Square Dancing originated in America, and has spread across the world to become a truly international hobby. Many years ago there were many different dancing styles and call variations, but over the last few decades organizations such as Callerlab have helped to introduce standards that are accepted all over the world. The calls are the same, whether you dance in USA, Japan, Germany, Sweden or Australia. Even if you don't speak the native language of a country that you are dancing in, you can still understand the calls. Words such as "Promenade", "Allemande Left", '"Square through" etc. are part of the language of Square Dancing. We also dance the Callerlab Programs (Basic, Mainstream, Plus etc.) world wide, which enables travelers to dance anywhere.

When Square Dancing was first introduced to Australia, in the 1940's and 50's, the people that brought it there taught the styling of the area they came from. There were also some Australian variations introduced through the years. As a result, Australian Square Dancing has a style all of it's own. Here are some of the subtle differences that make their style unique:

The Round Up
Australia is the only country that includes the Round Up as a regular part of the dancing program. The Round Up enables singles or visiting dancers to fit into any club, without the need to be invited into a square. It also enables the less experienced dancers to benefit from dancing with others of greater experience and skill. In most countries, dancers form their own squares at the start of each bracket. This can result in singles missing out on a lot of dancing. It also means that you don't mix with the other dancers as often, as some groups will tend to stay in the same square for much of the night.

Arm Turns and Allemandes
In Australia we use the "Pigeon Wing" styling for all arm turns including allemande, turn through, swing through, flutterwheel etc. (ie. left elbow bent, with forearm and hand pointing up. The dancers join hands palm to palm, with hands turned slightly so that the forearms are linked. The dancers use the forearm as a pivot, moving equally around each other). This style was introduced into Australia many years ago, and has since become traditional there. However, most areas of America have adopted the forearm style, and it has also become the international standard.

Grand Slide
Grand Slide for decades has been a standard in Australia. Grand Slide is similar to Grand Square, but instead of turning 90degrees on each fourth beat, the dancers stay facing the same direction and take two sliding steps. The pattern is very similar to Grand Square, but the dancers maintain the same facing direction throughout. We find that Grand Slide is very easy to teach and has better timing, as the dancers do not tend to "cut corners" like they do with Grand square. Grand Slide was once a Mainstream Quarterly Selection, but has never become an official part of the Mainstream or Plus list.

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