Long before the…

Milly Rock, The Dougie, Whip/Nae Nae, and countless Fornite crazes, there existed dance moves like the “Dixie Style To An Ocean Wave”, “Spin Chain And Exchange The Gears”, and “Anything & Spread”. To obtain this knowledge, you would have had to travel great distances and attend IRL events called Square Dances. At these town affairs, American coeds of all ages danced to live fiddlers and the “callers” (aka MC’s of the fiesta) cued up the dance moves in rapid succession. Maybe the most fun was had when the puritanical public could graze selected clothed body parts of the opposite sex. Square Dance really took off in the 1920’s when it received the Henry Ford approval bump and went as viral as things could pre-internet. Schools began to teach it in gym class. States made it their official state dance. A century later, if you’re on the right mailing list, or run in certain +80 circles, you can still attend one of these unironic folk traditions like Knothead Jamboree and see this all in practice.

For the past 64 consecutive Labor Day weekends’, dancers from the 4 states surrounding Montana have made a pilgrimage to Yellowstone to do one thing; Dosey doe. The Knothead Jamboree is where people say hi to old pals, show off his/her new matching duds and hunker down for a weekend long party filled with dancing and workshops. There is no competition. Rather, a celebration of a folk art that amazingly still keeps with the long standing American square dance tradition of being completely dry. Can you imagine? Not a drop of booze or whippet in sight.

Fun square dancing facts:

“Callers” announce square dance and “cuers” announce round dance. All calls and cues (the dance moves) are spoken in English. Even internationally.

Some credit black American slaves for adding the call and response element to square dance.

Henry Ford spent a small fortune to promote this old tradition to combat what he saw was the immorality of the Jewish lead Jazz dance craze of the ‘20s.

Ford’s campaign helped lead to 28 US states making square dance their official state dance as well as adding it to middle and highschool gym curriculum.

Alcohol and tobacco are never allowed at square and round dance events.

Over 4,000 people attended the National Square Dance Convention in 2018.

Like many European based USA traditions, square dance’s history has some unfortunate associations with racism and xenophobia. And while all but a few of this year’s attendees were white, people seemed more interested in cutting a rug than firing up their Walmart brand tiki torches. It seemed that as long as you knew a few “calls” and paid the cover, you’re welcome to hoedown. The crowd did gasp when pro caller Charlie Robertson announced the next song was going to be a “Rap song”. However, when his Weird Al inspired parody of “Whoomp There It Is” turned into the still hip hop beat driven “Whose Square It is”, everyone got down as though the fiddle was full blast.

The backdrop for the past 50 years of this event has been the Union Pacific Dining Hall; the architectural crown jewel of the small town of West Yellowstone's. 25 years ago, the event saw record crowds with 1000 dancers… some spilling out into the lawn to find space to promenade. Numbers have been on a slow decline since with 250 people attending in 2018. The event organizers are doing what they can to keep this dwindling event alive. This year, they dropped serious coin to secure hot shot caller Charlie Robertson and silver tongued cuer Mary and Bob Townsend-Manning. Despite their celeb talent, attendance fell to 175 paid dancers worrying organizers this maybe the events last days.

Who are “Knotheads”? Where does the word come from? A few clues are known on the words origins. In the Woody WoodPecker saga, Woody had a nephew named Knothead. He was a smart ass who stirred up plenty of mischief with his sister Splinter. Webster’s definition is: “dull-witted blunderer : DUMBBELL, SIMPLETON”. In square dance, there are always 4 couples needed to form one dance square. As a way to follow the correct calls, 2 couples are referred to as ‘heads’ of the square and the other 2 are ‘sides’. The ‘side’ couples by default are ‘not-heads’ or ‘Knothead’. It seems this use was maybe an old cowboy’s play on words mixed with a healthy dose of self deprecating humor. Now-a-days, the word takes on a new meaning i.e. dedication. To be considered a “Knothead”, you have to travel over 100 miles to attend the event and many come from much further.

Square Dancing is in many ways white people's martial arts. Both have a deep history as well as different levels of skill that get classified by categories. For square dance, beginners fall into the “Mainstream” category which means you’re expected to know up to 69 “calls”. “Plus” is the next level who has 31 calls more than Mainstream at the ready. Skip ahead a few levels to the blackbelts of square dance; the “Challenge 3A”. The C3A’s a revered class who know all 429 dance calls. These moves are often elaborate combinations of previous dances given new names. Knothead Jamboree welcomes all levels but caters mostly to the masses which are mostly the Mainstream’ers.

“Having fun one Square at a time” is the event’s punny subheader suggesting a simpler time. A time when sober people could find enjoyment from doing something as simple as dancing. For Knothead Jamboree, the question remains if anything can be done to breathe a new life into this fading tradition. If they were to take any cues from other successful dance parties, they’d have to look at the heavily attended Vegas style dance club. Square dance would have a much heavier rotation of air horn sound effect, bottle service, MDMA, and skirts above the knee. Until then, we’ll see if culture’s flirtation with folk tradition catches up and surpasses the worshiping of all things modern.

Published on: Document Journal