Modern western square dance dance, like traditional square dance, is directed by a "caller". In modern western square dance the caller strings together a sequence of individual "square dance calls" to make a figure or sequence. These calls are the building blocks of the choreography that is danced by the individuals – square dancers – in the squares. There are eight people (four pairs of males and females, traditionally) in each square; at a dance there may be many squares. Generally speaking, each of these squares dances independently of each other, with the exception of specialty or "gimmick" dances, where there might be some
Square dance about ten and thirty, depending on the region and the individual caller. (Many traditional square dance calls are similar or identical to contra dance calls, which are described at contra dance choreography.) New dance moves are explained by the caller. In Modern Western square dance the participants are expected to have learned and become proficient in a particular "program", a defined set of calls. Dancing Modern Western square dance is constantly challenging and surprising due to the unknown or unexpected choreography of the caller (that is, the way the caller ties together the "calls" and the formations which result)—unlike traditional