Herald the season with ‘Wild West Spring’ barn dance April 5

Posted
By Carla Roberts

Special to The PREVIEW

The Wild West Squares teaching program invites you to a free community square dance party, “Wild West Spring,” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. April 5 at the PLPOA Clubhouse in Pagosa Springs.

This family-friendly event features demonstrations of basic, mainstream and plus dancing of the Wild West Squares, free food and a community “barn” dance for anyone who would like to try very simple and fun square dance activities.

The perfect exercise?

Dr. Arron Blackburn of the Mayo Clinic stated, “It’s clear that square dancing is the perfect exercise. It combines all positive aspects of intense physical exercise with none of the negative elements.”

One study showed that female and male square dancers could expect to live well into their 80s.

Blackburn said square dancing is a low-impact activity requiring constant movement and quick directional changes that help keep the body in shape.

“You don’t see a lot of 55-year-old basketball players, but that’s just the age when square dancers are hitting their peak,” Blackburn said.

Free 10-week course

Four Corners-based square dance caller Carla Roberts is putting the call out for new dancers to begin a free 10-week Introduction to Square Dance that will begin the week following the dance, on April 12.

In this new dancer course, Roberts will teach at the basic level so new dancers can quickly master enough calls (or dance steps) to experience the exhilaration of dancing in a group setting.

The class focus is for everyone to have an enjoyable dance session while learning the building blocks of square dance.

The classes will run on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 7 p.m., April 12 through June 14 at the PLPOA Clubhouse.

This is a fun, easygoing and free class open to families, couples and singles. The suggested age for children is at least 8 years old. Call Carla Roberts to enroll at 903-6478.