Before you start taking Challenge lessons, you should know that there are several dramatic and conceptual differences between Challenge dancing and what you have experienced before.

Challenge dancing is formation oriented rather than call oriented as you are familiar with at Advanced dancing. You will dance from a large number of formations in addition to the diamonds, lines and columns you already know. The additions include, but are not limited to, Interlocking Diamonds and Triangles, "O" and Butterfly formations, Staggered Columns, Inverted Lines, and Triple Lines.. In addition, you will learn new concepts of dancing including Concentric, Once Removed, Tandem -- and others.

Many of the formations you will use will be distorted -- Blocks, Staggers, Triangles, Disconnected -- and others.

Not all of these are taught at beginning Challenge but are mentioned to show the expanded horizons of dancing that are present in the various Challenge levels..

And, it will be critical to know what kind of formation you are in when a call is made and where you are in that formation.

You will find out that there are more positions in the square than you believed possible when you encounter phantom positioning.

You will find out that many calls are interruptible with other calls added in the middle of the call and may have parts of them replaced with another call. If you don't know your basics you will make unbelievable mistakes.

Challenge dancing is hard. It is supposed to be difficult and challenging. It is not vanilla dancing with the man always on the left and the woman always on the right. You must be able to execute the figures left-handed and in fractional parts and from many unusual starting positions. Dancing By Definition is a reality in Challenge dancing.

You will find that you may not know your Basic, Mainstream, Plus and Advanced figures as well as you think you do. Dancing Challenge does not mean that Mainstream and Advanced dancing can be forgotten. The calls at these levels are still important in Challenge dancing and are used all the time in Challenge dancing. You must be able to do these calls because they are the connectors and fillers between Challenge calls. Many Challenge calls contain Mainstream calls as elements. You must know the definitions for all the calls at these levels.

You must recognize that you have a responsibility to the other dancers in your square to know and be able to execute the calls. It is inconsiderate to depend on the others in your square to pull you through. They are there to dance and enjoy themselves as you are. You must not go to a dance hoping to find stronger dancers who will pull you through the figures while you stumble your way through figures that you don't know or fully understand. If you do this, you will be soon labeled as a "bad dancer" and the label will stick even if you eventually do learn the material.

Challenge square dancing requires a commitment to dance at least once a week, preferably twice a week. It would be preferable to dance to a live caller. Dancing to a single caller or tapes must be supplemented with dancing at square dance "weekends", preferably to a caller other than your local caller. Attendance at a large festival, for example, the National or American Advanced and Challenge Square Dance Conventions, is vital because of the exposure to many very excellent Challenge callers. Remember that well over 1000 dancers show up at the National and American Advanced and Challenge Conventions each year. A minimum of 4 weekends and/or festivals a year is a must.

Learning and dancing to tapes is sometimes a necessity but can become repetitive since missed material can be done over and over until it is mastered. This cannot be done with a good live caller. Tape dancing is not as spontaneous as dancing to a live caller and can lead to a false sense of knowing and understanding the material. You must spend some time dancing to a good live caller.

Before you start Challenge dancing you should ask yourself these questions:

• Why have you chosen to learn Challenge square dancing?

• Can you execute your Advanced and Mainstream figures without error and from any position?

• Are you only learning Challenge because all your friends are?

• Are you afraid people will not think well of you if you do not learn the next level?

• Do you think you only have to execute 80 percent of the figures to be Challenge dancers?

Challenge dancing is not casual dancing. It requires a sense of dedication to the art of square dancing and a commitment to learning what the techniques of square dancing are all about.

Leave your ego at the door. Be prepared to accept help when it is offered but don't expect that it will always be there. Learn to dance on your own. Don't depend on others as a crutch.

Your dancing ability is not judged by the level at which you dance, only by how well you dance.

Don't let these comments scare you away from learning Challenge.. Challenge dancing can be done and done well. Go into Challenge dancing with a good attitude. Be prepared to learn new and different, sometimes difficult, material that will require a lot of effort to learn and execute well.

I have a good time at Challenge dancing. You can, too.

Charles Young