Full Transcript for Dan Clairmont: Square Dancing Is for Everyone—Not Just the Best Dancers

00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:23.839 Well, well, we're gonna be in this area this month. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:24.639 What do you got? 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:26.560 And so it worked out really well for us. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:32.240 And that's what we've been doing for two years now, full-time, just traveling in our RV, living in it full-time. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:36.800 Everything, the house in Texas that we had there, we had rented out, so we weren't gonna go back. 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:38.399 We had sold everything we owned. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:47.680 During the time we were in California, I was approached by a friend, a dancer, and he had an adult child who was handy capable. 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:50.800 He had some special needs, and he wanted to start a club. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:54.319 And so he started the club and asked me to come and teach. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:56.319 The name of the club is called Hand in Hand. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:01.920 They're in Mission Viejo, California, and they are absolutely the most wonderful people I've ever called for. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:06.560 I mean, I called to a lot of great people, but the great thing was I didn't even know what to expect. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:10.399 I asked some callers and they're like, oh, don't want to do that. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:12.160 And but I really had a heart. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:14.879 I wanted to make sure that I could see how it goes. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.439 And and it really was extremely successful. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.439 The hand-in-hand club, we did it every Tuesday, every week. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:23.199 We'd have to say, Who's your partner? 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:24.160 Who's your corner? 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:27.199 Circle left, circle right, alarm left, do said do. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:34.480 And so a lot of times we'd have to reteach those just because the mental capability of some of the dancers was not as good as others. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:40.319 Others got it right away, and then they became my angels because they were there every week, and it was very helpful. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:46.160 The goal as a caller was not to teach them a whole plan, like basic or mainstream. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:54.399 The goal was to fun to have fun and see them blossom and learn that they can work together as a team of eight in a square. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:59.199 And so the goal was never to do timing, never to teach them all the calls. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:07.920 The goal was to let them have fun, let them have an experience with other people that are similar-minded like them, sometimes physical issues. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:15.360 And so it really was very rewarding from a caller's perspective that I could go in and never know what's going to happen that week. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:16.879 You just don't know who's gonna show up. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:20.240 Somebody that week just couldn't remember who even their corner was. 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:27.519 This taught me patience because I am not a patient person, and I really had to learn how to be patient with them and laugh. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:28.720 We had to laugh a lot. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:30.800 Oh, you made a mistake, who cares? 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:32.079 Everybody laughed about it. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.800 Sometimes I say circle left and they all circled right, and I'm like, okay, that's the direction you want to go. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:37.920 We're gonna go that way. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:39.279 So there's just different things. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:47.759 I want to tell you one story about that club that always impressed me is that they loved each other and they loved coming. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:55.839 And we had so many great angels from the clubs around, especially from the club that we belong to, that would come and help Angel and help, and they understood. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:02.160 The angels understood this was not about them learning and progressing into mainstream or plus or anything else. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:10.160 They just knew it was there for these adults, young adults, to learn dancing, have some fun, get some physical exercise. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:12.000 And that's really what it was all about. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:19.519 This mom and her daughter, who was young, her early 20s, who was in college, she was non-communicative. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.560 She would not talk to anybody but her mother. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:24.800 She could talk, but she just didn't. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:25.920 She chose not to. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:38.560 She came up to me one night and just started conversation, and she would just talk to me and just all these words, and she talked beautifully, and her mother was just in awe that she had this confidence to come talk to me. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:48.399 And I just felt that I built a relationship by just teaching her how to do moves, simple moves in square dancing, that she opened up and I became, in her mind, a friend. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:58.639 And it really worked out so well that eventually she started to make friends at college, and she ended up joining the choir at college, the community college. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:05.920 And she is now singing and going out with friends and doing things that she never would have done until she came to. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:18.639 And so her mother and I had many conversations about how this actually brought her out into the world and away from her own little secluded, isolated world that she was in before. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:23.600 But it was just so rewarding as a caller to see these young adults. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:29.680 Some struggled and some were better than others, how great they are and how fun, how much fun they had. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.799 I did it for three years and then we moved to Texas. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:33.759 I told you that.

