Levels and lists
Modern western square dancing is organized into a hierarchy of standard syllabus programs (also called "levels"). Each level is described by a list of the calls that will be used, inclusive of all the material from the lower levels. The higher the program, the more material (i.e. calls) on that list, and the greater ability to recall and handle complexity is required of the dancers. The levels preceding Challenge are: Mainstream, Plus, and Advanced (A1 and A2).
There are five Challenge levels: Basic Challenge (C1), Extended Challenge (C2), Extended Challenge (C3A), Challenge 3B (C3B) and Challenge 4 (C4). The first three of these are maintained and organized by Callerlab, while the last two exist on a more ad hoc basis, maintained by a small set of interested callers. As a result of this there are a few different C4 lists, mostly the same, but with various differences.
What makes Challenge dancing challenging?
C1 dancers must be familiar with about 250 calls (including those from Mainstream, Plus, and Advanced). By C3, the dancers must be familiar with more than 400 calls. C4 dancers typically know at least 700 calls.
Challenge square dancing not only involves knowing many more calls, but is typified by the extensive use of Concepts, abstract and physical formations, "Phantom" dancers, and call deconstruction (such as Fractionalization).
Some square dance calls are more complex than others, involving more series of actions and more abstract identifications of whom to do the action with. Challenge lists include more of these complex calls, but none are by themselves more complex than calls at the Advanced level. Much of Challenge dancing uses basic calls (such as "Right And Left Thru", or notably, "Circulate"). However, Challenge demands that the dancers have precise understanding of the call definitions, and combines and modifies calls in a way that yields more complex interpretations.
Concepts
In addition to the calls which denote a particular dance action, Challenge dancing makes extensive use of "concepts" which denote modifications to calls – either how they are executed or to whom they apply.
There are only a few concepts before C1, e.g., the "As Couples" concept in Advanced. Each Challenge level adds about another ten new concepts. As with calls, the number of concepts at C4 is not as well defined. In addition, concepts can be nested, so that a call is modified by more than one. For example, "Tandem" means that two dancers one behind the other act as one dancer, while "Stable" means that the dancers are to move from place to place as the call would normally require but without changing their facing direction as they normally would. The caller can ask that a call be done "Stable Tandem" which means that pairs of dancers must act together to execute the call, but as they do this none of them turn.
Just as Plus adds Diamonds and Advanced adds Hourglasses, Challenge dancing adds new formations which have their own rules for circulation as well as calls that apply specifically to them. Additional formations include Butterflies, Galaxies, Triangles, Xs, and Zs.
Also, many formations used at lower levels are extended to include cases where they are "distorted" – while they have the same number of dancers and the dancers follow the same rules of interaction, they are not spaced the same way. For example, a wave may be "offset" so that the two halves are not lined up with each other, or a "parallelogram" consisting of two lines offset from each other can be considered to be two "boxes" even though the dancers in each box are not adjacent to each other. Irregular distortions, e.g., where four arbitrary dancers not lined up in any obvious way are asked to act as a wave, may also be used. In each case, the dancers must follow the rules of the basic call, but adjust their actual movements so that they correspond to the positions of the distorted formation.
Phantoms
Challenge dancing makes extensive use of "phantoms" – imaginary dancers who hold positions in a formation that is only partially filled by real dancers. Challenge dancers must learn to do their part of a call in a particular formation even though many of the other dancers – possibly all of them – are missing. This requires both a clear understanding of the call definition and the ability to remember where the positions of the formation are without the usual visual and tactile cues.
Calls which cause the dancers to change from one formation to another ("shape-changers") are especially challenging to dance with phantoms because the positions themselves will be changing and the entire formation may have to move to make room for other formations (even ones that have no real dancers at all to mark their position).
Fractionalization
Frequent use is made in Challenge dancing of fractionalized calls, both explicitly (e.g., the caller asks the dancers to do half of something) and implicitly through concepts. Many calls are defined to have specific "parts". Other calls can be broken down naturally based on the nature of the movement involved (e.g., a Hinge is half of a Trade).
Starting at the C1 level, concepts are introduced which operate on call parts. For example, the "Finish" concept means to do all of the call except for the first part. At higher levels there are meta-concepts which involve applying concepts to only certain parts of a call (e.g., "Evenly" means that only the even-numbered parts of a call should be affected by the specified concept).
To properly apply these concepts, the dancer must have both an excellent understanding of the definitions of the basic calls, including how the parts are defined, and the ability to keep track in real-time of what concepts are being applied to which parts.
Challenge dancing organizations and events
Clubs
Some Challenge dancing is done in clubs similar to those at lower levels. In general, because of the limited number of dancers and callers, the higher the level the fewer clubs there will be. There are only a few cities that have clubs, with a live caller, dancing higher than C1 on a weekly basis.
Tape groups
Dancers who are interested in learning or dancing a particular Challenge level often form private groups and dance using recordings.
Regional events
In addition to local clubs, in many places there are events organized to offer Challenge dancing to the dancers of a larger geographic area on a less-frequent basis (e.g., monthly). These often feature callers from other areas.
Some general square dance conventions and festivals at the regional or state level include a Challenge hall, but they typically have very limited offerings above C1.
National and international events
The largest Challenge event currently operating is the multi-level Academy for Advanced and Challenge Enthusiasts (AACE), held annually in June. This event has dedicated halls for C1, C2, C3A, C3B, and C4. (It also includes an A2 hall.)
Challenge dancing is included in the much larger National Square Dance Convention (NSDC), but there is typically only one hall for Challenge and the emphasis is on the lower Challenge levels.
