Did You Learn How To Square Dance In School? (1 Viewer)

[Captain Cranks]

As written, question # 3 makes my head want to explode.  

 

[wittyusername]

Also, if you wouldn’t mind stating the state, I didn’t want to add a 50-choice poll. 

Dallas Texas.  Particularly remember the "Texas Star" dance.  Doe-see-doe!

 

[Henry Ford]

As written, question # 3 makes my head want to explode.  

I can’t edit without endangering the answers, but please consider it to read, “what decade(s) were you in elementary and middle school?”

 

[ZenoRazon]

Yep, also said the pledge of allegiance, had penny candy and every night a TV western.

The best of times.

 

[Spock]

Yes, early 70’s in California.

 

[The Iguana]

I recall doing this in gym class. Southern Indiana in the late 70's and/or early 80's. 

 

[shadyridr]

Yes. New York public grammar school in the 80s 

No. New York public grammar school in the 80s 

 

[shadyridr]

Now my son learns all his wicked dance moves from Fortnite

 

[Tick]

Alaska, 5th grade, 1985 or so.  We learned in music class and as I recall, we were nervous at first but everyone really enjoyed it by the end.

 

[Van Dyman]

Yes. TN mid 80s, as part of gym class.

We also did a lively Conga with Miami Sound Machine blaring over our crappy gym speakers.

 

[Van Dyman]

Yes in middle school in Michigan. We were having our first dance and for some reason we all were taught a few line dances so we could do them at the dance. They also taught us some other group dances like The Time Warp. 

Did you mean line dancing or square dancing. They are different and (I think) unrelated.

Also - The Time Warp!!??  It was probably fun, just struck me a s bit ironic...that they'd teach middle school kids a dance from a movie that (in those days) probably wasn't considered kid-friendly.

 

[Ilov80s]

Did you mean line dancing or square dancing. They are different and (I think) unrelated.

Also - The Time Warp!!??  It was probably fun, just struck me a s bit ironic...that they'd teach middle school kids a dance from a movie that (in those days) probably wasn't considered kid-friendly.

I think both line and square dances. There we a few. As for the Time Warp- even funnier because it was a Catholic school. 

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Um.... no.  New Jersey public schools in the 80s.

Looking back, I think I was lucky we had books.

But dancing? Like not for the dramas and plays that we did? Nope.

 

[Tick]

I think both line and square dances. There we a few. As for the Time Warp- even funnier because it was a Catholic school. 

Did you or did you not dosido your corner?

 

[Ilov80s]

Did you or did you not dosido your corner?

Too long ago, those specific memories are gone like tears in the rain.

 

[GroveDiesel]

There is no way that @Henry Ford expected these results.

 

[Henry Ford]

There is no way that @Henry Ford expected these results.

1. I definitely did not expect almost 200 responses.  That’s more responses than I’ve gotten to this question in ten years of asking people randomly;

2. I did expect most people from late 70s to early 90s across the south and west in elementary and middle school to have taken square dancing;

3. I never imagined this was still going on and that people took it in the 2000s and 2010s;

4. I had no idea that taking square dancing for the first time in high school was ever, ever, ever a thing;

5. This is one of the most interesting threads of responses I think I’ve ever seen on the internet.  

 

[sn0mm1s]

Yes, southern CA 1980s. Nothing like having 30-40 jr. high kids getting all sweaty square dancing to "Bad Bad Leroy Brown". I recall getting sent to the principal's office because our group got paired with a girl that rarely, if ever, bathed and reeked of BO and piss and we held our noses every time we had to dance with her.

Looking back, it was probably because she was dirt poor (as were many kids at the school I went to) but jr. high is cruel. 

 

[nirad3]

Yes, southern CA 1980s. Nothing like having 30-40 jr. high kids getting all sweaty square dancing to "Bad Bad Leroy Brown". I recall getting sent to the principal's office because our group got paired with a girl that rarely, if ever, bathed and reeked of BO and piss and we held our noses every time we had to dance with her.

Looking back, it was probably because she was dirt poor (as were many kids at the school I went to) but jr. high is cruel. 

I got paired with the only girl that was - ahem ... endowed ... -  in 5th grade.  

 

[SlaX]

I remember my sister doing some square dance and clogging.  But I didn't have to.  Once we got up to high school, it was an optional activity, like sports, cheer leading, band, etc.

 

[ConnSKINS26]

We had a brief moment in the seventies or eighties, best I can recall.

eta* It certainly was brief, and certainly didn't stick.   

eta2* Connecticut

I grew up in eastern CT, graduated HS in 2007. We did square dancing in gym class in elementary and middle school. I don't believe it continued in high school. 

 

[rockaction]

I grew up in eastern CT, graduated HS in 2007. We did square dancing in gym class in elementary and middle school. I don't believe it continued in high school. 

Eastern CT? I grew up in rural Northern CT, bordering some wealthy areas. Eastern runs the class gamut, too. People assume everyone from CT is rich and talks through clenched teeth, but that is so far from the case...

But yeah, gym class was also when we had it, but I don't think we had it in middle school, though I could be mistaken. Regardless, I remember being terrified of girls and not having much fun, so I'm pretty sure it was only elementary school.  

 

[Man of Constant Sorrow]

... People assume everyone from CT is rich and talks through clenched teeth, but that is so far from the case...

Oh... I never assumed that a you. 

But, then again - bein' in KY - I have no clues what ya just said. 

Ya needs ta pry your teeth apart, gb. 

I've decided, here's and nows, that I wanna learn square dancin'. Lotsa fun stories in here. 

 

[rockaction]

Oh... I never assumed that a you. 

But, then again - bein' in KY - I have no clues what ya just said. 

