When you started square dancing, were you surprised at how much time was spent in shapes (technically Formations) during a dance that was not a square? The square set of eight dancers is the alpha and omega of the tip, with many formations flowing seamlessly into one another like a kaleidoscope: the square, the circle, lines, waves, columns, boxes, stars, thars, diamonds, hourglasses, and many others that are too challenging to list. Not to mention, yet here they are, the unconventional rectangle and hexagon — oddly you can occasionally find these at conventions or fly-ins — formed by twelve dancers.
Betsy Gotta reminded dancers at Thursday’s class the need to recognize the formation you are in at the start of a call, and the formation you will be in at the finish. Knowing the formation(s), and recognizing something may be amiss when the caller repeats “I’m looking for a [two-faced line], [right-hand wave], etc. is a good skill to making a correction as needed to keep the square moving
If you want to see an excellent poster of formations, please turn your attention to the Czech & Slovak Square Dance website. There are over 90 illustrations, and the dancers have hands! How many do you recognize already? Make sure to scroll all the way to the Tidal formations.