Dehnbase - square dance tutorials
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Square Dance Tutorials
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Table of Contents
Quick Tutorial Series
These provide an introduction to the most common applications of an individual call. They don't explain or illustrate all the cases, but they provide links to pages that provide additional details and animations of other cases, for people who want to know more.
An explanation of many of the terms used to identify dancers, including those based on squared set positions, centers/ends, and positions within pairs. Intended primarily as a review for Advanced dancers and those starting to learn C-1, but also suitable for dancers learning Mainstream and Plus who want a more structured explanation than is provided in many beginner classes.
An introduction to the eight calls being added to Plus in 2026, intended for dancers who already know all the calls of classic Plus.
A survey of the A-1 program, intended for Plus dancers considering taking an Advanced class, former A-1 dancers interested in sorting out how much they remember, and as a guide to other material for those interested in learning A-1 through self-study.
An introduction to Counter Rotate, with emphasis on the calls Box Counter Rotate and Split Counter Rotate but including an explanation of the principles which apply to more general cases, intended for dancers learning A-2 and C-1.
An introduction to what these calls mean, how they are used, and how to remember them, including an interactive exercise to help dancers memorize the names, intended for those learning A-2.
An introduction to modern square dancing, starting from the beginning, and covering all of the calls of the SCVSDA General Dance Program. This presentation emphasizes square dancing as a language, with a vocabulary and grammatical rules that can be learned just like a foreign language or a programming language. (Note: Since GDP is a subset of Plus, this can also be used by anyone learning Plus who might benefit from this style of presentation.)
An introduction to the twelve calls from the Mainstream list that are included in the SCVSDA General Dance Program. Intended primarily for preview or review by students in a class that is teaching the GDP list, or for dancers who learned these calls previously but who are "rusty".
An introduction to the seven calls from the Plus list that are included in the SCVSDA General Dance Program. Intended primarily for dancers who have previous experience dancing Mainstream, but also potentially useful for students in a Plus class that has covered all of Mainstream but not yet all the Plus calls.
GDP and SSD are both "50 call" lists, and both are subsets of Plus, but they don't include the same "50 calls". However, dancers who have learned SSD will already know most of the calls used at a GDP dance, so a person who is already successfully dancing in an SSD group can become a GDP dancer relatively easily. There are only eleven calls in the GDP list that are not in the SSD list -- this tutorial introduces those calls.