What The Window Means To Me

The design for the window was taken from that portion of square dance calls having to do with diamond formations. Some of the calls are: Diamond (anything) Concept, Diamond Chain Thru, Diamond Circulate, Cut The Diamond / Interlocked Diamond, Exchange The Diamond, Flip the Diamond / Interlocked Diamond, Peel / Trail To A Diamond, Relocate The Diamond, Switch To A Diamond / Interlocked Diamond.

The window shows only half of a diamond set up (four dancers). The longer segments represent the centers that are holding hands, while the shorter segments represent the points that are pointing into the diamond. If you impose another window in your mind next to the one you are looking at, you would have twin diamonds and the full count  (eight dancers). The dancers would also be broken down into four in a box and four in a wave (the wave dancers would be inside of the box dancers).

I wanted to work with a lot of color thus choose the three primary colors RED-YELLOW-BLUE along with the secondary colors ORANGE-GREEN-PURPLE to illustrate the dancers. The center dancers had their yellow-green extended into the center of the Diamond that meant having to deal with only six colors which was what we wanted.

The four dancers in the Diamond have their colors distributed from Red thru Purple so that none of the colors touch one another in the adjacent dancer. The four corners also represent one fourth of a Diamond that has been turned to run vertical to the center Diamond. Once again the colors have been placed so that no color touches itself in the adjacent diamond.

The border is made up of half diamonds alternating White/Gray. These two colors were also used in the center diamond.

The window works for me as it shows (using your imagination) a diaper pattern of continuing diamond patterns from the center outwards. The entire cutting, grinding and soldering process has provided something that will hopefully last a lifetime. It will also stand as a reminder of my days spent square dancing with wonderful people.

WHAT SQUARE DANCING MEANS TO ME

I started dancing with Foggy City Dancers in January 1994 by joining the Basic/mainstream class with a friend from work and had two of the original members of the club who angled us. We started with thirty-two and they graduated twenty-eight.

Our instructor was Andy Shore from Mountain View, California.  My partner and I should have attended our first convention in Washington D. C. in July of that year. However the couple going with us backed out and we did not make the trip either. The 1995 convention in Chicago was thusly our first experience for convention, held over the Memorial Day weekend at the same hotel as the International Mr. Leather contest, and down the block was the Bears convention.

The year 2003 marks our ninth year trek to convention which is being held in San Diego, California over the 4^th of July holiday. And with good fortune on our side we will get our ten-year medallion in 2004 in Phoenix. One of our closest friends from the square dancing world also attended the Chicago event. As our dance level at the time was Mainstream we spent all our time in that hall. There was a big shortage of dancers who could do the follow part and until two dancers, who I have always looked up to as superb dancers told us to watch the current tip, check which dancers were doing the follow part and ask them for the next tip. We thus spent a lot of time dancing with the group from New York City.

Since that convention we have managed to dance with the same dancers each year at convention and sometimes at fly-ins.  Square dancing has allowed we to form friendships with folks from all around the world. In our local (Bay Area of Northern California) clubs we have formed close relationships with other club members. These friendships tend to help and support each other when the need arises. One reason for the closeness is the fact that most dancers who take a class end up dancing and staying within their group for the better part of their square dance years.  For us, as the years have gone past we have lost members and friends for various reasons. However they remain as part of our history as Square dancing has brought me lots of fun, great times, travel around the country, and even greater friendships.

For the rewards that I have gotten out of being a square dancer, I am trying to give something positive back. Supporting my local clubs, helping new dancers learn the calls and hopefully enjoy the activity as much as I do. The dancing part of this has made me more outgoing and provided me with an outlet to relax and enjoy what I'm doing. It has helped form long time friendships, which has enriched my life with all the wonderful people and places that square dancing, has led me.

If you asked would I do it again? The answer would have to be a big yes, with the condition that the same people and places would be part of the picture. I should also add that my partner is still a non-dancer to date but has always gone to our major dances and conventions with me. He also will be getting a 10- year medallion with me (which is only right for putting up with all my square dancing activities during the past years.