Introduction
It is well recognized that many Challenge dancers do not understand basic square dancing positions and movements. This paper is written to clarify these for Challenge dancers.
This paper provides a discussion of a few basic calls and movements. It is not the place to look for the definitions for these calls. The calls are defined by Callerlab up through C2. The Ceder Chests, published by Vic and Debbie Ceder, provide definitions for C1 through C3B calls and concepts. Vic Ceder's web site provides online definitions with lots of diagrams and commentary. This web site is highly recommended.
Click below to reach these sites:
| Callerlab Web Site | |
| Vic Ceder's Web Site |
Basic Positions
When you square up the formation looks like this:
| The dancers are actually standing inside of a 4x4 grid which makes the squared up set look like this. | |
The Grid
Notice that the 8 dancers are standing in a grid made up of 16 spaces, 4 on a side. This is a 4x4 grid, also called a 4x4 matrix or 16 matrix. Also notice that 8 of the spaces are not occupied by dancers. Those 8 spaces are still there.
The purpose of the grid is to show the relationship of the dancers to one another in the current formation setup within the grid.
A call may be generally done by 2, 4 or 8 dancers. Pass Thru is a 2 dancer call. If all 8 dancers in the square do a Pass Thru at the same time, each dancer only works with 1 other dancer even though all 8 dancers are moving. Likewise, Square Thru is a 4 dancer call. All 8 dancers in the square may do a Square Thru at the same time but the dancers work in 2 groups of 4 dancers.
The grid may change shape during the call. For example, the grid needed for a Pass Thru is 1 dancer wide and 2 dancers high. Halfway through the call the grid changes to 1 dancer high by 2 dancers wide. Likewise, a Pass the Ocean starts as a 4-dancer call that uses a grid that is 2 dancers high by 2 dancers wide but changes to a grid that is 1 dancer high by 4 dancers wide at the end of the call.
You must always remember that you are always dancing in some kind of a formation setup within the grid. Sometimes it is a 4x4, sometimes 3x4, sometimes 2x4. There are many other formations and grid setups you will encounter in Challenge dancing.
The Formations
The six basic formations described below always work within the framework of the basic 4x4 grid.
The basic position in square dancing is the squared up set which looks like this:
The next elementary position is the parallel line situation which looks like this:
This formation may have any of these formations:
The next basic formation is columns which look like this:
Like parallel lines, the dancers may be in a variety of combinations of facing directions in the column.
The next basic formation is diamonds which look like this:
The positions of the points of the diamonds are not well-defined but may safely be assumed to be the ends of parallel lines. The centers are very often in an ocean wave but may be in some other line-type formation in some cases.
The next formation is the hourglass which looks like this:
This formation is like a diamond for the points but the center four are in a diamond.
The last formation is the n/4 tag which looks like this:
Like parallel lines, the dancers may be in a variety of combinations of facing directions in this formation.
There are many more formations available but this paper is limited to these six formations:
If the caller says "sides lead right" from a Squared Up Set, the formation will look like this:
 |  |
The 8 dancers are now in a column that is 2 dancers wide by four dancers high. This is a 2x4 matrix. There are still 8 spaces in the original 4x4 grid that are not occupied by dancers. Those 8 spaces are still there.
If the caller then calls "step to a wave", the formation will look like this:
The dancers are then in parallel ocean waves and have adjusted their 2x4 formation from the spots in the 4x4 grid that they occupied after the previous call. The 8 empty spots are still there.
The dancers probably won't occupy the exact spots shown in the 4x4 grid after they have stepped to a wave. Dancers tend to keep columns closer together and lines/waves farther apart. Nevertheless, the correct alignment for the dancers is as shown in the diagram.
From a Beginning 8 Chain Thru formation
If the caller then calls "Pass Thru" the ending formation looks like this:
How many steps did it take do the Pass Thru? Probably 2 steps. Yet the dancers only moved one spot in the 4x4 grid. So a single step is not necessarily the same thing as circulating on spots in the 4x4 grid. And if the lines are far apart, as they often are, then more than 2 physical steps may be required to do the Pass Thru.
