Editorial
From Bill Boyd

Napoleon said, “Great leaders are dealers in hope.” As I left Long Beach California and its great Square and Round Dance Convention, I feel that hope and optimism for Square and Round Dancing for now and in the future. In today’s economy there were still over 50 dancers from as far away as Florida at this convention, not to mention people from around the world, truly an international convention. Even as business men and women around the world strive to find new realities in their world so do we as Square and Round Dance Leaders. We have one distinct advantage over other businesses, our product is recreational fun. While we give our dancers that recreational fun, it can change their outlook on everything around them, creating a new attitude and lifting spirits. Happier and joyful people are more optimistic, thus more hopeful. True Square Dancing has changed over the years, but the one thing that has not changed is the fact that we are having fun. I find that there are places in the country where Square Dancing is on the rise. There are new dancers entering our activity, new dancers of all ages. The dreaded “C” word, (competition) seems to have captured some of our youth and created a new interest where none existed. Competition also attracted several “mature” dancers, who thought this might just be fun. Fun is the operative word, if dancers are having fun, they will continue to dance and introduce their friends to this great recreation. Many people realize and take advantage of square dancing in that it can be combined with so many other things. Many people take Square Dance Cruises, many combine vacations with conventions and festivals and many just enjoy dancing at their home clubs with local callers. World wide or local, on land or sea, square dancing provides us with a recreation that combines sociability, exercise and fun. We’ll see you in Louisville. At this years convention we had multiple workshops on “Dance by Definition”. Keith Stevens has written a nice follow up article for this issue of the magazine and I would like to add a few comments. Many Dancers and many callers share no interest in learning “Dance by Definition” Many dancers and callers choose not even to work with left handed figures or any position other than the “normal” boy / girl relationship. However, it is easy to start using the terms, centers, ends, leaders and trailers. If you so choose, you do not have to go into detailed descriptions of leaders and trailers, use the KISS system (keep it simple sir). It is surprising how just a few words can influence dancers and even callers and improve the dancing floor.