Speaking as a dancer here and not a caller, I enjoy a square now and then
but I really don't like it when the caller calls two squares back to back.
If I sat out the first one, that generally means I have to sit out the next
one too. The last time that happened in our community, one of the dancers
complained that he had driven two hours to get there and had only gotten
two dances in the second half because the caller had called two squares
back to back and took a really long time to teach both of them. In my
experience, the main reason contra dancers don't like squares is that it
takes a long time to get set up, there is a chance you will get left out if
you're slow to find a partner and then can't get enough other people to
make a square, and that it often takes more teaching time. I don't think it
has anything at all to do with the dance itself.
So my advice is to call one square in the first half and one square in the
second half and find something that can be taught quickly and is
interesting and fun. I will happily dance those squares!
JoLaine