00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:38.559 But after we moved, they had different callers come in and take over. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:39.279 Here we are. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:40.399 That was 2015. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:42.639 So we're 13, 14 years later. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:52.720 They're still surviving, they're still thriving, they still have new people come all the time, and the caller who's taken over now is very patient with them, like I was. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:56.000 And he knows that it's not about teaching a level. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:00.240 He knows it's not about teaching them so that they will remember the next week. 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:03.919 It's all about what kind of fun can we have tonight? 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:05.360 How can we make them laugh? 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:06.799 How can we make them smile? 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:10.399 How can we make them just have a good time in these two hours? 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:12.559 And that's really what it was all about. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:17.200 And the reward, I never took a dime, I never asked for any pay. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:22.720 They did charge them so that they could have money in the kitty so that when they had parties, the parties were paid for. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:26.960 I just did it out of the grace of my heart because I just got so rewarded. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:41.440 And to me, that was probably the greatest feeling I had ever had as a caller, even though I didn't see the expectations of them progressing to plus or progressing to advance or moving on as we see in other clubs, the regular square dance clubs. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:44.559 And I do get rewarded when I teach a class, and I love teaching. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:46.159 That's one of my absolute favorite things. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:49.840 I love teaching classes no matter what level, up through advanced too. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.399 And I also love teaching callers, new callers. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:56.559 I like entering callers and bringing up new callers and giving them advice. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:09:59.039 And so I get opportunities like that periodically. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:00.799 That's kind of my story where I'm at now. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:02.399 Well, I think that's wonderful. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:10.240 That's why I really wanted to interview you, because I think I've shared that I'm a chaplain at our state of Colorado local veterans' home. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:12.799 And those guys just love music. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:14.320 It would be so much fun. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:23.120 I read about some people that have done squares with wheelchairs and to do something like that there because it's fun, first of all. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:26.720 Which is really the essence of why we love square dancing too. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:29.759 So it's wonderful to share the fun with other people. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:36.639 And square dancing that we're trying to expand is

how we look at new dancers. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:56.080 Kind of at a crossroads where we have clubs that have had a lot of traditions over the years, great traditions, but they're aging out and getting younger people in, and I'm not talking about 20 years old, I'm talking about 10 to 20 years younger than the people that occupy most of the clubs. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:00.240 So, what would you tell a club? 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:10.960 I think I brought up a club that I belong to where the expectation is that you'd be a really great dancer, and there's some disappointment when people don't turn out to be perfect dancers. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:21.120 How can we meet those needs of wanting to do those great dances and have people in our clubs that are never going to be great dancers? 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.639 It's a challenging question, and it's where we're at right now. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:28.480 We have the traditional square dancers who've been there years and years and years. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:31.919 We started in 1987, so we're those traditional dancers. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:37.360 They have their traditions of how their club has always quote unquote done things, right? 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:43.200 But now you go on, and now the current situation of life has changed significantly. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:49.279 Even for quote unquote younger folks, the demographics that we shoot for most of the time are the people who are empty nesters. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:51.919 So we're talking in 50s, 60s, right? 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:55.759 And so maybe late 40s, depending if they had when they had their children. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:59.200 But that demographic is a great option to go after. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:03.919 And it is one of those things where we have to adapt. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.000 The clubs have to adapt. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:12.559 They don't need to give up all of their traditions, but what they need to do is is be a little bit more flexible. 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:16.000 They need to be a little bit more lenient with newbies. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:26.799 They also have to understand, and callers sometimes, especially callers, have been calling for 25, 30 years, 50 years, they don't understand that the dancers aren't just there to come dance. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:32.559 They're really using this as a social event more than they are an actual dancing event. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:38.399 So what it comes down to is how much screen time do we sit on our phones, or how much screen time do we sit on our computers? 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:46.240 But now these people are finding that they can't sit in their living room or their bedroom or their office or whatever all day and all night long. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:50.080 They need to do something else for social and they need to get out. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:13:05.279 And so a lot of us are trying to work a way to market that to get them to come, even if it isn't for 12 weeks, even if it isn't for three months or whatever, if they just come out for one night and do what we call a party night or an introduction night, right? 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:09.600 And it just gets them out of their house, out of the way from their computer for a couple hours. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:15.279 And at that point, when those people come for the very first time, is where probably the most critical. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:20.320 And that's where they're gonna see is this something I might want to do? 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:35.840 And so they're gonna look and evaluate every aspect of it from how friendly were these people to me when I walked in the door, how friendly were these people helping me learn to get into a square, how helpful were they when I was in the square when I couldn't figure out who my corner was? 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:42.879 Did they push and shove me, or did they get mad at me, or did they just laugh with me and help me and tell me where I needed to go? 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:46.879 And I think the traditional club members think that's what they want. