The purpose of this article is to help us get to know our fellow dancers better.

Dave Pearcy, long-time president of Spinners, says he was “drug by my first wife to a square dance” and that by the third lesson, “I was hooked.” When he finished his first set of lessons someone talked him into putting his name on the ballot for president. Thinking it impossible he would win over a much more experienced dancer, he agreed. The other dancer withdrew, and Dave became president of Spinners by default. The year was approximately 1984.

Dave came to the Seattle area on January 1, 1959, with an uncle after he had graduated from high school in Iowa. After several years working on a dairy farm he accepted a creative job as a “tool-maker” at Boeing where he worked until his retirement. “They came and told us what the tool was needed for, and we made it.” he says.

Sometime during the years of square dancing, Dave and Nina met at a Socialites club dance at Marion Grange. After eighteen years of dancing together they were married about four years ago. Dave has consented again and again to the presidency of the Spinners over the last thirty years, for a total of about twenty years presidency— with a few short vacations interspersed among them– “because the club has to have officers, and no one else wants to do it. We need new blood in the leadership,” he says.

Besides square dancing Dave loves skiing, hunting, fishing, and gardening; all the outdoorsy kind of things. He also is a competent cook. He works several days a month smoking meat at the Smoke House in Black Diamond.

Nina Pearcy was born on a farm in Enumclaw to parents who moved first to the Olympic Rain Forest area when she was six, then to Enumclaw when she was thirteen, following the logging profession. She trained during her junior and senior years with a dentist in Renton who made her his assistant. Nina worked as a dental assistant in private practice for twenty-one years, and then for the Rainier State School Dental Clinic near Buckley for another twenty-one years. Since her retirement Nina has drawn on her early training in 4-H club sewing to create her sewing business. As well as square dancing she loves baking, gardening and chocolate.

Many thanks to Dave and Nina for their selfless service.

I found it. I didn’t know I was searching for it, but sometime in August or September this year I stepped out of my comfort zone. It happened at a picnic. Our neighbors had built a fire pit down the road at the edge of the forest. The occasion was our neighborhood’s fall get-together. For the program, square dancers had been invited. We were all eager to observe their demonstration of expertise in the art.

I sat comfortably on a bench beside several neighbors and my husband and watched the dancers. I watched with special interest because square dancing had always looked like great fun. It looked pretty complicated to me, and I had been content with wishing I knew the art, wishing my husband was not in a wheel chair, wishing for the frolic and fun that it could bring to my life.

I was in for a jolt. Each member of the visiting square dance team came out of their “square” and chose a partner. I was one of the chosen.

His name was Neil, a very attractive and friendly man. He walked to me and held out his hand. “But I’ve never square danced,” I protested. “I won’t know what I’m doing!”

“That’s okay,” he said. “We’re going to teach you.”

So I took his hand with much trepidation and walked with him to a circle that was being formed.

“I’ve never done this before,” I reminded him again.

“The caller will tell you exactly what to do,” he smiled and reassured me.

“All join hands, circle to the left,” came the instruction.

Well, that’s not hard. The caller, Greg, went on to instruct us how to “allemande-left” and “dosado.” He taught us who was our partner (on the left) and who was our “corner” (on the right). Then, staying in the circle we practiced listening and following directions. We danced through two sets. My breath was short and my legs trembled, but I felt somewhat successful in my adventure.

I asked lots of questions of the instructors (callers). I was told that each lesson was $3.00, and that new moves were added at each lesson. I thought I could learn one or two new moves in one night. So when September came, I started lessons.

Every Tuesday night at seven we gathered. New moves were added almost from the first, and not just one or two. As long as we stayed in the circle, I felt confident. But almost immediately the caller directed us into “squares.” After all, it is called Square Dancing.

No longer did we dance only with our partner and our corner. New moves changed the identity of both partner and corner. I “squared through four” and got completely lost among hands reaching for mine. I was supposed to do the “Grand Square” and make my “own little square.” My confusion set in.

At each lesson I dreaded the moment when we moved into “squares,” a group of four couples; “head” couples and “side” couples. The night soon came when we went immediately to squares. This is going too fast for me. I protested. Everybody told me to “not worry. Just have fun.”

The caller started announcing “student level dances.” The first was to be held on Friday night, December 4^th. The same night of the announcement we were taught four or five new movements, all of them complicated, and told that now we were at “level 30.” We were strongly encouraged to attend the dance. There was to be an ornament exchange and a potluck at 10:30 pm. We were told we could wear any skirt or outfit we wanted, and told how much fun we would have.

Finally, I decided to go. A fellow Golden Valley friend who was also taking lessons but had previous experience dancing convinced me, told me how much fun I would have, how glad the other square dancers were to have students there, and offered me a ride. I went.

Most of the women at the dance wore square dance attire, knee length brightly-colored skirts or dresses with voluminous petticoats. I was in my red A-line plaid skirt and black sweater, Christmas attire, I thought. A few other women joined me in my rebellion against the “outfit:” one wearing black pants and a blouse.

I didn’t have much time to worry about my apparel. Neil, an accomplished square dancer had coaxed me to the dance, saying he would be my partner, then remembering that he had to take tickets at the door, but there he was, inviting me onto the floor. That was where the fun started.

The music was familiar: “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” the music drew us in, all singing, and then the calls started. As before, the ‘circle left’ was easy, but I soon learned that many of the things I could do on lesson night were becoming confusing. The dance moved faster, with no pauses between calls, and added to the music’s distractions, the calls became more than my challenged brain could process. Then came the calls of movements I couldn’t keep straight, even on lesson night: Grand Square: There was no connection I could see between the movements being made by the dancers, and making my own square. I was lost at practice, but there is no word but frustration for what I felt at the dance. If I heard the call it took far too long to register in my brain and order my movements.

My befuddled presence in a square was a complication to be dealt with, and everyone was guiding me, “go here,” “allemande left,” “dosado,” repeating to me the last call. Square dancers are kind, fun-loving people, but I felt sure I had really tried their patience that night, disarranging their squares, disconcerting their calm. Who’s worried about their calm? What about mine?! Why, Oh Why did I go against my intuitions and attend the dance?

As I thought about the reason, I figured it out. I went to learn. Staying home would be like staying home from band practice because I hadn’t learned the part, or taking riding lessons and never getting on a horse afterward. The dance is part of the learning process, a necessary transition to competency.

So I continue the lessons. I go to the dances. I am learning to have fun in the journey. In the midst of the learning and the confusion, I found a perfect way to exercise, one that I don’t have to do alone; consequently, one that I will continue.

Thanks to Marjorie for republishing her January 2009 Footnotes article here. - Jean

Had a great Tropical Dance on Jan. 7, 2011,with Greg Weber calling and Sue Weber cueing. Click on a photo to enlarge it, then click on its left or right edge to see more.