"So what?", you ask.
Let's take a momentary timeout to look at formation sizes and how big steps are. Depending on how big the steps are that dancers really take and how comfortable dancers are standing next to one another, a formation may actually have different sizes. For example, parallel lines may look like any of these:
These diagrams show dancers in facing lines and where they are positioned in the 4x4 grid. If the caller says, "Pass Thru.", the dancers must Circulate 1 spot forward even though the spots in the 4x4 grid are not the same distance apart in each example above. Your movement must relate to the spots in the 4x4 grid, not to any arbitrary step size or number of steps. This is critical. You must understand this and execute your movements based on spots in the grid, not physical steps. Dancer spacing is seldom uniform. Parallel line formations tend to be loosely spaced. In the 1st diagram above, a Pass Thru should take 2 steps. In the 2nd diagram maybe only 1 step is required. In the 3rd diagram more than 2 steps might be required. Each situation is different because of the line-to-line spacing.
Let's also look for a moment at step size related to calls like Pass Thru.
Various sources in square dance documentation define a Pass Thru as a two step call. The first step brings you alongside the facing dancer and the second step brings you back-to-back with your original facing dancer.
Pass Thru starts from a 1x2 grid - only two spots. One step generally relates to only a halfway movement from one spot in the grid to the next spot. At the halfway point the grid changes to a 2x2 grid to accomodate the space required by the dancers. At the end of the call the grid resizes to 1x2. This is called "breathing" and is discussed later.
Now that we have related steps to spots in the grid let's look at this example:
The caller calls "leads step ahead."
Where are the leads if they make 1 physical step? Did they move into the outside box in the 4x4 grid or are they standing on a line in the grid?
Remember, when they did a Pass Thru in a previous example, they had to take 2, or more, steps to do the Pass Thru. So where did they end up when they did the step ahead?
In all likelihood, the caller will probably call a Block or Stagger or Big Block or Split Phantom call from this formation.
But wait a minute. Any of these 4 concepts above use a 4x4 grid that looks like this:
All the dancers are supposed to be standing in one of the spots in the 4x4 grid. Therefore the caller meant Circulate one spot or Press Ahead when he said step ahead. The dancer can't really be sure what the caller had in mind. The dancer has to be ready to adjust to the formation the caller really wanted. Remember, you cannot depend on a step being the same size in all situations.
Just as an aside to this discussion, Vic Ceder's web site (under the definition for Step and Fold) says that "step ahead" is equivalent to 1/2 Press Ahead.
Let's look at another situation:
The caller says "All Extend."
The ending formation should look like this:
Incidentally, the 2 dancers in the outside line are supposed to snuggle up to one another so that the final formation looks like this:
This diagram shows the 3x4 grid overlaid on the original 4x4 grid.
The ending formation has 12 positions, 3 high by 4 wide. This is a 3x4 grid setup also called a 12 matrix because it contains 12 spots. In order get into this 3x4 grid when the extenders were only taking steps, everyone has to adjust or "breathe" the formation to get into the 3x4 grid. This same thing happens on a 1/4 tag and a 3/4 tag.
So we see that Extend is involved in the step controversy, too.
The name "Extend" is a shortcut for "Extend the Tag". There are certain places where a dancer should be while executing tags as shown below.
Each Tag position is an "Extend".
Unfortunately, "Extend" sometimes means Circulate one grid position or Press Ahead and other times it means 1/2 Circulate. Go figure.
Let's take a quick look at Square Breathing.
Breathing is an aspect of square dancing that we use and experience at every dance but don't generally think about very much. Breathing is the expansion and contraction of the size of the formation as we execute a call. Sometimes we breath after the call is over. This is shown in the example for Swing Thru below. We breathe all the time while dancing but never think about it. It is important to be aware of breathing and to be able to do it well.