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:52.559 They want somebody to come, go through the class, join the club, move on to the next level, keep that club going, right? 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:55.200 And in this case, we have to change our mindset. 00:13:55.279 --> 00:14:01.600 We have to change it so that the clubs have to understand that these people may only want to come out for one night, and that's great. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:13.600 But let them have the best one night of score dancing so that they don't say, guy, those people were snobs, or those people were mean, or they kept pushing me around or pulling me and hurt my arm or whatever it is. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:15.840 It has to be a positive experience. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:17.440 Let them have fun with it. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:23.200 Not worry if they use a right hand instead of a left hand for a particular easy call that they taught. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:23.919 Who cares? 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:25.200 They did a dosado. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:29.120 You and I would know that it's right shoulder, back to back, left shoulder. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:31.840 But if they did it backwards, the caller has to let that go. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:33.039 Hey, you did it wrong. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:34.639 That's a negativity, right? 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:38.399 If the caller's mean and nasty, then they're not going to come back. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.399 It's just simple as that, right? 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:47.360 If you want them to keep coming back, you have to constantly be friendly to them, maybe offer them some snacks, food, drinks, whatever. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:49.279 You have to be interacting with them. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:51.600 I'm so glad you're here tonight. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:52.960 Are you having fun? 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.000 And then let them answer and then respond to their

answer. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.200 They don't have to have a conversation of, well, how many kids do you have? 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:00.240 Where do you go to school? 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:01.360 What do you do for work? 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:02.639 Nobody cares about that. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:04.960 We just need to be friendly. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:09.120 And if we do that, we might attract more people to say, Hey, you know what? 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:11.440 I had a really good two hours that night. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:14.080 Maybe next week I'll go again and they'll come back. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:15.360 And so maybe not. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:20.720 Maybe they had a bad experience or somebody said something mean to them, or somebody ignored them. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:29.600 If they come in and nobody talks to them, and they're just sitting in the corner and they get in a square and they dance all night long, but nobody walks up to them and says, Hey, what's your name? 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:30.799 Is this your first time? 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:32.240 How are you enjoying the night? 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:34.559 Hey, there's some snacks and a drink over here. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:39.120 And a lot of the old-time square dancers from the clubs, they like their own group. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:40.159 They like their clicks. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:41.679 We were that way for many years. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:47.120 We only wanted to hang with our own friends, and when we went dancing, we only wanted to dance with our own friends. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:50.639 And I learned as a caller, you can't just always do that. 00:15:50.720 --> 00:16:02.080 You have to be friendly, you have to be able to have a little bit of conversation to help them understand that they're wanted there and that this is a friendly group of people that maybe they might want to come back to. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:05.279 And so there's a lot of issues that are going on. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:22.159 I see it from some of the traditional clubs, but I'm learning as I go along as a caller that if I go and entertain, if I go to a new class and I help, I help a lot of the classes now in North Carolina, the Raleigh area, and I help one club in particular. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:26.080 And the caller that that does runs the club, she's an amazing caller. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:32.639 And so when I fill in, my job is not to be her, my job is to be me, be the entertainer that I am. 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:35.919 And my job is to do what she's asked me to do. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:38.320 I need you to review these calls tonight. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:42.080 And my natural entertainment value is I'm just gonna be fun. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:45.039 I'm gonna be laughing with them, I'm gonna pick on some of them. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:48.480 I'll learn quickly which ones not to pick on because that happens sometimes. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:50.960 I hit the wrong person the wrong way, I guess, sometimes. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:55.919 But the goal is for everybody that night have fun and say, wow, that was a really good night. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:57.759 And then they want to come back the next week. 00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:59.679 And so that's kind of where we're at. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:01.600 This is all my opinion, of course. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:03.679 There's so many different opinions out there. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:09.359 The traditional clubs sometimes are struggling, and some of them are surviving, and it depends on what it is. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:11.519 Now I'm going to give you one example. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:20.160 The club that we joined in 1988, 1987, in Southern California, it was a social club that square danced. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:27.519 They would have four to five social events and going out to venues or parks or whatever every month. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:31.440 You had to sign up because you were limited to there was 180 people in the club. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:40.720 You had to sign up because it was limited to 60 or maybe only 80 people, and that's where you got to learn everybody who they are, where they are, what children, grandchildren they had, etc. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:41.839 What do they do for the work? 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:42.720 Are they retired? 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:43.599 Are they still working? 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:45.039 It's not at the dance. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:50.640 And then every Thursday we'd show up to go to the class and we would angel, and that was just part of the whole process. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:55.279 And now we were there with our friends that we were at all these social events throughout the month. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:18:04.559 And the very first night when we announced the beginner's class started in September, we would say, We're having a social event coming up at the end of September. 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:06.240 We want you all invited. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:08.559 And we would let the class members sign up. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:10.640 And they're like, the social event. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:12.240 They didn't have any idea. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:13.599 So we would have to explain. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:15.839 It's just a group of people getting together, having fun. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.200 We're going to go to this outdoor concert down here before it gets too cold. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:23.519 Or we have a Halloween thing coming up in October, and we want you to come to that. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:28.000 And it's a costume party, and we want you to show up in the best Halloween costume. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:32.319 Or if you don't want to dress up, wear a t-shirt that says this is my Halloween costume, whatever. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:37.920 And we always made sure that the beginners, the class members, were always invited from day one. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:41.839 And so it was a social club that

