Re: one of my other "passions"
"William M. Klein" <wmklein@nospam.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:FAg7j.64099$Hq5.60302@fe04.news.easynews.com...
>I think that I have mentioned in this group that one of my non-COBOL
>"passions" is square dancing. The following information is going around
>the Chicago area (and may or may not help people in CLC see why "COBOL" -
>especially Standards - and square dancing are not ALL that different)
> ***
> The link to a related video and to this article is:
>
> [url]http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-squaredance_dec10,0,5982348.story[/
url]
>
>
>
>
> chicagotribune.com
> New generation of square dancers intrigued by its math concepts
> While many are drawn by the camaraderie, others are intrigued by the
> underlying mathematical concepts
> By Alexa Aguilar
> Tribune staff reporter
> December 10, 2007
>
> Allie Hays' friends had a good laugh when they heard about the class she
> had signed up for at North Central College in Naperville: Mathematics of
> Square Dancing.
>
> Hays thought it was pretty funny herself at first.
>
> "I said, 'Are you kidding me? That's a reach,'" said the senior math
> major.
>
> But after spending three hours a day for two w
s memorizing almost 100
> dance "calls," then weaving in and out of complicated formations on cue,
> she has changed her mind. Amid constant movement, she has had to visualize
> and use math concepts like shapes and patterns, group theory, fractions
> and permutations.
>
> "It's math in motion -- you're walking through mathematics and would have
> no idea you're working with concepts that most college math majors don't
> study until their fourth year," says math professor David Schmitz,
> describing square dancing as "solving a Rubik's Cube."
>
> Saundra Bryant, a Chicago caller -- the person who stands and sings or
> speaks rapid-fire calls, or dance cues -- tested students' knowledge with
> a simulated dance Thursday. Disregarding traditional square-dance tunes,
> she typically sets her calls to everything from disco to Frank Sinatra to
> hip-hop.
>
> As she crooned the lyrics of Van Morrison's "Moondance," she laid out the
> series of calls. Concentrating, the eight students stepped through the
> moves. Occasionally, Bryant stopped them to see if they could identify
> which dancers were the apex of a triangle or how many diamond shapes were
> in one formation.
>
> It's all a far cry from the days of reluctantly clutching a partner's
> sweaty hand in a junior high gym class as you swing her 'round.
>
> Over the last 50 years, square dancing has evolved from the early American
> barn dances that most people associate with the term into a worldwide
> subculture with fanatic followers who join clubs, memorize hundreds of
> calls, and are just as likely to be wearing jeans and sneakers as starched
> petticoats and cowboy hats.
>
> About 1 million people worldwide perform some form of modern square
> dancing. They have organized themselves into distinct "levels" that
> require lessons and study, developed a standardized database of calls, and
> plan dances and conventions in cities across the globe.
>
> In the U.S., devotees come from every walk of life, and clubs exist in
> small rural towns and the largest cities. Many gay communities in urban
> areas also have clubs, such as Chicago's Chi-Town Squares.
>
> At its highest and most complicated levels, puzzle lovers, engineers,
> computer programmers and math teachers dominate the ranks. Square-dance
> clubs at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are
> thriving, and North Central has a fledgling club, the Square Roots.
>
> "It's a constant battle" to fight the stereotype, said Clark Baker, a
> computer programmer who has been dancing with MIT's Tech Squares since
> 1974. "People think of a jug of moonshine and hay bales, and that it might
> be a nice activity ... for your grandparents."
>
> Baker also is a caller. The dancers, organized in a square of eight, begin
> in a home position but have no idea which calls are coming. One call
> doesn't necessarily flow into any other, so the caller has to work to keep
> the square working in precision. After several sequences, the final call
> must bring the dancers back to their original position.
>
> "It's like puzzle-solving in real time," Baker said.
>
> Most modern square dancers stick to a set of about 70 calls, wear the
> traditional get-up and dance regularly with a club. But a small fraction
> are challenge dancers, who know up to 1,000 calls and 100 "concepts" and
> add imaginary dancers to increase the complexity.
>
> North Central's Schmitz, a dancer for more than a decade, is of the
> challenge persuasion. Like many square dancers, he worries about
> recruiting new fans to fill the ranks.
>
> So he pitched a three-w course to college officials in hopes of
> exposing young people to an activity that lured him when he was a graduate
> student, he said. All those who signed up are math, science or computer
> majors.
>
> At first glance, the class might not seem relevant to them. But like math,
> square dancing depends on dancers performing actions based on definitions,
> Schmitz explained.
>
> In class, students laughed and teased one another while learning "Ferris
> wheel," "centers pass through" and "acey deucey." But they also took
> breaks to discuss snippets only math lovers could appreciate: the number
> of permutations possible in one call or how a rectangle formation could be
> sheared to create a parallelogram "concept" of a typical call.
>
> Not everyone views square dancing as a big math problem. Baker said some
> devotees disagree about the "best" square-dancing experience.
>
> Some traditionalists contend there needs to be live fiddle music and
> costumes, and that challenge dancers sap the fun out.
>
> But some challenge dancers think dancing only mainstream is boring, he
> said.
>
> Jerry Reed, executive director of Callerlab, a national organization that
> maintains the standardized list of calls, said square dancing's allure
> transcends puzzles and petticoats.
>
> "It's bigger than the puzzle solving and it's bigger than the choreography
> and the costumes," he said. "It's really about the sociability."
>
> As the debate continues, national membership is slipping, Reed said.
>
> Americans are joining fewer social organizations and clubs as other
> entertainment options have exploded, he said, making it harder to find
> recruits willing to invest time in square dancing. In addition, his
> organization held focus groups that found many non-dancers still connect
> square dancing to a hayseed image or awkward junior high school memories.
>
> But Schmitz is convinced that once exposed to the dance, that notion is
> dispelled.
>
> Nathan Pierson, a freshman in math, is one such convert.
>
> After taking the class, he may may North Central's square-dance club, he
> said.
>
> "This is a much more intellectual experience than my preconception,"
> Pierson said. "And it was just a lot more fun than I thought too."
>
> --
> Bill Klein
> wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com
>
Ther is no longer any need to buy expensive math software to analyze your
squaredance moves. See http://www.sagemath.org/ for a powerful, free package
fromt the University of Washington.
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