We are a Square and Round Dance club that has been dancing for over 55 years north of the Fraser. Our caller, John Corrigan, and our cuer, Cheryl Plume, have been providing us with fun dancing for thirty years.


We are currently dancing at the Pitt Meadows Senior Centre due to a flood at our normal location, the Maple Ridge Senior Centre. Our dance season runs from September to the end of April each year. Currently, we are dancing Mondays at the plus level. We hope to restart our beginner/mainstream teach in September 2019 at a location and evening to be determined shortly.

Square Dancing differs form our highschool experience in that a caller puts together a routine at the level of the dancers that changes after every "tip" or set.

A square dance tip usually consists of two parts: a period of freeform calling known as patter or hash, where the caller uses sequences of calls to develop choreography that is unexpected to the dancer; and singing calls, where the calls are choreographed to a popular song and the girls rotate to each boy around the square, ending up with their original partner at the end.

You can do Square Dance to a wide range of music: Rock, Pop, Punk, Chansons, and of course Country Music. 

What do you need when you learn to square dance?

A sense of humor. Expect to make mistakes - give yourself time and practice to learn at your own pace.,
Take a deep breath and have fun!

You don't need:

Square dance experience.
Any other dance experience.
A dance partner.

What will you learn?

The basic or beginning level consist of about 51 different calls, which seems like a lot, but you will be surprised how quickly you will learn them... you probably already have been exposed to 10 or more in your past dancing experience. We offer ten week courses which expose you to most of the basic calls.
It takes sometime to "master" the calls, so after you "graduate" to the next level called Mainstream where most people spend some time learning the calls thoroughly.
Mainstream adds another 17 calls to your repertoire, which many people practice for a longer period of time.
The next level is called Plus. There are only 30 or so calls at this level and this is where most dancers work at untilt heir dancing is automatic. Most dance clubs this is the most popular level.
There are other levels, Advanced and Challenge, but not everyone aspires to these levels as Mainstream and Plus giive them the right amount of exercise and allow more social interaction.

Here is a link to a site that has videos of the various calls. Square Dance Calls

What is Square Dancing all about?

Square dancing originated with the settlers who came to North America, bringing with them their traditional dancing--what some would call folk dancing. As the settlers from different countries gathered, the various dances changed and merged, and were guided by a caller who remembered the dance steps. This tradition became square dancing, which continues today.

Modern square dancing differs from what we may have learned in school gymnasiums. Whereas old time dances such as the Virginia Reel had set steps and moves, today's square dancing has no set patterns. Dancers learn a number of moves that the caller puts together to form a dance or tip. Square dance music includes "pop", show tunes, "golden oldies" and even country music. Since dancers vary in their physical ability and their desire to achieve, there are various dance levels such as Mainstream, Plus, Advanced and Challenge which give everyone a level that they can enjoy.

What is Square Dancing? 

Wikipedia has an excellent description of Modern Square Dancing at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Western_square_dance

What is Round Dancing?

Modern social round dancing is choreographed and cued ballroom dancing that progresses in a circular pattern, counter-clockwise around the dance floor. The two major categories of ballroom rhythm found in round dancing are the smooth or international rhythms, such as foxtrot and waltz, and the Latin rhythms, such as cha-cha and rhumba. It is not to be confused with circle dancing, which is a type of folk dance where dancers are connected in a circular chain.

Round dancing differs from free-style ballroom dancing in that each round dance has been fully choreographed ahead of time, and a cuer" or leader at the front of the ballroom tells the dancers, as they dance, what steps to do. As the music plays, and just ahead of the beat, so the dancers have time to respond, the cuer names each dance figure in the choreography. As a consequence, all the dancers on the floor are dancing the same steps at the same time.

To create a round dance, a piece of music is selected by the choreographer, and the different steps or figures are chosen to fit the music. If the music swells and pauses briefly, then a dance step that rises and stretches is put into that place. If there is a little syncopation in another part of the music, then a quick step is inserted. The creation of a piece of choreography is like engineering a machine, with every gear and lever in just the right place to give smooth and flowing motion. The step-by-step instructions on how to dance this choreography are written out in what is called a cue sheet. (Wikipedia)