By Chris Faulkner
The Circle Square B Dance Club has been around for 67 years now.
It’s a Burlington club — which is what the “B” stands for — but they have members from a variety of cities, and they dance every Tuesday at the International Order of Oddfellows building in Wever.
Rich Millmier and his wife, Pat, are among the longer-term members, having joined a little more than 20 years ago. Rich has been the treasurer most of that time. Meg Peterson is the club president.
“We dance around the country and the world,” Millmier said of himself and his wife, and that’s the beauty of the modern western square dance style the club uses.
“All the calls are spoken in English, no matter what country you’re in,” Millmier said.
The Millmiers have danced twice in Germany and once in New Zealand, with no need for an interpreter, because the calls are all standardized, he said.
The club meets all year round, missing only due to bad weather and Christmas and New Year’s.
The “Circle” portion of the club title refers to round dancing, but the local club doesn’t do that type anymore, Millmier said.
Circle Square B once owned a building on the north side of the Skunk River, but when Highway 61 was relocated 20 years ago, that building was taken out.
Fort Madison had a Promenaders club, but it closed due to a lack of members. Those remaining joined the Burlington club, which then went by Circle Square B Promenaders until those members dropped out.
The square consists of four couples, with four men and four women. The dancers spend 12-15 minutes on each “tip,” which consists of two rounds of dancing at the caller’s direction. The first half of that is the “patter,” and the second is a singing call set to a particular piece of music, Millmier said.
The governing body for square dancing is Caller Lab, which provides instructions such as “allemande left,” where you turn the person on your left with your left hand and then return to your partner.
Callers for one recent class were twins, Doug and Don Sprosty, who are from the Quad Cities. Tom Manning of Burlington, the regular caller for Circle B, is out due to health reasons.
Health Benefits
Square dancers don’t look like they’re covering much ground, but, Millmier said, “If you would dance that two or 2 ½ hours all evening, you would get in four to five miles of steps,” Millmier said.
It’s not just physically beneficial.
“It becomes quite a mental exercise the farther you go into it,” Millmier said. “But even at first, it’s a training period on how to listen because the call is going to tell you every move to make, and you have to listen strictly to that.”
It’s not like ballroom dancing, where there are specific steps that go with that type of dance.
“If you don’t listen to the caller, you’re going to miss the next call, because he makes the call before you finish the first one,” Millmier said.
The Millmiers are from Donnellson, and Circle Square B also has members from Fort Madison, Mount Pleasant, Columbus Junction, Washington, and Canton, Mo.
One of the dancers is 80-year-old Warren Messner from Mount Pleasant.
He had a heart attack about 20 years ago and had quadruple bypass surgery.
“My heart doctor said that square dancing is the best thing I could have done, both mentally and physically,” Messner said, and he does it five times a week.
“I just don’t quit,” he said.
Carol Thornton, 90, is from Washington.
She has been square dancing for six decades and does it for socialization.
“It’s something to do with people,” Thornton said, “the camaraderie of the people and everyone’s so nice.”
Her daughter, Ladonna Hartsock of Wapello, dances with her as well.
Membership Drive
There are currently 45 dues-paying members in Circle Square B, but they’ll be starting a new 12-week session on Tuesday, Sept. 23, to try to attract new members.
It doesn’t have to be a couple; people can come on their own, and children eight and older can pick it up quickly, Millmier said.
The cost is $ 6 per person or $50 for the entire series.
Even the current group of members has taken classes several times over the years, Millmier said.
“We teach the first beginning 50 calls in Modern Western Square,” he said.
After the 12 weeks, “They will at least be introduced to enough that they can dance.”
Most people take another set of lessons, Millmier said, and the next set will be offered in mid-January.
People interested in signing up for the classes can call Miller at his home line, 319-835-5382, or his cell phone, 319-371-4722. His email address is richpatmill@gmail.com.