had a square dancing problem. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:44.559 It wasn't a square dance club that socialized. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:46.000 And it was a completely different. 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:49.839 That club today is surviving and well over a hundred members in their club. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.880 I stay in touch with many of them because they are my friends. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:56.880 But they don't have all the answers because they do lose people. 00:18:57.039 --> 00:18:59.440 You go back and you would try to figure out well, how did we lose? 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:09.519 And that could come back to who's ever teaching their club or their classes, or that could come back to somebody said the wrong thing to somebody or push somebody and hurt them or whatever. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:10.559 They're not perfect. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:12.720 It's a good example of what clubs could do. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:23.200 I did an hour-long talk on club social, and I gave them a list of about 75 social events that they could choose from for their club to do. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:26.079 And these people were coming up, you guys actually did all these? 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:29.920 I said, Yeah, those are all things that we did at our club every year. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:33.279 And we live 70 to 80 different social events every year. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:35.200 And yes, we took a lot of work. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:39.680 Yes, it took some people coordinating it all, but that's the way that club survived. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:41.440 And it's still thriving to this day. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:49.359 But I've gone to other clubs over the course of traveling these last two years across the country where they're barely making it. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:51.920 They're lucky if every week they have one square. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:52.880 You've got to change. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:54.319 You can't keep doing the same thing. 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:56.240 How many people did you used to have in your club? 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:58.160 And they'd say, I don't know, 40, 50. 00:19:58.240 --> 00:19:59.599 Now you're down to 16. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:05.759 So I would give them the same advice I was just saying, talking about being more social, being more friendly. 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:08.720 And you have to be able to understand advertising. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:15.440 I think this day and age, advertising is not done through a flyer at a grocery store on a window. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:17.599 It's not done inviting all your friends. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:24.640 That helps your family, but eventually you run out of friends and family because your friends become your square dancer friends and they're already dancing. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:27.839 So you have to understand that there has to be a way to market. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:35.839 I've seen some really good ideas that come out of New York or Ohio and different clubs that are trying

different things, and they're being very successful with it. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:45.279 One of the clubs in the Raleigh area where I help, they have a social media person, and she is an extremely talented social media marketer. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:47.519 And that's what she does for her day job, too. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:51.279 And so she has really brought this club out in the limelight. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:21:02.880 And the caller who's in charge, she has these one night party nights, and she has them five times throughout from June or May through September or October. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:08.559 And she has five or six of them throughout the course of the summer type months and spring and summer and fall. 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:10.000 She doesn't know for free. 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:12.559 She charges everybody ten dollars a person to come in. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:15.920 She's charging them because when you charge them, there's a value to it. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:18.559 Hey, I paid ten dollars, I'm at least going to show up, right? 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:23.279 And she usually has about 25 to 30 new people every one of these party nights. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.440 She's got another one coming up again in October. 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:27.839 I think she's already got a whole bunch of people signed up for it. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:32.240 I know the last one she had in August, she had 27, 28 people. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:33.440 New people, all new. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:35.119 Nobody'd ever square danced. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:41.599 And so her club comes out, they help, they interact, they don't wear fancy square dance clothes. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:47.839 They wear shorts and t shirts and sandals and whatever else they're comfortable in, and they come out and just support. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:53.759 They're not there to angel, they're only there to support the new people, be friendly to them, ask them questions. 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:54.640 How are they doing? 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:55.759 How did they hear about it? 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:56.480 And things like that. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.839 And 90% of them are coming through the social media aspects. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.599 It does take a lot of work and it does take somebody who's pretty good at it. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:05.279 And so the club has grown. 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:10.079 She was at one square when she started this two and a half, three years ago. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.759 And now the club is up to five squares, six squares every week. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:14.160 Yeah. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:16.160 And so it does it does work. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:17.519 It's a process. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:22.000 And I love what she's doing, and I'm fully 100% supporting of her when we're there. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:25.359 We recently bought a house in North Carolina in the Raleigh area. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:26.480 Our grandkids live there.