Why is breathing so important? Every call has specific formation-oriented starting and ending positions. If calls are not executed properly then the correct ending position will not be achieved. This directly affects the next call. If you don't end a call correctly then you can't start the next call correctly. In order to end correctly, all intermediate positions in the call must also be correct. Breathing helps to insure that the dancers will be at the proper position.
Heads Lead Right
A simple case of breathing that we all do many times is the call - Heads Lead Right from a squared-up set.
The first set of diagrams shows how this call is normally done. The second set of diagrams shows the heads stepping ahead one spot before leading right.
There are a lot of box-of-ofur calls that are often done like this from a square_up set.
Heads Pass Out
In order for the heads to get to the place where they can do the Pass Out, they have to move forward one spot in the formation. Then they can do the Pass Out. The forward movement is a form of breathing. This is shown here:
Interestingly, the Sd square dance choreography program does exactly this when beginning a sequence. It moves the heads into the center of the square on any "heads start" call.
Swing Thru
Let's look at a simple case of square breathing in a call that we do all the time - Swing Thru, to see how we breath the formation while doing this call.
These diagrams show the progress of dancer positions during a Swing Thru. Of particular note is the breathing required when the dancers do one half of the first arm turn 1/2. The turning dancers must move away from each other to avoid crashing. For the remainder of the call the dancers have sufficient room to finish the call without crashing into each other. However, when the movements of the call are done, the two lines have to breath together to restore the 2x4 formation that existed at the beginning of the call.
All Pass Thru
A very simple case of breathing is the call Pass Thru from facing lines. In order for the dancers in each line to get to the other side of the formation, the formation has to spread, or breathe, temporarily to be 8 dancers wide so that the dancers have room to pass one another. When the Pass Thru is complete, the dancers have to shrink the formation back to being four dancers wide. More breathing. This call looks like this:
As you can see, the dancers breathed the square in order to Pass Thru and breathed the square again in order to complete the Pass Thru. Remember, Pass Thru requires the dancers to be directly facing one another at the beginning of the call and to be directly back-to-back with each other at the end of the call.
Switch to A Diamond
Switching to a Diamond from waves requires breathing because the four dancers in the center of the diamond are in a wave which is 90 degrees away from the original formation axis. The points are still in the same line as when they started but slightly shifted as shown in this diagram.
The formation is now 4x4 instead of the original 2x4. The breathing took place during the call. The points had to breath slightly to establish their diamond point positions.
Switch to A Point-to-Point Diamond
If the call were Switch to a point-to-point diamond there would be some heavy breathing needed along the formation axis because it is now 8 spots in size. The original centers spots used only 2 spots. Of course the points now have a hand-hold so they required 2 spots. The formation now is a 2x8 formation.
Switch to An Hourglass
Switching to an hourglass gives us the same 4x4 matrix as the normal diamonds with the centers of the hourglass adjusting to their final positions.
Quarter Thru
Quarter Thru leaves the two waves separated by an extra line. Since there are no phantoms involved in this call, that line shouldn't exist. The dancers must breathe the lines together into a 2x4 formation. Invariably, when a call of this type is done, you will see the experienced dancers in the square move the lines together to reform the 2x4. In squares with inexperienced dancers the extra line will still be there for the next call. This may cause difficulty with the next call because of the extra space.
If each part of this call is done correctly, the final formation will not be the desired 2x4 formation. Why not? If we look at how each element of the call is done. The first part of the call is a Hinge. Hinge is defined as a movement done around the spot between the two dancers, that is, one half of a Partner Trade. Each pair of dancers has to breathe slightly so that the dancers are lined up and spaced properly. The second part of the call is a partner trade done by the centers, once again around the center point between the two dancers.
Notice that at the end of the call each wave is correct in itself. but because of the rules for doing each part of the quarter thru and the spacing resulting from following the rules, the 2 waves are too far apart. So they must be adjusted to the correct grid spots for the 2x4 formation. Notice that there are 2 places where breathing is done during the call.
Click on these two links o see two Square Breathing articles which examine this subject in more detail:
Square Breathing by Charles YoungLet's move on to dancer movements in these formations.
