FORT WORTH — This is a dance party, but there’s no booze or strobe lights, and the DJ is actually playing 45s from an old portable record player. It’s 4 p.m. on a Sunday at the Swingtime Center in Fort Worth, Texas, and dozens of couples have gathered at the front.

But first, the crowd must recite the pledge of allegiance. Welcome to square dancing circa 2011, which seems as if it were airlifted right out of the ’50s. But look closer and you’ll see signs of youth blossoming amid the folding tables and senior set.

Groups of “mad hatters” — it’s a theme dance — are getting ready to square up. In the far corner, a quad of teens twirl and shuffle to a twangy record as the caller cues them. They don’t just square and smile. They spin and twist. And they’re not even being forced to do this.

Most of all, they want more young people to discover the rockin’ retro appeal of square dancing. “If there was a whole club of young people, then it would be a lot more fun,” says Michelle Andrew, 16, from Arlington, Texas, who square dances most weekends. She’s here with her boyfriend and her grandparents.

Dressed in a short red prairie skirt and petticoats, she says her friends can’t believe she square dances. “A lot of them laugh.” But Andrew might have the last laugh, because in cities like San Francisco; Portland, Ore; Minneapolis; and Houston, square dancing is taking on a modern and much cooler vibe, infused with teens and 20-somethings squaring to pop songs and hip-hop beats. Square dancing hasn’t exactly do-si-do’d onto the radar screen for most DFW kids yet.

“A lot of dances I go to, I’m the only teen,” Andrew says. “I don’t always want to dance with old guys.” But kids like 14-year-old Zachary Pryor, a clogger and square dancer, might help speed along the process. Pryor has been clogging since he was 5 and only recently got interested in square dancing.

“It looks boring, but once you get into it, it’s pretty fun.” He’s wearing a furry zebra cowboy hat and constantly texts between tips, or dancing sessions. But get some clogs on his feet, and he comes alive. He clackety-cloggs to Counting Crows during a brief demonstration and rips off his clogging shoes to help the mixedage crowd do the Cupid Shuffle.

When’s the last time you saw your grandpa go to-the-left-tothe- left-now-kick-now-kickdown- down-do-his-dance? Hip? Not by moststandards. Not yet. “I don’t know if it’s necessarily cool,” Andrew says, “but I have fun doing it.”

In need of energy

Despite attempts to make square dancing more mainstream, the dance form is dominated by aging baby boomers. A 2005 United Square Dancers of America study revealed an even larger discrepancy: Only 36 percent of dancer were under age 60, and less than 1 percent were between 19 and 29. While each club has its own spirit, by and large, elders remain the powerhouse. “That base is fading,” says Kathy King, youth coordinator for the North Texas Square and Round Dance Association.

“If square dancing is going to continue, we need to get our youth involved.” The number of local groups has dwindled from more than 100 clubs in North Texas just 20 years ago to fewer than 50 today. Part of the problem, King says, is the square-dancing stereotype. People “don’t give it a chance.” You know the image: grandma in the big ol’ petticoat, grandpa in a string tie, and a whole lot of hoopin’ and hollerin’ to a fiddle. Like it or not, the fluffy Hee Haw vibe is what makes square dancing special.

It’s a big part of squaredancing tradition, which began in parts of Scotland and France and migrated first to the New England area, then Appalachia and into the West. King got her entire family involved in square dancing a few years ago, and she has since become a vocal advocate for more youth involvement — not that stuff you had to suffer through in elementary school gym class, with its forced cootie exposure and Cotton-Eyed Joe on repeat. Square dancing these days has a lot to offer.

Kid energy

The average dance costs about $6 a ticket, and a meal is usually served. Dance halls are alcohol- and smoke-free, and there’s no sleazy squaredance guy you don’t want to couple with. It’s good, clean fun. While you can petticoatout, you don’t have to spend a fortune doing so, and many modern dancers prefer long skirts. There are also scholarships offered to teens and college students, and the environment is family-friendly and nonthreatening. And there are events at the state and national level.

Many have themes, like this afternoon’s dance. John Pryor, 44, a clogging instructor from Euless, was a member of the Rainbow Teens square dance club of Grand Prairie as a youth. Then, dances were set to popular music and callers would dress up or use an accent. But his group phased out as people went away to college or started families.

Life gets in the way of square dancing. So Pryor understands that there will need to be changes to get younger dancers involved. Live demonstrations, music change-ups, maybe a square-dancing flash mob would help.

Most square dancing clubs “want teens to be in it,” Pryor says, “but they’re not really doing anything to get them involved.” Cue the round dance music, and the few teens here at Swingtime head back to their tables as older couples circle the floor to a dragging ballad. See, Pryor points out. Young people need more energy.

Wholesome fun

But while some may balk at the idea of square dancing to Michael Jackson’s Beat It, many square dancers welcome the youth influence. “They have what you call that kid energy,” says Mike Bramlett, president of the North Texas Callers Association. A barrelchested man with a booming voice, he started calling when he was a teenager.

That couldn’t have been cool. “In Greenville, Texas, it was!” he says with a smile. Bramlett says he has seen kids “twirl, bump, do the splits and come back up.” And while there is some square-dancing stigma — older dancers sometimes look down on younger dancers who they think don’t know the steps or who aren’t keeping with square dancing tradition — here at Swingtime, dancers welcomed the youthful intrusion and “trash dancing.”

Despite attempts to make square dancing more mainstream, the dance form is dominated by aging baby boomers. A 2005 United Square Dancers of America study revealed an even larger discrepancy: Only 36 percent of dancers were under age 60, and less than 1 percent were between 19 and 29. While each club has its own spirit, by and large, elders remain the powerhouse. “That base is fading,” says Kathy King, youth coordinator for the North Texas Square and Round Dance Association. “If square dancing is going to continue, we need to get our youth involved.” The number of local groups has dwindled from more than 100 clubs in North Texas just 20 years ago to fewer than 50 today. Part of the problem, King says, is the square-dancing stereotype. People “don’t give it a chance.” You know the image: grandma in a big ol’ petticoat, grandpa in a string tie, and a whole lot of hoopin’ and a hollerin’ to a

The average dance costs about $6 a ticket, and a meal is usually served.

Dance halls are alcohol- and smokefree, and there’s no sleazy square-dance guy you don’t want to couple with. It’s good, clean fun.

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