00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:34.640 We have things we still have to do in the RV, and I still have gigs to travel June of next year through the end of the year, and then in 2027. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:40.079 So we're not giving up the RV traveling, but we're slowing it down so we could spend more time with our grandchildren. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:41.759 Oh, that sounds wonderful. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:49.920 Yeah, I think changing mindsets is one of the big things that we need to start thinking about. 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:52.720 I think I shared with you I have a living laboratory. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:23:03.839 My guess is that the old timers are afraid that if they change the way they used to do things, they will lose what they love about square dancing. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:05.680 I belong to two clubs. 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:13.119 One of them is thriving because luckily we had a young family join with four children. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:24.000 They all got into square dancing, and I think the key to the success is mom is a teacher, and she understands how people learn differently. 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:36.559 And I don't think some of the old timers understand that as as well as younger people do, that people have different styles of learning. 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:38.720 I'll use myself as an example. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:44.799 I'm an introvert who probably would be labeled neurodiverse. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:49.039 I get over stimulated way fast. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:59.279 And if I have to look at everybody as I'm dancing in a square and make eye contact, I cannot focus on the moves. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:04.000 So I don't look at people, and people judge that as being unfriendly. 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:05.759 Now I do smile. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:10.799 Smiling doesn't come naturally to me, but I love dancing so much that I smile. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:15.039 But I have to focus on my physical movements. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:25.759 And I say that not because I'm special, but because there's people that have all different ways of learning and being able to dance. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:36.400 One of the things that I noticed early on is there are few people, luckily only a few, who have decided that they have to teach you to dance, not the collar. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:45.279 And I have been pushed, I have been pulled, I have been talked to constantly in my ear, so I cannot hear the collar and the calls. 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:49.759 But I did a talk at our last state or festival. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.240 A number of people came in, I brought this issue up. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:56.799 I was shocked that there were two other people that said, Oh my gosh, that happens to me too. 00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:06.960 I think we we need to start understanding that being handicapable is an example of trying to incorporate people who don't have all the same skills. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:11.359 But even in an experienced group, we're not all learning the same way. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:22.480 And we have to let people assimilate in the way that they're comfortable and not interpret it as being unfriendly or being slow. 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:24.960 Some people learn slower than others. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:29.519 We have two people in our club that they get everything right away. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:32.720 All the new plus calls in a week. 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:34.400 Other people don't. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:37.279 Stop seeing that as a problem. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:39.200 That's reality. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:40.400 No, you're right. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:43.440 There's four basic learning styles and personalities. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:44.480 You're an introvert. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:45.839 You and I are complete opposites. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:51.920 I am the outgoing extrovert, you know, happy-go-lucky kind of guy, and I want everybody to be my friend. 00:25:52.079 --> 00:26:00.480 And so I'm always making eye contact and hugging and all the good things that an extrovert does, which annoys the heck out of introverts. 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:14.720 But in teaching, and I've learned this over the years of calling and teaching many, many, many, many classes from beginner to plus to advance, that I have to teach a call at least three different ways. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:22.720 So I have to teach it by explaining how the call, getting them into the positions and explaining to them how the call is going to work, first of all. 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:29.759 Second of all, getting an experienced group out and showing it as an example, California twirl. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:36.880 I could take my wife or any woman that knows how to do California twirl, talk it through and show, because those were visual learners, that's me. 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:42.799 We have to see, oh, that's how the girl turns underneath the arm for the California twirl. 00:26:43.039 --> 00:26:43.200 Okay. 00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:46.400 So I can see how it works, the visual part. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:50.720 Give them the definition or give them the written definition, and they got it. 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:51.759 They gone. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:52.240 Flus. 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:52.960 Advanced. 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:53.440 Challenge. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:55.119 They think completely different than I do. 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:56.480 I don't think analytically. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:00.079 What I do as a caller is very taught by my mentor. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:05.359 And so I can move the dancers around and have fun and do all that and make some of it very complicated. 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:10.000 But only because I had a great mentor who was an analytical mentor. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:11.680 He was an engineer at the company. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:17.519 Those engineers and the accountants, they think differently, they think in extreme sometimes. 00:27:17.680 -->