Circulate
Circulate is the most basic movement in square dancing. The movement from spot to spot in the various formations during a call is called a CIRCULATE.
Circulate defines how a dancer moves from position to position in the formation during a call. Circulates are always a forward movement. This generalized movement is straight ahead, diagonally ahead or in an arc. Circulates are done in well-defined paths. Circulates are not steps. Don't pay any attention to how many steps you take. Pay attention to the spots in the formation within the grid.
Let's look at the circulate path in an ocean wave.
Notice that the formation is a 2x4 matrix. The basic circulate for each dancer is from one formation spot to another formation spot in a generalized forward direction.
Let's look at the circulate path for lines with all dancers facing out
The dancers pass each other as they circulate from their starting spot to their ending spot. When they pass they pass right shoulders.
Circulates for lines with dancers facing in
The dancers move ahead to the next spot in the formation by passing each other. When they pass, they pass right shoulders.
Remember that the passing action looks like this for each set of facing dancers:
This is a two step action depending on formation spacing. After the first step, the dancers are alongside each other. After the second step, they are back-to-back. Remember to move to the spots in the grid.
Let's look at how circulate works from columns:
The outfacing dancer at the end of each column circulates to the spot vacated by the trailing dancer in the adjacent column. The other dancers in the column in the column move ahead (circulate) one position (spot) in the column formation.
Since the dancers in this diagram are in a right-handed column they pass right shoulders. In a left-handed column, they will pass left shoulders.
Let's look at Circulate from a completed eight chain thru column formation:
Outfacing dancers circulate to the spot vacated by the other (adjacent) outfacing dancers, passing right shoulders.
The centers move ahead to the next formation spot by doing a Pass Thru. There are other types of column Circulates which are not covered here.
Normal diamondsLet's look a circulates in a diamond. Diamonds come in a variety of facing directions for the dancers.
Facing diamonds
Hourglasses
Circulates from a normal Hourglass
Circulates from a facing Hourglass
The beginning and end points for these five formations are always within the basic 4x4 grid. The dancer movements may go outside of the basic formation grid, but they will always end up on the original formation spots at the end of the call. Some of the spots may be on the lines of the grid but they are still within the grid.
This is not universally true for other formations and situations in square dancing, for example, where the Split Phantom concept is involved.
Split Circulates
Let's look at Split Circulates. These are circulates done in your box of four.
Split means splitting the formation in half along the formation axis. The circulate is done in each box of four. The basic movement is still for the outfacing dancers to move in an arc and the infacing dancers to move straight ahead. Outfacing means facing out of the box of four - not facing out of the overall 8 dancer formation. This is shown in the following diagrams for split circulate from waves, lines and columns.
Split Circulate from Waves
Split Circulate from Lines Facing Out
Split Circulate from Columns
The next circulate situation is circulates from T-Bone formations. If you are facing out of the formation your circulate in in an arc. If you are moving inside the formation, your movement is straight ahead.
Trade Circulate and Crossover Circulate
Then there are two Circulate calls which are particularly interesting because they are very much like one another. In fact, Trade Circulate and Crossover Circulate from ocean waves are identical. Trade Circulate from ocean waves and Trade Circulate from two-faced lines lines are done very differently as if they were two completely different calls.
Trade Circulate from ocean waves
Trade Circulate from two-faced lines
Crossover Circulate from ocean waves
Crossover Circulate from two-faced lines
Crossover Circulate may also be called from lines facing out (not shown here).
Split Trade Circulate
This call is a box of four call which may be done from lines or columns where the dancers are in inverted boxes.
An inverted box looks like this
Split Trade Circulate from inverted lines looks like this:
Inverted boxes may be side-to-side for lines or end-to-end for columns.
Trade Circulates (including Split Trade Circulates) and Crossover Circulates have their own special rules but follow the general rules for Circulates.
There are other basic movements which go from one spot in the grid to another spot in the grid such as, Press, Flip, Switch, Cross Roll, Run, Cross Run, Swing, Slip, Slide, and Slither, which are not discussed.