this question for quite a while: why am I doing all of this? I mean everything that is square dancerelated.

As is generally known, thought processing starts with questions and then, in most cases anyway, statements and answers too. And because I can’t imagine that we all practise such a nice common hobby without asking why we actually do it, I would like to try to find a possible answer that is true, or at least true in parts, for all of us using my own example.

There is a calendar of events that tells you that you can participate in square dancing again tonight within the framework of the weekly club nights.

And then you notice, already hours before the event, this unwanted but somehow tingling anxiety just like being in gleeful high spirits. These high spirits supposedly trigger important questions such as: What shall I wear tonight? Shall I take a shower or wash my hair? Shall I offer a lift? Do I have enough petrol? With whom haven't I danced for quite a while, so that I should favour him/her? Will there be guests I’ve met before in a square somewhere?

And then suddenly everybody is there: your friends in the club and the expected guests. They are all really glad to see you, which they express with a beaming smile and by giving hugs of varying intensity or sometimes also by gently kissing the cheeks though you had met only two days ago. Then, the guests are warmly welcomed as well and, of course, the caller, preferably by the lady dancers – always our guarantee for a successful evening.

You quickly change clothes, realising you could have worn something else. You notice with great interest some latest fashion – especially the ladies' – and soon you are in a square, in this group of friends with whom you dance the figures that you learned sometime ago to exciting music and to end at the position where you had begun the dance.

In the meantime, you have greeted your dance partner, your corner and also the other dancers, you have made hand contact several times, maybe also with the knees or the feet of your fellow dancers. You have tried to demonstrate your bid for leadership and your superior dance ability by squeezing or gently squeezing your dance partners waist (affection?). You have earned a smile, very rarely contempt and you have felt somehow that you are in a circle of people, moving with them and being carried along by the same mood. It is like in an orchestra, whose sound is prearranged by the expertise of its members and by the delicate tuning of their instruments. And you are happy about the performance and the fact that you have contributed to it.

The dance is over, you thank your fellow dancers and the caller; you look forward to having a short break that gives a pleasant opportunity not only to rest but also to discuss with each other things that have nothing to do with square dancing. You may offer your help or advice or simply let the others feel that you like him/her. Then the caller invites you to come to the dance floor and bring to you the power of dancing in sympathy with the music, putting you in high spirits that blur the everyday worries and sets body and soul in a refreshing sense of apprehension for a while.

And then, at the end of the club night, perhaps also at the end of a harmonic after-party, you drive home again and you do not question any longer why you do all of this.

You hold it, you feel it inside, the answer, the result of your doing, and, thus, you look forward again to the next club night, just like me and many others in the club.

Approved reprint of the Festschrift “10 Jahre “Hot Shoes”, Aurich”

Translation into English: Margot Wilhelm