00:27:20.559 And I love them to death because they get it quickly. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:26.400 And they but they don't understand that this person over here needs to see it three or four times. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:32.319 This person over here needs to dance it seven or eight times before they get the simple California twirl. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:35.200 What's the difference between trade by and pass to the center? 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:36.640 They're similar, but they're different. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:41.279 Reading the definition for somebody like me and possibly you, that doesn't do any good. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:43.279 I need to do it myself. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:47.200 I need to actually dance it and many times, and then I get it. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:50.720 And then they're like, oh, that's what they want for this particular call. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:28:02.640 And so understanding that as a caller and knowing that I have to teach the same call three different ways, explaining it, showing it, letting them dance it, and giving the analytics their definitions. 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:07.759 They're at either a certain age or their brain doesn't think about definitions, and that's okay. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:16.079 If I show it to them eight times, ten times, twelve times, or they dance it, and they finally go, Oh, that's how you wanted me to do it, then they got it. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:19.119 The analytics got it the first time because I gave them the definition. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:20.799 There's a different thinking process. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:32.480 I am not the smartest person in the room when I'm calling, and I will be the first one to tell you that I'm there to do my job to help the dancers progress as I'm teaching, or if I'm at a dance, to help them have fun and dance. 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:40.640 Maybe show them something slightly different as I progress through a dance, a two-hour regular dance, whether it's mainstream plus or advanced. 00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:47.519 I like to start out simple and then I will progressively challenge them as we get to the evening through the evening. 00:28:47.759 --> 00:28:53.519 And I may get to the point where I overdo it and they can't do what I'm trying to do, and I'll back it off. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:59.519 And if they're not doing anything but basic, simple stuff, I'm gonna keep it basic and simple all night long. 00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:01.039 It's the way it works. 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:04.160 I want them to end up saying, that was a fun night. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:05.440 I really like this guy. 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:07.680 I want him to come back and be our caller again. 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:10.640 I don't want to hear, we're never inviting that guy back again. 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:19.279 And and it happens, it hurts my feelings, but that's because I'm a very extreme extrovert, but I don't take it personal anymore. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:21.200 Even though I

want to, I can't. 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:22.079 They're gonna have fun. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:24.640 They may be laughing at me, but they're gonna laugh. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:33.839 It isn't about going and making money as a caller, it isn't about trying to break down every floor with the most complicated analytical choreography. 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:35.680 I know callers that could do that. 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:42.559 But I want to make sure that they have fun, I want to make sure they're smiling, and that at the end of the night that they had a good time. 00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:44.880 And that's really the bottom line of it. 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:52.799 How do clubs go about that during a dance is they need to be at the door to say hi, introduce themselves, hey, welcome. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:53.920 Where club are you from? 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:54.960 Where are you dancing? 00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:56.799 This is at a dance now, not a class. 00:29:57.039 --> 00:30:04.240 They need to be friendly and open to them, not sitting in the corner with their own clickish group and hanging out and ignoring their guests. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:10.240 And I've seen many dances I've been to where you have the club members over here and all the guests over here, and they're not interacting at all. 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:14.960 It's hard for me, so I will immediately go to the guests and I'll start talking to them. 00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:21.279 And then hopefully I can I'll go talk to some of the club members and say, hey, have you guys gone over here and met some of these people? 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:22.240 These guys are really cool. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:26.079 They're from such and such a club, and they drove they drove 40 minutes to get here. 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:28.000 So I'll try to get a little encouragement. 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:30.480 Uh, sometimes I get the shoved back, but it's all right. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:33.680 Let's talk a little bit more about new and weak dancers. 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:40.720 You mentioned the party dance, which I think I have heard only good things about. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:44.960 We occasionally will have dances with new people. 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:48.160 I'm hoping to see them more often. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:31:06.160 But one of the callers that I think is best at that, I don't know if you've ever met Mike Oliveri here in Colorado, but he can call those new dancers with with people who have never danced before by teaching them to dance without using any of the names of the calls. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:08.319 He's really good at that. 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:10.400 I find that really interesting. 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:18.960 The other thing I see with new dancers or weaker dancers that happens a lot is they go to the back of the room and they all dance together. 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:19.759 Yep. 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:40.640 For a while in our club, we had a lady, she's a uh cuer named Andreth

Davis, and she would watch and then she would have people change around and move to the front and get a better balance between the weaker and the stronger dancers, which I thought was an incredibly effective thing to do. 00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:42.720 But that stopped happening. 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:54.559 She's the only person I've ever seen do that, but I thought it was really effective because I think sometimes newer and weaker dancers are shy and they don't want to be in the front, but that's where they need to be. 00:31:54.880 --> 00:32:02.720 When I was teaching classes a lot in both California and Texas, I would see the the weaker dancers, as you as you called them, in the back. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:04.799 I would say, Hey, you guys up here. 00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:06.319 I know how you guys dance. 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:07.359 I want to see them. 00:32:07.519 --> 00:32:11.839 You go take your whole square and go back there and bring me that square up front, and I'll bring them right up to front. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:13.119 And they all panic. 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:15.039 They're like, I don't want to be up there next to the caller. 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:17.680 He's gonna be watching me and seeing all my mistakes. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:31.440 But the goal was that I could see them and help them and maybe slow my process down of calling, take shortcuts, because I know how to take shortcuts, especially like in a singing call. 00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:35.519 We have so many beats that we need to do before we get to the next segment in a singing call. 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:36.799 And I know how to do shortcuts. 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:41.839 If I have to, I can do face your corner, swing your corner, promenade, and and I'd save 60 beats. 00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:43.680 You can learn as a caller, I should say. 00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:44.720 But I've done that. 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:48.480 I've brought an entire week square all the way to the front, and they panicked. 00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:50.079 But I said, Don't worry about it. 00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:52.799 I'm here to watch you guys, I'm not here to judge you. 00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:57.119 And they were very successful because I could slow down to their pace. