His name is Tom Miller and he has been a full time international square dance caller for over 30 years. (And, his kids are well fed)  “What?” you say.  “How?” you ask. “You’re kidding!” you jest.  Believe it or not, a good traveling Modern Western Square Dance caller could have made a fairly decent living up until about the turn of the century.  And, yes, square dancing is danced in many different countries. Oh, yeah, and Tom is no where near a senior citizen and he still lives in his hometown. Sit back, and prepare for an education on one of America’s best kept secrets and one of the best callers in the world. I must give you a little history lesson about square dancing before I explain about this great guy named Tom. 

Unfortunately, one of America’s favorite past times has taken a beating since about the bi-centennial year.  If I were to blame any one stereotype of destroying this fantastic exercise and beautiful heritage, all my fingers would point to the high school gym teacher.  Many of the baby boomers and empty nesters today have only ‘bad thoughts or horror stories’ of square dancing in gym class.  Do you know why? Two simple answers; students danced to either records or tapes and gym teachers are not square dance callers. Period!

Most of the time the gym teachers do not know the basic rules, positions and formations of and within the square.  Secondly, if you dance to a record and the vinyl skips, the square is in trouble. Or, if the set breaks down, the record just keeps on turning, and trying to adjust and catch up can bring on headaches to students and teachers. What the novice doesn’t realize is square dancing has had a lot more positive blessings rather than negative curses. Please read the next paragraph very carefully.

For one, a lot of Modern Western Dancing clubs have gone to a casual, comfortable attire and the cost for one couple for an evening of dancing is half of what you pay when you take a date to the movies.  Square dancing is also complimented by Round Dancing, which is a great version of ball room dancing and Line Dancing, for those who like a cardio workout without needing a partner. 

How about this? Square dancing is taught in foreign lands in their native tongue, but the names of the calls are in English. So, music is the universal language and square dancing is the universal body language.  There are thousands of calls out there and a clever organization called Callerlab have designed and compiled lists and levels created so a dancer can choose how far they want to take their hobby.  Just like in karate, square dancing has Basic, Intermediate and Advanced programs.  There are even higher levels of advanced called Challenged.  www.callerlab.org

There are many more positives, like Traditional Contra Dancing, Mixers, Wheelchair Square Dancing, Handi-capable Square Dancing, Tractor Square Dancing and Fun Badge Dances. But, only just a few negatives I hear over and over again.  And they are simply: the name of the activity, the dress code and the average age of a square dancer.

Okay, enter Tom Miller.  If you have ever square danced to this caller, you’ll say ‘smooth and what a voice!’.  If you’ve never danced to him, you’ll say ‘smooth and what a voice!’

And, if you’ve danced all levels to him, you’ll say, all of the above, plus, ‘his choreography is outta this world’. 

I’m gonna break square dancing down into two simple categories of fun. 

Fun #1 like checkers and poker with lots of social interaction and laughter. Fun #2 like chess and bridge with lots of mental stimulation and success of puzzle solving.  Tom is a master at both of these levels that you would only fully appreciate it if you were a dancer, but to the non-dancer you can tell this man loves what he does and was born to do this.  If you ever get to see him in action, then you will truly understand why and how he does this gig full time for a living. Calling is definitely his ‘calling’. 

Tom will be the first to tell you, “I’ve only a high school diploma and I’m not smart”.  But, I’ve seen him stump doctors, lawyers, professors and nuclear physicists with his gift of problem solving and body flow through maneuvering dancers on a floor. Honestly, I’ve attended caller’s schools where Tom has not only left students baffled, but has made the other caller coaches on staff write down his material or go off into a corner and ghost dance it.  Which basically means trying to figure out calls and patterns by pantomiming with invisible dancers how a call should be executed.  It’s a funny sight to see.  I once heard a couple dancers say about Tom, “ We never thought we were good dancers until we danced to Tommy.  He can make bad dancers think they’re good dancers.” The folks in this photo, were not that particular couple.  They are just part of the Tom Miller fan club.

Along with calling all different levels all over the country, he still goes into a handful of high schools and teaches students, the correct and proper way to square dance.  The kids love him!  He rarely uses banjo and fiddle music when he goes into the schools.  You can bet it’s mostly Club Mixes, Retro and Hip Hop. In the long run, this service will pay off.  Why? Because when these kids are adults and they recall square dancing in high school, they will think happy thoughts and all the fun they had. 

Tom has called for several handi-capable clubs over the years, which tells me, he likes to share square dancing with absolutely everyone.  The youngest, most energized, and most fun of any club I’ve seen are these wonderful Special Olympic Dancers. In this day of reality game shows, Tom also contributes to calling at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show, where there is an overabundance of younger dancers competing for blue ribbons.    

Cory and Tom at their DBD Dance By Definition Club in Altoona.

What saddens me is the decline of this great activity. “ If we can only get the people out on the dance floors, then they’ll see how much fun it is.” That’s said a lot by veteran dancers, but I’d say over 50% of brand new dancers lose interest within the first month of experimenting with square dancing because they get bored with the caller or calling. Not with Tommy Boy at the helm. It’s never the ‘same old stuff’, and I’ve been dancing for a quarter of a century.  How he keeps his material so fresh and upbeat, I will probably never know.

 The drop has cut Tom’s business down quite a bit.  The fading is not due to people quitting the activity, but by either retiring or dying.  Happily, a high percentage of the retired dancers migrate to Florida, Texas or Arizona, which still have square dancing everyday of the week, morning, noon and night. Callers all over have been trying to promote to the youth, but it’s like shooting pool with a rope.  Square Dancing is a great program to keep the kids out of trouble.  Besides history and mathematics, square dancing really teaches teamwork and emphasizes fellowship and discipline.

Being a caller, an entertainer and showman, Tom’s learned several different avenues he needs to pursue to keep it a full time job in this fast paced world of change. Besides recording square dance music on one of the most popular labels in the square dance world, ESP Records, Tom calls in lots of other countries. Are you ready for this….square dancing is more popular and better received overseas than it is in the good old US of A. What the hey?! Square dancing is as American as Apple Pie and Baseball. I understand calling in Japan is a pretty good paycheck. Tom is learning to call higher levels because, get this, there is a rising number of the higher level square dancing at the Advanced and Challenged programs. Interesting. Hmmm. I wonder if the callers be teaching the difficult stuff first?

The national square dance convention and the dance weekend festivals are diminishing in numbers, but the youth halls are still quite alive. And, you can bet Tom Miller is in those halls having a blast.  I hope this article will spark some interest into either researching the history of square dancing and it’s origins and evolutions ( try starting with www.dosado.com under History. I think you’ll be surprised to see how Henry Ford played a major role in modern western square dancing ) or finding out when beginner lessons start in your area. If you do become a member of the square dancing family, welcome, and please make sure you dance to Tom Miller somewhere along the line. It's like watching the Wonderful World of Disney.  To contact Tom or for a brief bio; http://www.ceder.net/callerdb/viewsingle.php4?RecordId=38.