Little Rock's Robinson Center Exhibition Hall is packed, so crowded that extra seats have to be put out. Many in the predominantly older audience are wearing traditional square dance attire -- ruffled blouses, short circle skirts, frothy petticoats and dance shoes or boots for the women, Western-style shirts, bolo ties and belt buckles distinguishing the men. Many more are dressed in everyday casual attire.
But at this particular time, nobody has come to be seen. Everyone has come to see.
It's June 28, the last day of the 63rd National Square Dance Convention. The delegates, who hail from states throughout the country as well as some foreign lands, have assembled to enjoy the convention's fashion show, aptly themed "Glitzy."
After a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, the fashion show begins. First out: Lura and Wayne Wade of Batesville, general chairman of the convention (state and national offices are held by married couples who are referred to by the singular form of the title). After them come the chairman couples already selected for the next three conventions, along with square dancers' state and national officials. Delegates at large are also among the models.
Among the couples, the woman's outfit coordinates with her male partner's shirt.
There's a reason this fashion show is themed "Glitzy": Much of the attire is dazzling -- layer
upon layer, yard upon yard of ruffles, on skirts and petticoats. Lots of lace, lots of appliques, a healthy bit of gold lame.
Standouts among the women's dresses and skirt-and-blouse sets include an elaborate blue-and-gold outfit with asymmetric tiered ruffles.
An intricate skirt made of fabric cut into 89 blue and white strips and pieced together to create a zigzag effect.
A clever, black-and-gold Batgirl-goes-square-dancing costume, complete with circle skirt/petticoat combined with a "bat cape."
A Hawaiian square dance dress dominated by spring-green ruffles and a headpiece made of fresh flowers shipped in from the Aloha State.
A deep-mauve dress covered in shimmering black appliques, that could have almost passed for a ball gown.
A couple whose bright, light-blue attire extends to their dog, whose dress is as ruffle-y as that of her mistress.
A FINE DO-SI-DO
A 21st-century observer might wonder: Why, in such a rapidly evolving world, has modern Western square dance attire not changed in all these years? Where are the slimmer silhouettes, the slick nylons and microfibers, the moisture-wicking performance fabrics that should have crept into a dance genre that, according to online sources, burns in the neighborhood of 300 calories per hour for a 150-pound person?
The attire, which goes back to the late 1950s, still reigns supreme among graduated dancers (those who complete classes offered through square dance clubs).
But the Wades say they have observed changes.
"I have been dancing for over 40 years and I know my dress attire has changed. ... Our clothes are a lot more glitzy," Lura Wade says. "On the other hand, there are people wanting to get away from the traditional attire, and go casual."
Even national convention rules have relaxed a bit. Now, square dance attire is required dress after 6 p.m. for conventiongoers. "We have only had this rule in place for the last couple of years," Wade says. "Until then, proper square dance attire was required all day."
And now there's an alternative to the pouffy circle skirt with the petticoats underneath. Some dancers wear longer prairie skirts, whose advantage lies in cost: Wearers save money on petticoats. "And a lot of women wear them," Wayne Wade says.
Erma Jean Carter, historian for the Arkansas State Square Dance Federation and a member of The 60 Swingers Club in Little Rock, has seen a trend toward "very casual" in square dancing circles.
"When I first started, men had to wear long-sleeved shirts. Now they wear anything but," says the 74-year-old. "As far as I'm concerned, a lot of people just look tacky, to be honest with you."
She is among those who would like traditional square dance dress to stay traditional. "I do not go casual at all. When I'm dancing I don't have a pair of pants on."
When their club meets, the Wades say, sometimes they wear their modern Western square dance attire; sometimes they go casual. Many times when they're in a class, they'll dress in casual clothes "because [we] don't want to go in all the time and intimidate people, I guess, in our clothes," Lura Wade says.
(Wayne Wade adds that even the casually dressed men eschew shorts and short sleeves: They are required to keep their sleeves and pant legs long.)
But doesn't traditional square dance attire get a little pricey?
For the men it's not so bad: Put together a Western-style shirt and a bolo tie with jeans or slacks and the appropriate shoes. Back in the day, "guys wore vests to match the girls' dresses. They don't do that anymore," Lura Wade says.
But for the women, it's another story: dress or skirt and blouse; belt; one or more petticoats, pettipants (to preserve one's modesty while dancing) ... and then, shoes.
SWING YOUR BANK BOOK
A dress, or a skirt and blouse, typically run $150 to $175, depending on the style. Dresses can cost as much as $300, Carter says.
Petticoats are priced according to yardage and usually they cost $55 to $100. "And the more yards [a petticoat] is, the more expensive it is," Carter says. Lura Wade has a petticoat for which she paid $200.
And there are the shoes. Wade has one pair a vendor sold her for $79, which she says is a common price. Prices can go higher: She also has a pair that cost $125. Google men's square dance foot gear, and you'll find a similar price range for shoes and boots.
But there are ways around breaking the bank for square dance clothing.
"A lot of times when the new dancers start, people help them" by giving them used outfits or petticoats, Wade says. Used clothing is also available for sale.
And many dancers make their clothing, says Wade, who has sewn attire for her husband and granddaughter as well as herself.
Veta Parker, a vivacious 91-year-old conventioneer from Los Angeles, is among those. The day of the fashion show, she has put on the glitz herself: red velvet skirt trimmed in red and white ribbons and white lace; white peasant blouse whose red sequined collar trim matches a wide belt; a red petticoat, red tights and red fringed cowboy boots.
"I'm a tailor," Parker says. "I make everything" -- all 100 of her square dance outfits.
Beginning square dancers may not have to worry about attire anyway. Square dance clubs, which offer classes that culminate in "graduation" of square dancers, don't traditionally require that beginners come dressed in full regalia, Wayne Wade says. "First off, they really want you to learn how [to dance] a little bit before you start dressing out."
WASH AND WEAR
All of this suggests the dry-cleaning bill would be expensive, too. True, many of the outfits sashaying across the stage at the fashion show scream "dry clean me."
And these aren't runners or Zumba dancers ... none of this clothing is made of performance fabrics.
Luckily, the everyday square dance clothing can be laundered. Skirts, petticoats, blouses, pettipants and shirts are made of cotton, polyester, rayon, or any blend of the three, with some petticoats and pettipants made of nylon. Carter has an outfit or two that has to go to the dry cleaners, but most of her 25 outfits, along with petticoats and pettipants, are machine or hand washable and can be hung to dry.
In making her outfits, Parker says. "I buy the type of material I can wash" by hand. And she believes in recycling: Her boots, which draw multiple compliments this day, are an older pair, spray-painted red.
And that sequined belt and collar glamming up her outfit?
Those were pinned on, she says.
ActiveStyle on 07/07/2014