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:02.160 When the back of the room I couldn't see them, I could out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't pay a lot of attention to them. 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:03.279 And it worked out really well. 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:08.000 I learned that from that incident, by the way, it was one incident, that I do that a lot more now. 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:16.559 I'll bring a square that I see is struggling, and I'll say, hey, I don't want you to change squares, even though it would be nice if I could intermix some of the more skilled dancers with them. 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:19.519 Bring your whole square up front, and then I can work with them. 00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:22.960 The others will dance, they know how to dance, they'll do their thing. 00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:23.839 But that's me. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:39.119 As an experienced caller and somebody who knows how to cut corners and get the music timing and that kind of thing back into rhythm, it helps that I can build confidence in those dancers and that they know, hey, I really can do this. 00:33:39.279 --> 00:33:41.759 I'm not always struggling in the back of the room. 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:49.920 And one of the comments I will make after they are successful in that tip, after I move them forward, is I will say to them, that was amazing. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:51.279 You guys did a great job. 00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:52.319 Just praise them. 00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:57.440 You guys did so well, and I really loved how you guys did that particular move or whatever. 00:33:57.519 --> 00:34:07.039 And I'll give them all this positive accolade so that they understand that, hey, I'm getting positive reinforcement because the caller got to actually see how I danced. 00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:10.000 They may have struggled, but I'm not gonna tell them they struggled. 00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:13.119 I'm always gonna use a positive reinforcement for them. 00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.960 There are things callers can do, not every caller can do that. 00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:18.320 It takes some experience. 00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:24.559 It sounds like the one caller you mentioned could do that, and he could do whatever he wants to, and he can be successful with that. 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:25.840 And I think that's amazing. 00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:28.159 We have a lot of new callers coming up, which is great. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:45.840 I've been watching for ways that we can help dancers, and I think that's another point that you made, is I respond better when someone tells me what I'm doing right, and it helps me doing feel less anxious about what I still need to learn. 00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:46.480 Right. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:54.880 As opposed to being told all the time I should be doing something different than I'm doing while the caller is trying to call the calls. 00:34:55.280 --> 00:35:08.559 That's a great point that people should remember is that positive reinforcement removes the anxiety that causes people to get so nervous and maybe make more mistakes. 00:35:09.039 --> 00:35:10.400 I can't say I'm perfect. 00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:18.159 I have gotten frustrated with occasionally and wanted to push somebody, but I I have refrained. 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:24.800 I think that's that's something we all need to remember to start being more friendly to the newer dancers. 00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:29.599 And then the other thing you brought up was the people that would come one time. 00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:34.320 So I don't know if you heard my last the podcast we'd aired with Mike Hogan. 00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:51.440 But what Mike talked about that I I think people are are starting to grasp is that it's not about

marketing one time, doing one Facebook advertisement, having one party dance, having one set of lessons. 00:35:51.599 --> 00:36:06.960 It's about ongoing repeating that square dancing and round dancing are fun and giving people a lot of opportunities, being out there in the community and doing community events and demonstrations. 00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:11.840 It's not about one time you're in the parade and then everybody joins your lessons. 00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:15.679 It's over and over again over time. 00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:21.679 Because these new generations they haven't been exposed to square and round dancing. 00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:33.199 And the pepper steppers here in Pueblo, they have, I'm gonna guess right now, a quarter of their class is under 25 or theirs club. 00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:39.920 And they've very consciously brought in younger people through younger people. 00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:44.480 The younger people invite new younger people, and it's worked really great. 00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:49.360 It's not expecting because they went to the lessons there that they're gonna come back. 00:36:49.519 --> 00:36:55.039 It's encouraging them and encouraging them and giving them more and more opportunities to have fun. 00:36:55.280 --> 00:36:55.519 Right. 00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:59.519 You're planting siege, you're not gonna get a crop for the one seed that you plant. 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:04.559 What else would you like to share that you think would help clubs start to grow again? 00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:19.039 I hit on already on, and you and I both already discussed this, but I think the most important part of it is you have to have some way to market in the social media world for all of it, not just Facebook, because the younger people are not on Facebook anymore. 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:24.079 I don't know anybody, very few people that are under 40 that are on Facebook anymore. 00:37:24.239 --> 00:37:28.320 They're all on all the other social medias from TikTok to Instagram, etc. 00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:32.400 You gotta have somebody who understands that market and be able to create the videos. 00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:38.000 Now, with AI, it is so much easier now to create the videos and the excitement. 00:37:38.159 --> 00:37:49.440 And you can use some of the videos from your club or your class, but it takes somebody who will take the time to do it and can market it and it can be successful because your word of mouth isn't working much anymore. 00:37:49.599 --> 00:37:51.840 And again, as I said, flyers, there's not gonna work. 00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:53.119 Nobody reads a flyer anymore. 00:37:53.199 --> 00:38:15.519 You're gonna see something pop up on your feed, you're gonna share a social media event on Facebook or TikTok or Instagram or whatever it is, and somebody's gonna say, I have somebody who's in that area, let's say Raleigh, North Carolina, I'm gonna go to that, I'm gonna ask them to go to that event, or maybe I'll go with

