Organization and Social Customs
"Survival" dances are typically either run by a band or caller as a profit-making enterprise, or sponsored by a non-dance organization (such as a church, a Grange, or a fire department) as a social service and/or a fundraiser for its other activities. The dance may be advertised as open to the public, but the vast majority of those attending are likely to be local people who know one another. Almost everyone present is likely to know the dances: often there will be little or no teaching or walkthrough, and in some communities the same few dances are done at every meeting, without a caller. The dancers may dress up a bit—though not necessarily in square-dance-specific costumes—and they may attend and dance exclusively with a spouse or other regular partner.
"Revival" dances are usually run by a nonprofit organization set up specifically to sponsor dance events, though they may also be run by a band or caller. The dance is normally open to the public; a few series are advertised as "for experienced dancers", but it is typically left to the dancers themselves to decide whether they qualify as experienced. Often a large percentage of those attending are not very familiar with the dances; the caller is likely to walk through most or all of the figures before the music starts. Casual attire and frequent partner changes are the norm; it is considered acceptable to ask a stranger to dance.
Read more about this topic: Traditional Square Dance
Famous quotes containing the words organization, social and/or customs:
“... every woman’s organization recognizes that reformers are far more common than feminists, that the passion to look after your fellow man, and especially woman, to do good to her in your way is far more common than the desire to put into every one’s hand the power to look after themselves.”
—Crystal Eastman (1881–1928)
“Women have a hard time of it in this world. They are oppressed by man-made laws, man-made social customs, masculine egoism, the delusion of masculine superiority. Their one comfort is the assurance that, even though it may be impossible to prevail against man, it is always possible to enslave and torture a man.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“So easy is it, though many housekeepers doubt it, to establish new and better customs in the place of the old.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)