As for the former, I'm sure you didn't, GB. As for the latter, there's a misconception about CT accents and those accents being a product of wealth. I think I misused the colloquialism there. Through clenched teeth is one of those up-for-debate things in terms of idiom. I'm talking about a rich, CT accent.   

 

[Man of Constant Sorrow]

As for the former, I'm sure you didn't, GB. As for the latter, there's a misconception about CT accents and those accents being a product of wealth. I think I misused the colloquialism there. Through clenched teeth is one of those up-for-debate things in terms of idiom. I'm talking about a rich, CT accent.   

Yeah - I got ya.

Sorry - I was trying to be too cute. 

1st - tell ya I never thought "x"

2nd - Me KY - can't understand ya - why? Many hick reasons - accent bein' just a 1 - thus I never understood what I just claimed to not think = absurd

3rd - Finish by accusin' ya of the very thing that I just denied thinkin' - which o course, I never understood in 1st place. 

Vicous circle of shtick - sometimes I lose consciousness out a the............. 

 

[rockaction]

Yeah - I got ya.

Sorry - I was trying to be too cute. 

1st - tell ya I never thought "x"

2nd - Me KY - can't understand ya - why? Many hick reasons - accent bein' just a 1 - thus I never understood what I just claimed to not think = absurd

3rd - Finish by accusin' ya of the very thing that I just denied thinkin' - which o course, I never understood in 1st place. 

Vicous circle of shtick - sometimes I lose consciousness out a the............. 

Huh? MoCS, it's totally cool. I used the term wrong. You're tunneling, bro. We cool.    

 

[Man of Constant Sorrow]

Huh? MoCS, it's totally cool. I used the term wrong. You're tunneling, bro. We cool.    

Oh, I know it cool. 

Just explain' that I love you man! 

Now piss off! 

 

[Ilov80s]

With Old Town Road Remix being the biggest song on the planet now, the square dancing might make a come back.

 

[ConnSKINS26]

Eastern CT? I grew up in rural Northern CT, bordering some wealthy areas. Eastern runs the class gamut, too. People assume everyone from CT is rich and talks through clenched teeth, but that is so far from the case...

But yeah, gym class was also when we had it, but I don't think we had it in middle school, though I could be mistaken. Regardless, I remember being terrified of girls and not having much fun, so I'm pretty sure it was only elementary school.  

Yeah, everywhere I go I find that's the assumption about CT. Either that or they expect quirky small town Gilmore Girls vibes. I grew up about 20 minutes from the RI border and it was neither of those things ha. 

 

[TheIronSheik]

Connecticut and Delaware were always two states I imagined that people were named Muffy, Mortimer and Thurston.  And that they attended polo matches and played croquet.  

Then I went to those states and, boy, was I WAY off.

 

[Socrates11]

Ohio 79-81. They actually took some of us and made a square dancing team that went to a few senior centers and danced.

 

[SWC]

look at you all with your fancy learnin and schoolin i learned to square dance in an alley behind a greasy spoon where if you were lucky they might throw some scraps your way if you danced fancy enough take that to the bank bromigos 

 

[Thorn]

Yes. Maine, 1980s.

 

[mr. furley]

Best I can hope for.  Hypothesis is that Midwest/Deep South/West from mid-70s to early 90s did this. 

yes, upper midwest, 80s

but maybe we're thinking of two different things? i think of "square dancing" as the dosey doe with someone playing a fiddle or banjo.

we learned basic dance in 8th grade, which started with a 4-step square, to Terence Trent D'Arby's "Sign Your Name". memories were made those days, friend.

 

[Henry Ford]

yes, upper midwest, 80s

but maybe we're thinking of two different things? i think of "square dancing" as the dosey doe with someone playing a fiddle or banjo.

we learned basic dance in 8th grade, which started with a 4-step square, to Terence Trent D'Arby's "Sign Your Name". memories were made those days, friend.

I also consider "square dancing" to be the do-si-do.  Usually for kids I know it was just a record playing.

 

[mr. furley]

I also consider "square dancing" to be the do-si-do.  Usually for kids I know it was just a record playing.

this is recalling some awesome memories for me. 

we all had to line up across from each other. boys on one side, girls on the other. then the teacher would call out one couple at a time. we were 12/13. there was no way for boys to escape walking across the room with their pleated khakis.... unpleated... for all to see.

so freaking awkward and hilarious looking back now

..

 

[ffweasel]

I think both line and square dances. There we a few. As for the Time Warp- even funnier because it was a Catholic school. 

I recall that we learned a few different dances in a couple of weeks or so in gym class. I don’t remember the others. Michigan middle school. 

 

[Man of Constant Sorrow]

this is recalling some awesome memories for me. 

we all had to line up across from each other. boys on one side, girls on the other. then the teacher would call out one couple at a time. we were 12/13. there was no way for boys to escape walking across the room with their pleated khakis.... unpleated... for all to see.

so freaking awkward and hilarious looking back now

..

Be glad ya was man nuff ta de-pleat ya khak... MF

...some a us had to stuff squirrel tails in our overalls to achieve similar optical illusions. 

 

[TheIronSheik]

this is recalling some awesome memories for me. 

we all had to line up across from each other. boys on one side, girls on the other. then the teacher would call out one couple at a time. we were 12/13. there was no way for boys to escape walking across the room with their pleated khakis.... unpleated... for all to see.

so freaking awkward and hilarious looking back now

..

It was my first year in a new school and we probably started this portion of gym class in Week 2.  Probably the first panic attack I can truly remember.

 

[-fish-]

California, post-Proposition 13, so all music, art, athletic and extracurricular programs were cut from elementary schools when I was in fourth grade.