them, they'll pay their$10 or whatever the cost is, and they'll go to the event and be introduced to it. 00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:19.039 I think it's extremely important that there is somebody that can do that. 00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:23.360 It doesn't mean it has to be a young person because it doesn't. 00:38:23.519 --> 00:38:31.119 I'm not a young person, but I know how to do social media, and I can do it, and now with the help of AI, it's so much easier to do. 00:38:31.599 --> 00:38:34.480 I think that's important because that's how you get the word out. 00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:37.360 We cannot say it's a free event. 00:38:37.599 --> 00:38:44.400 If you charge, even if it's$5 or$10, if you charge, they now have skin in the game. 00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:48.159 They put money out of their wallet and they're gonna come. 00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:50.480 Okay, I paid$10 to go to this thing. 00:38:50.559 --> 00:38:56.159 I'm not really sure what it is, but I don't want to lose my$10, so I'm gonna at least get my$10 and they're gonna come. 00:38:56.239 --> 00:39:02.960 And more people who pay have a skin in the game, have a reason to come because they paid a little bit to come. 00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:07.599 Does it deter somebody from saying, I don't have ten dollars and coming? 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:18.559 If that's the case, and they mention that to the caller or to whoever, the club members, who's ever doing the advertising, the clubs can offer you come the first night and we'll pay the$10. 00:39:19.119 --> 00:39:24.559 Not that we're gonna let you in free, but we'll pay your$10 this time so that you can come and see what it's about. 00:39:24.719 --> 00:39:30.320 Now you can't do that with everybody, but you can do it for certain people that may not have the money, may not have an extra$10. 00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:33.599 They need that money for their kids or their eating or whatever. 00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:40.320 But that process of advertising has changed significantly since we started dancing in 1987. 00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:44.719 We didn't have the internet, we didn't have social media, we didn't have pop-ups on our cell phones. 00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:57.199 If you on your cell phone, if you say a word, if I talk to my wife about her quilts, the next two, three days I'm gonna have all this quilting stuff pop up on my cell phone because the cell phone's listening to what to what we talked about. 00:39:57.440 --> 00:39:58.639 And she's a quilter. 00:39:58.800 --> 00:40:07.360 So those are the kind of things we'll talk about something that's happening in and in Hawaii, and all of a sudden I'm getting all these weather messages for Hawaii. 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:09.760 Well, how's well the phone's listening? 00:40:09.840 --> 00:40:10.320 That's why. 00:40:10.559 --> 00:40:15.519 And so, yes, that's just called marketing, that's what these companies do, and that and that's okay. 00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:23.360 But but now I'm talking about square dancing, and I guarantee you I'm gonna get a lot of square dancing things on this phone because it's been listening to me for the last hour. 00:40:23.519 --> 00:40:26.079 So it's just the way things work these days. 00:40:26.239 --> 00:40:35.199 And so we have to be able to understand how the technology works, how to reach out to people in their way of reaching out through advertisement. 00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:37.519 We have to be friendly when they show up. 00:40:37.679 --> 00:40:43.280 We have to be, we have to ask them how they're doing, who they what their name is, we have to where do they come from. 00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:45.360 We don't need to know everything about their lives. 00:40:45.519 --> 00:40:49.440 We just want them to understand that we are we are happy that they're there. 00:40:49.840 --> 00:40:51.199 And you have to be friendly with them. 00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:59.519 Uh, if you're if you're gonna take your co-clickish corn group and put them in in the corner and leave the new people alone, they're not gonna come back. 00:40:59.679 --> 00:40:59.840 Right. 00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:02.480 They they want to know, is this for me? 00:41:02.639 --> 00:41:04.400 Is this I'm gonna come back next week? 00:41:04.480 --> 00:41:07.119 Or next time, next time there's a party night, or whatever it is. 00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:11.199 If these people were mean to me or ignored me all night long, why would I go back? 00:41:11.679 --> 00:41:12.880 I can do that on social media. 00:41:12.960 --> 00:41:14.639 I can get people to ignore me on social media. 00:41:14.719 --> 00:41:16.719 I don't need to go out of my house to do that. 00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:21.280 So there's a lot of things that we have to change because of the way life has changed. 00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:26.159 I'm so happy to hear about your club, that one of your clubs that has the younger people in it. 00:41:26.400 --> 00:41:31.280 There is a club in the Georgetown, Texas area that has a whole bunch of younger people. 00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:36.480 They're all teenagers, and they keep bringing more and more teenagers in every year. 00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:42.000 And so that club is starting to grow and grow because the teenagers are having so much fun. 00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:46.639 And last time I was there, I got to dance with a lot of them, and I kept asking them questions. 00:41:46.719 --> 00:41:48.559 Well, why do you why do you guys keep coming back? 00:41:48.639 --> 00:41:54.159 And and they kept saying the same thing is that it's so much fun, and the people they just come in and they made us feel welcome. 00:41:54.239 --> 00:41:55.920 And so that club did something right. 00:41:56.159 --> 00:42:14.239 They got these kids, these teenage kids, to feel welcome and not worry about having to wear a petticoat and a dress and a long sleeve, you know, western shirt, and a bolo tie and boots and all the kids can come in their sandals and their flip-flops and their crocs and all that, and nobody cares. 00:42:14.400 --> 00:42:15.599 They'll still dance with them. 00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:20.880 The club there in Georgetown is doing a great job, a club that Brad Caldwell is a caller for. 00:42:21.039 --> 00:42:22.639 And so we have to we have to change. 00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:28.400 We have to figure out what And it's not about good or bad anyway, it's about what works in in today's world. 00:42:28.719 --> 00:42:28.960 Right. 00:42:29.199 --> 00:42:31.280 I think all those are great points. 00:42:31.519 --> 00:42:36.400 The other thing that I learned is about business cards and index cards. 00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:43.599 So it is still great to have something to hand out, but it has to be small enough that it fits in your pocket. 00:42:43.840 --> 00:42:44.159 Yep. 00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:46.239 And that's the problem with flyers. 00:42:46.400 --> 00:42:49.840 People don't want to pick up a big piece of paper and haul it around. 00:42:50.159 --> 00:42:54.239 Mike Sattler from the Rocky Mountain Rainbows told me about business cards. 00:42:54.480 --> 00:43:06.400 And I sent flyers and business cards to Waco with a friend, and he brought back almost all the flyers and two business cards, because the business cards they went to everybody. 00:43:06.559 --> 00:43:09.760 I think there must have been 200 business cards that got taken. 00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:15.760 It's not that what we used to do was bad, it has changed, and we got to move with it. 00:43:16.239 --> 00:43:33.599 The other thing that the Pepper Steppers pointed out is they did not include the square dancing attire in their advertising because that automatically makes people think I have to be dressed a certain way to come to lessons or to enjoy a community dance. 00:43:33.840 --> 00:43:40.159 But what they found is once the young people got in, they got really into the square dance clothes. 00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:45.920 So it's not about giving up the idea that we're still gonna wear square dance clothes. 00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:49.760 It's about marketing to people who don't know who we are yet. 00:43:50.079 --> 00:43:51.599 Because they're really into it now. 00:43:51.760 --> 00:43:54.159 They come in matching outfits and all kinds of stuff. 00:43:54.320 --> 00:43:56.800 But you have to you have to let them get into it. 00:43:57.039 --> 00:44:00.320 Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to interview today, Dan. 00:44:00.559 --> 00:44:11.760 This is really helpful, and I think it will help people start to understand that it's not about giving uh what we love, it's about changing the way that we present ourselves and how we move forward. 00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:13.280 Well, thanks so much.