Once upon a time, a square dance was interesting because it allowed people to pleasurably dance to music.
Nowadays, merely dancing to the music is considered "boring". Callers are constantly urged to "call something Interesting". Let's define, once and for all, exactly what makes a square dance "interesting".
Square dancing has always offered "mental exercise": the dancers do not really KNOW what the next call will be. This is good. But somewhere along the line, we decided that if it's GOOD for the next call to be something you cannot PREDICT, then it's BETTER for the next call to be something DIFFICULT that you can hardly DO.
EASY sequences are not interesting. If every square is easily dancing all the calls, then the caller is supposed to crank it up a notch and start being more creative. Never mind that the name of the activity is square DANCE. If everyone is EASILY dancing, then it's certainly not interesting.
Yet if ALL the squares break down, then the calling is not interesting because it's too HARD. No one enjoys broken-down squares all night. If the calling is too HARD, then it's certainly not interesting.
We're narrowing in on what makes an "interesting" dance. It must be HARD enough to break down at least SOME squares. (We have already established that if NO square breaks down, then the calling is too EASY). Yet if the calling breaks down my OWN square, then it's way too HARD.
And that's EXACTLY what most people mean when they say Call Something Interesting. They mean:
CALL SOMETHING that will break down EVERY square EXCEPT MINE!
We cannot win the game, unless we know the RULES. Now that we know the rules, let's all go out and win the game.
Nasser "what if the rules make the game unwinnable?" Shukayr
Lafayette, California