Ask people what comes to mind when they hear the term “square dancing” and the typical response is “petticoats and patent leather shoes” or “string ties and cowboy boots.”

Al Hipkins begs to differ. Hipkins is a longtime square dancer and up-and-coming caller who has just launched a square dance club here in Lewiston-Auburn that he intends to represent the new generation of the art of square dancing.

Things have changed a lot since 1972, when – as a boy of 11 in Maryland – Hipkins saw his first square dance demonstration at a state fair there. He was fascinated, eagerly joined in when the demo group invited audience members to give it a try, and then begged his mother to sign him up for classes so that he could learn more.

Four decades later he’s still dancing, but gone, he says, are the “short pouffy skirts and old scratchy records” of yore. Hipkins is focused on promoting not old-time Western but “modern” square dancing, where comfy casual clothing is the norm along with contemporary music that runs the gamut from country to rock, Latin to gospel, and pop to hip-hop.

Hipkins has earned the equivalent of a black belt in square dancing, having mastered both the men’s and ladies’ parts of all the Mainstream and Plus-level figures of the modern square dance repertoire (upwards of 200 moves, he figures – times two), but Hipkins’ primary emphasis as a caller and instructor is on accessibility. Those seeking a serious challenge can, in two years’ time, work their way up from Beginner to Basic to Mainstream to Plus, he says, but he vows that his own personal charge is to make sure that people in his classes are fully engaged – and having fun – “right out of the gate.”

Assisting with that goal is a cadre of “angels”: experienced square dancers who cheerfully show up at beginner sessions to help by serving as partners for participants who arrive solo. This generosity of spirit was much appreciated by new dancer Laurence Dixon, of Lewiston, when she enrolled in a six-week Lewiston Adult Education course taught last winter by Hipkins. A widow in her 60s, Dixon was nervous at first, but the caller’s patient instruction and “those fantastic angels,” she says, soon put her at ease.

Laurie and Bob Brown started taking classes from Hipkins a year-and-a-half ago through the Swingin’ Bears square dance club in South Paris. The couple lives over an hour away in Upton on the New Hampshire border, but the traveling has been worth it. “It’s become our weekly ‘date night,’ and I can’t imagine anything more fun,” says Laurie. “It’s exercise for the body and brain both, and the people are amazing. Everyone is so congenial.”

Modern square dancing is unlike other forms of social dance, explains Hipkins, because “each time you square up you know the dance will be different. You know the steps, but you don’t know how the caller will fit them together. Whether it’s a beginner dance or a challenge dance, mainstream or fast-track, each dance is unique because the caller makes it up as he goes along.” This element of surprise keeps people alert and on their toes, allowing them to forget their everyday worries of work and home as they focus on the task at hand: keeping up with the caller. “The fun of the experience takes over and you feel great,” he says, comparing the resultant euphoria to a runner’s high or “nirvana.”

And let’s not forget the romance angle. Cam and Edy Churchill met 27 years ago at square dance classes hosted in Auburn by the now-defunct Twin Cities Squares club. Their swinging led to flirting, which in turn led to the altar. The couple took a hiatus from dancing when their kids were born and family life got too hectic, but they took it up again earlier this year, brushing up on their moves with the Swingin’ Bears club in South Paris. Cam, reputed to be one of the most gifted dancers on the Maine circuit, describes square dancing as “a super fun way to stay active, mentally and physically, and to meet new people in an environment where there is no smoking or drinking.”

Another benefit to square dancing is that it’s an activity that not only can be enjoyed by people of all ages, but, as Hipkins points out, “also transcends social, economic, religious and even political boundaries.”

In fact, once a dancer has learned the 71 Mainstream level calls, he or she can dance with square dancers all over the globe. “You can go anywhere in the U.S., Canada and 18 other countries around the world, walk into a square dance club and be welcomed as a member of the community. Square dancing really makes the world a smaller place,” says Hipkins.

— In Maine, there are currently about a dozen clubs in operation, including in Winthrop, Wilton, Brunswick, Augusta and Portland, in addition to the South Paris and Lewiston groups cited above. Each club sponsors weekly instruction from spring through fall, as well as regular dances on the weekends for those people who have graduated to the Mainstream level.

— Dancer and caller Al Hipkins extends an enthusiastic welcome to all to consider joining Maine’s latest addition to the modern square dance scene: the Twin City Spinners. As the resident caller/instructor for that club, he will offer two free introductory workshops from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 22 and 29 at Martel School, located at the corner of East Avenue and Lisbon Street (Route 196) in Lewiston. A weekly series of beginner classes will commence in October, with another series starting in February. Singles, couples and families are all invited, and experienced dancers are encouraged to participate as “angels” while also learning some advanced moves. There will be a nominal charge for the weekly classes. More information is available via the club’s website, www.TwinCitySpinners.SquareDanceME.US, or by contacting Hipkins at 725-9984 or TwinCitySpinners@SquareDanceME.US.

The Swingin’ Bears Square Dance Club of South Paris will hold classes on Wednesday evenings each week this fall as part of the Adult Education program at the Oxford Hills Middle School (100 Pine St.). The first two lessons (Sept. 14 and 21, 6:30 to 9 p.m.) are open, free of charge, to all newcomers; after that there will be a modest per-class fee. The beginner instruction will be intermingled with more advanced instruction for experienced dancers of various levels, who will be “angeling” the beginners. Singles and couples of all ages ,as well as families, are all welcome. Ray Hilton of Saco will be the teacher/caller. FMI: www.swinginbears.squaredanceme.us or 782-4050.

Links to websites for all of the square dance clubs in Maine, as well as a few in New Hampshire, can be found at www.SquareDanceME.US.

How does square dancing compare?

Square dances are done in groups (squares) of four couples who learn an assortment of figures (such as star thru, eight chain, box-the-gnat), which are put together randomly by the caller to make each dance unique. Once you learn the basics (about 32 calls) the combinations are endless.* Square dancing is done to a variety of recorded music that today ranges from country to rock to Latin to hip-hop.

Line dancing is done “solo,” without a partner. You learn a dance routine choreographed to fit a specific country song (like Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart” or Alan Jackson’s “Good Time”) and whenever you hear that music, you can dance that dance alongside anyone else at hand who happens to know it, or even by yourself.

With contra dancing — which features a double line of partnered dancers as opposed to a square formation — it’s not necessary to attend classes in advance, since participants learn the moves for an assortment of established dances (such as Lady of the Lake, Petronella and The Flirtation Reel) from the caller over the duration of an evening’s entertainment. And contra dancing is done to a live band playing mostly Celtic-style music. Several of the figures in square dancing — including do-si-do, swing and ladies chain — are also used in contra dancing, so people experienced in one style of dancing can usually pick up on the other style quickly.

*Note: In addition to this modern, club-based style of square dancing, which has its roots in the American West, there are other types of square dancing, including Irish set dances, New England squares and the French-Canadian set carre and quadrille, which – while related – all differ somewhat in style and teaching approach.

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