Contrast these 3 situations:
1. You walk into a bar where they line dance. You never line danced before, you don't have a partner. They walk you through one specific line dance that night, and you dance that dance off and on all night. You don't need a partner.

2. You walk into the Contra dance. You never Contra danced before, you don't have a partner. They teach you each Contra dance before they dance it, and they have a half hour walk through on contra dancing basics before the dancing starts. Since the custom is to change partners with every dance, you don't have a problem finding a partner all night long, and you end up dancing with every person in the hall by the time the night is over.

3. You walk into a square dance. You've never square danced before you don't have a partner. Unless you were lucky enough to hit the beginning of a beginners' group, they tell you you have to wait for a new beginners' group to form, take lessons for several months, you have to arrange your own partner situation and we'll see you in 6 months, 10 months or whatever. You don't dance at all that night.

Now after those 3 experiences, where do you go? Remember that this is the age of instant gratification. You may not like that, but it's true. Can square dancing complete with those other dance scenarios? Or with other entertainment scenarios, of which we have many. Finally, does it have to be this way with square dancing?

I don't think so. It wasn't always that way. Imagine a fourth scenario. You walk into the square dance, you don't have a partner, you never square danced before. There's a half hour with very basic instruction like swing your partner do-si-do, maybe 10 calls maximum. There's other people there without partners and the old time club members try to line you up with a partner, maybe dancing with you themselves if they can't find somebody. Brand new dancers and old timers all dance, and the more experience help the less experienced.

The second dance is announced as mainstream, plus, A2 or whatever, and the people who can and want to dance at a higher level do so. The next dance is back to beginners.

Square dancing, in the present incarnation, started after World War II with married couples looking for fun and socializing without spending much money. Most of that has changed. Many couples aren't even married any more, and there are many, many more singles. There's a lot more money around, and a lot more variety in how to spend it entertaining yourself. Square dancing is still fun and a great way to socialize. We just aren't reaching our potential members. Why we are not is because we are attempting to force them into the mold that most of us fit into in the late '40's and early '50's. We will not be successful in doing that. Unless there is a drastic change, square dancing as we know it will disappear in 10 years or less. If we insist on dancing at rarefied levels that require years of training and insist that beginners be part of a couple, square dancing will die with us.

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