Square dancing isn’t just for experts. Anyone can do it. In Culver City, beginners can attend weekly classes where they learn and practice basic calls.

Ribbons and Souls Square Dance Club’s Social Square Dance course begins on Wednesday 4th September and runs for 16 weeks. New participants can join classes until 11th September.

The club also runs advanced square dance classes on Thursdays and theme dances for more experienced dancers every Saturday. Round dance classes, which are choreographed ballroom dances based on cues, are offered on Sundays.

Julie DaVanzo, a longtime club member who helps maintain the website, develop dance topics and proofread the newsletter, said square dancing doesn’t require any special athletic ability. Anyone who can shake hands and walk can do it.

“They just have to follow directions and be able to tell right from left… The people who have two left feet can do it too,” DaVanzo said. “They just have to walk. People who aren’t good at ballroom dancing can do it.”

DaVanzo said many people learn square dancing as children in school and that experience discourages them from wanting to try it again. She said her classes are fun and interactive and allow people to meet new friends and socialize. They also provide a great way to exercise and stay active.

During the class, announcer Dale Hoppers leads the dancers through various patterns and chants.

“He’s very patient,” DaVanzo said. “He has a great sense of humor. He has a very beautiful singing voice. He chooses funny music.”

Dancers learn a variety of different calls, such as “Star Promenade,” “Reverse Flutterwheel,” “See Saw,” “All Around Your Corner,” “Bend The Line,” “California Twirl,” “Circle Left,” “Circle Right”, “Cross Fold”, “Cross Run”, “Couples Circulate”, “Couples Hinge”, “Half Sashay”, “Partner Trade”, “Lead To The Right”, “Pass The Ocean”, “Do Sa Do “, “Ladies Chain”, “Ladies In, Men Sashay”, “Star Left”, “Star Right” and “Rivers Wheel”.

Students dance to a variety of music styles, including Broadway, pop and country music. Traditionally, dancers took on male or female roles, but these days both roles are open to anyone. DaVanzo said the classes tend to attract more women, so female dancers often have the opportunity to learn traditional male roles.

“We have light green traffic/highway worker uniforms when a woman is dancing the men’s part in class so it’s obvious to the students,” DaVanzo said. “The men’s part and the women’s part are different on many calls. One goes to the right and one goes to the left. One turns his right hand and one turns his left hand.”

When she helps new dancers learn, she often dances the male part.

“It was a fun challenge,” DaVanzo said. “I pretty much got the women’s part done. It helps me understand what the students go through.”

Once dancers reach a certain level, they are invited to participate in the club’s Saturday night dance events.

These dances cover themes such as the 50s or 60s, Barbie and Ken, Disney, Oktoberfest, “The Wizard of Oz” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”.

The club has a long history in the Los Angeles area. It was formed in 2018 from the merger of two sister clubs called Red Ribbons and Heels and Souls. The Red Ribbons started in Santa Monica in 1951 and Heels and Souls was founded in West Los Angeles in 1960.

DaVanzo said square dancing was at the height of its popularity from the ’50s through the ’80s, but has seen a decline in recent years. She said many clubs have had a hard time getting people to come back and recruiting new members after the pandemic. The club has been able to regularly attract new dancers to its social square dance classes.

“We believe our best chance for success is to get really good participation in these classes and then have people have so much fun that they keep coming back, eventually learning all the calls, getting invited as members and coming to the Saturday night dances,” DaVanzo said.

“We are very lucky,” she continued. “We are doing well. We have a lot of new blood.”