Gramma KItty
October 25, 2007 - 10:56pm — Corys_Stories
( Before I talk about my hip grandmother, I just wanted to tell the readers that I hope to soon interview her for some great stories of the Depression and WWII. She was the runt of a little of about 12, and oh, the stories she has... you'll love them )
Every time I think about how I got started in this activity of ours, I am reminded of my grandmother. She’s been dancing nearly 27 years, and she’s still cutting rugs and stirring buckets ( square dance term for rotating the square one quarter to the right ). I am so thankful that she introduced me to square dancing some 25 years ago. At times, I also wonder, “How did I get myself into this racket?” When we were learning square dancing back in grade school, I couldn’t figure out why nobody else liked it. I got to dance with the cutest girl in the class and it was the easiest dancing we were learning. All you had to do was listen for the instruction, and walk to the music. Even the guys without rhythm should have enjoyed square dancing. Waltzes, polkas, foxtrots and rumbas were much harder to learn. At least for me they were.
Gramma Kitty said, “you have to dance to a real live caller rather than tapes”. She and grampap took me to my first square dance, and I immediately fell in love with the activity. My first night I won the fifty fifty drawing and pigged out on all the food. Heck, that was enough for me to keep coming back. But back then, there were so many young people into it and our club caller was getting me interested in calling. We used to dance every night of the week. There was Mainstream on one night, Plus on another, Advanced on yet another. There were also workshops too. Then there was Round Dancing, and Line Dancing and Clogging, and even Contras. If you shopped around a little, you could find different styles on different nights.
I was starting to hang out with the rug rats back about the same time gramma steered me towards square dancing. This activity saved me from lots of mischief. I thought Square Dancing was such a great activity where you can hang out with your grandparents and have a blast. I tried golfing with them, but I found out that you get evicted from Country Clubs when you try to Dukes of Hazzard the golf carts. Hey, riding on two wheels is fun, ok?
Square Dancing been such a huge part of my life. And, now, I find myself giving back so much to our wonderful activity. Going into the grade schools to teach square dancing is so much fun to me. Kids love dancing to real live callers rather than tapes. I know I sure did. I love working with my Special Olympics group of dancers and my wheelchair square dancers too. I recently started a group on horseback, and have been looking into a tractor square dance club up north a bit.
So much fun, so much material, if callers and dancers would just think outside the square every once in awhile, we'd have more participation from the novice. So, for this Thanksgiving, I just wanted to again say, “Thanks, Gramma Kitty, for taking me to the square dance when I was a brat.”
Here's a poem I wrote to Grandma Kitty...
TO GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE I GO
by corben geis
I sit with my Gramma Kitty, we sip tea and reminisce,
About how I got started in square dancing, and the story goes like this…
When we square danced back in grade school, the patterns were really tough,
We kids were kinda rowdy, lots of pushing, pretty rough.
I really liked to square dance, but then my gramma saved the day,
She said, “you gotta dance to a real live caller, that’s the only way”.
So, she took me to a square dance, and I really had a ball,
I won the fifty-fifty and there was food throughout the hall.
There were other teens dancing there that night, and it was really cool,
Dancing to a caller is much better than in school.
Gramma took me to the dance each week, and I graduated soon,
I was dancing almost every day; morning, night and at noon.
Summertime was here, and my first convention came,
Fun festivals all summer long, everybody knew my name.
Autumn, now, was in the air and a new class soon began,
I got to help the beginners dance, but calling was in my plan.
Our caller let me call a tip almost every single time,
I learned my favorite singing calls, and I tried the patter rhymes.
Gramma was my biggest fan, she cheered me all the way,
She still cheers me on, and dances to me, to this very day.
This poem was published in American Square Dance Magazine, November 2007 issue
Gramma Kitty with her darling GREAT grandchild, and my niece, Ava
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