The annual convention of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs (IAGSDC) has a much more extensive Challenge program that is attended by many non-gay dancers.
In Europe, the biennial iPAC (International Plus, Advanced, and Challenge) convention offers dedicated halls for all the Challenge levels.
Many other events held annually at various dance facilities attract Challenge dancers from a wide area who are interested in particular levels or callers.
In computer programming, assembly language, often referred to simply as Assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence between the instructions in the language and the architecture's machine code instructions. Assembly language usually has one statement per machine instruction (1:1), but constants, comments, assembler directives, symbolic labels of, e.g., memory locations, registers, and macros are generally also supported.
Contra dance is a form of folk dancing made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th century. Sometimes described as New England folk dance or Appalachian folk dance, contra dances can be found around the world, but are most common in the United States, Canada, and other Anglophone countries.
A square dance is a dance for four couples, or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances contain elements from numerous traditional dances and were first documented in 16th-century England, but they were also quite common in France and throughout Europe. Early square dances, particularly English country dances and French quadrilles, traveled to North America with the European settlers and developed significantly there.
In computer programming, the scope of a name binding is the part of a program where the name binding is valid; that is, where the name can be used to refer to the entity. In other parts of the program, the name may refer to a different entity, or to nothing at all. Scope helps prevent name collisions by allowing the same name to refer to different objects – as long as the names have separate scopes. The scope of a name binding is also known as the visibility of an entity, particularly in older or more technical literature—this is from the perspective of the referenced entity, not the referencing name.
Modern western square dance is one of two American types of square dancing, along with traditional square dance. As a dance form, modern western square dance grew out of traditional square dance in the American West. The term western square dance, for some, is synonymous with "cowboy dance" or traditional western square dance. Therefore, this article uses the term "modern western square dance" to describe the contemporary non-historical dance which grew out of the traditional dance. Modern western square dance was the official dance of the United States from 1982 to 1993.
Square dance clubs are the primary form for organization within the recreational activity of square dancing, and more specifically modern western square dance. This article's focus is the modern western square dance club, and it is understood in the context of this article that when the terms "square dance club" or "square dance" are used it refers to the form of square dance called "modern western square dance".
In computer programming, a parameter or a formal argument is a special kind of variable used in a subroutine to refer to one of the pieces of data provided as input to the subroutine. These pieces of data are the values of the arguments with which the subroutine is going to be called/invoked. An ordered list of parameters is usually included in the definition of a subroutine, so that, each time the subroutine is called, its arguments for that call are evaluated, and the resulting values can be assigned to the corresponding parameters.
This is a list of dance terms that are not names of dances or types of dances. See List of dances and List of dance style categories for those.
In education, a curriculum is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experiences in terms of the educator's or school's instructional goals. A curriculum may incorporate the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives. Curricula are split into several categories: the explicit, the implicit, the excluded, and the extracurricular.
A caller is a person who prompts dance figures in such dances as line dance, square dance, and contra dance. The caller might be one of the participating dancers, though in modern country dance this is rare.
In computer science, a call stack is a stack data structure that stores information about the active subroutines of a computer program. This kind of stack is also known as an execution stack, program stack, control stack, run-time stack, or machine stack, and is often shortened to just "the stack". Although maintenance of the call stack is important for the proper functioning of most software, the details are normally hidden and automatic in high-level programming languages. Many computer instruction sets provide special instructions for manipulating stacks.
Do-si-do is a dance move.
Youth square dancing is square dancing among people up to their mid-twenties. In specific contexts, e.g., in qualification for some event, it may refer to dancers up to a particular age such as 18. It also may refer to a style of dancing that, while most popular among younger dancers, can be enjoyed by some older dancers.
Promenade is a basic dance move in a number of dances such as English Country Dance, contra dance, and square dance. The name comes from the French word for "walk", and is a good basic description of the dance action.
Tech Squares is a square and round dance club at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1967 and is still holding dances today. Tech Squares dances high-energy modern Western squares in an "all position" style, with no dress code or couples requirement. It has many student members. The club dances the Plus program, but many members also dance advanced and challenge levels.
A square dance program or square dance list is a set of defined square dance calls or dance steps which are associated with a level of difficulty. Programs and program lists are managed and universally recognized in modern western square dance.
The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is a concept in educational psychology. It represents the distance between what a learner is capable of doing unsupported, and what they can only do supported. It is the range where they are capable only with support from someone with more knowledge or expertise, the degree to which children can rapidly develop under social guidance, as compared to alone. The concept was introduced, but not fully developed, by psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) during the last three years of his life. Vygotsky argued that a child gets involved in a dialogue with the "more knowledgeable other" such as a peer or an adult and gradually, through social interaction and sense-making, develops the ability to solve problems independently and do certain tasks without help. Following Vygotsky, some educators believe that the role of education is to give children experiences that are within their zones of proximal development, thereby encouraging and advancing their individual learning such as skills and strategies.
A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and expressed in its functioning. Systems are the subjects of study of systems theory and other systems sciences.
CALLERLAB is the international association of modern western square dance callers, and is the largest square dance association in the United States. After some initial work started in 1971, it was officially established in 1974 by several members of the Square Dance Hall of Fame.
In computing, undefined value is a condition where an expression does not have a correct value, although it is syntactically correct. An undefined value must not be confused with empty string, Boolean "false" or other "empty" values. Depending on circumstances, evaluation to an undefined value may lead to exception or undefined behaviour, but in some programming languages undefined values can occur during a normal, predictable course of program execution.
