Shaun Werkele started square dancing in 1973 in Denver, Colorado at the age of 12 and by age 13 he enthusiastically began learning to square dance call. Growing up, his entire family was involved in the modern western square dancing activity, and Shaun has attended many festivals locally in Colorado and numerous National Conventions throughout the years since he began square dance calling. By the age of 16, Shaun was calling at the A-2 Dance Level and was a very proficient choreographer and “sight” caller, as well. He attended college at the University of Colorado in Denver and he called all levels of modern square dance up to C-1 level during this time for various groups in the Denver Colorado Front Range.

Making a change in his calling approach in the mid 1980’s, Shaun primarily started calling Mainstream and Plus Dance Levels as he started focusing on being more of an entertainer/performer and less of a high-level choreographer as a square dance caller. This interest led to the start of August Square Dance Records. The August square dance label strives to put out great square dance music and Shaun always has new and innovative ideas percolating in his head about the music and taking square dancing further than it has been taken before.

Shaun produced the fastest square dance record with the national release of his debut square dance, “Midnight Flyer,” in 1991. A proficient musician and songwriter, Shaun writes and records original music in his spare time.

Shaun Werkele calls and teaches many levels of dancing, from the very basic 10-20 figures at a square dance party to the Mainstream level, Plus level, Advanced (A-1 &A-2) to Challenge (C-1).

Shaun feels that a successful square dance pulls all of the guests together to enjoy each other at their event by combining great choices of fantastic square dance music presented in a fun and energetic way along with simple yet interesting choreography figures, and this creates a party setting that allows the people to socialize in a fun dance setting without realizing they’ve had to learn a thing!

Shaun is a caller coach and he has written more educational articles and informative tips than ANY CALLER EVER HAS! The purpose in the majority of these informative articles is twofold: 1) distinguish between focused learning that is truly effective from intellectually lightweight “how to call” lessons that are all too commonly not effective 2) present ideas and approaches that are an essential tool for preparing student square dance callers to reach their educational goals and succeed in calling square dances proficiently.

If you have any additional pertinent information about this person, please Contact Debbie.