Modern Western Square Dancing is a weekly occurrence in Grand Marais

John Mattice relocated to Cook County from Arkansas around eight years ago with his wife, Gwen.  Both experienced square dancers, Mattice is a trained caller in the style known as modern western.  When he learned that Grand Marais did not have an organized group that gathered to dance in his craft of choice, he started one up.  Six years later, the group is still going.

Modern Western Square Dance is similar to, but different from traditional square dance that you might do at a contra dance. Instead of routines, you learn calls, and lessons are needed to learn the calls.  The caller strings together a sequence of individual calls to build a choreography that is danced by the individuals in the square. There are eight people in each square.  The dancers need to be familiar with the calls in order to follow the choreography guided by the caller.

Though dancers have come and gone over the years, the multigenerational core group has continued and is growing.

Mattice is currently hosting lessons for new dancers on Thursday night. The current series started Thursday, February 16 and will run for eight weeks. The start time is 7:30 p.m. and ends at 9:00 p.m. at the Cook County Community Center 4H building. After completing the course, you can join the more experienced group that dances on Wednesday night at the same time.

Learn more from John Mattice and other dancers in the video below.  For a longer story, listen to the audio link.

M Baxley March 12, 2024