‘Grab your partner and do-si-do’: Skip Cleland found calling on the other side of the microphone

By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus

Before Skip Cleland retired from the Boeing Company, he said his work took him all over the U.S. As he moved residences throughout his career, he said he never had trouble re-establishing himself as a square dance caller in his new community.

“It’s everywhere. In fact, it’s international,” Cleland said. “Just about anywhere you go in the United States, you can find a square-dancing group within a reasonable driving distance. There are a few sparse areas, but it’s also very popular in Europe, Australia, and in some parts of Asia, especially Japan.”

In Modern Western Square Dancing, the caller is responsible for putting calls — or dance movements like “Circle left,” “Do Si Do,” “Right and Left Grand,” and so forth — into sequence to form the dance. The caller varies the order of the calls, so no dance is ever the same, and dancers shouldn’t anticipate the next move before it is called.

As a retiree, Cleland regularly calls for the Singing River Squares in Florence along with singles and doubles square dancing clubs in Huntsville. Cleland also calls at state conventions for Alabama, Florida and Virginia, though he admits his calling calendar was actually fuller before he left work in January after 37 years.

“My number of years with the Boeing Company almost coincided with the number of years I’ve spent calling,” Cleland said. “In my younger years, I called as many as four or five times a week at night and on weekends. Now I’ve cut back a little bit.”

Cleland was living in Florida when he first started working ground operations for the space shuttle and satellite systems at the Kennedy Space Center. That state is where he was also first introduced to square dancing, and it’s where he’s called at least 25 state conventions.

He began calling state conventions in Alabama in 2012 or 2013, around the time he moved to Decatur. Now living in Grant, Alabama, Cleland said he most recently began calling state conventions in Virginia about eight years ago.

“The International Association of Square Dance Callers was formed so that square dancing could be standardized,” Cleland said. “So, no matter where you went, if they said it’s going to be a mainstream dance, then you knew exactly what was going to be called in that dance. That’s the reason you can go anywhere in the world and dance.”

No matter where square dancing takes place, it’s always called in English, Cleland added.

“We have square dance callers who don’t speak English at all, but they phonetically call,” he said.

“I enjoy the social aspect of it. That’s really mostly what square dancing is about, you know. People come together for a common thing. For a lot of people, square dancing becomes their life.”

Cleland, now 68, speaks a little from experience. He was in his early 20s when he discovered square dancing about 43 years ago.

He said he attended his first several dances as a spectator while his parents were taking lessons. He didn’t mind attending with his parents as he made friends and enjoyed visiting with other regulars, but that all changed one day when a couple had to leave early, and Cleland was asked to stand in.

“By then, they were halfway through the lessons, but I learned the moves from watching,” he said. “I got immersed in it, and at some point, I just decided, you know, I think I want to be on the other side of the microphone.”

Cleland stepped up to the mic in 1984 and chimed out his first set of square dance instructions. He quickly found he had a knack — and the vocals — for it, and never turned back.

After he found a passion for it, he decided to attend calling schools that were sponsored by the State Caller Association of Florida, where he was living at the time. Cleland also attended classes through Callerlab by the International Association of Square Dance Callers.

Though he will step out onto the floor as a dancer from time to time, Cleland said he prefers giving cues to dancers in time with the music, partly for the fun challenges the pastime can pose.

“It keeps my mind sharp, because everything that I’m doing is off the cuff,” he said. “It’s not memorized material. I’m not reading the material. I have to actually move the dancers around on the fly.”

Cleland feels the art of square dancing keeps him young and healthy in his retirement, and it’s good for the dancers too.

“Square dancing has been defined as low–impact aerobics,” he said. “If you go out to a dance, you’re going to be there a couple of hours. In between the dancing tips, there’s about a five-minute break for those who want a break, but a lot of areas, you have line dancing between the square-dancing tips. Those usually last between 10 and 15 minutes. It’s very, very good exercise.”

Over the span of his career, Cleland has called dances in about 30 different states, and he’s had the opportunity a few times to call for national conventions. Though he is slowing down, he doesn’t foresee himself giving up the passion anytime soon.

“Once you get involved, you’re kind of hooked,” he said with a laugh. “Like I said, for some, it becomes your life, you know, participating in square dancing and being involved in the square-dancing world.”