Woo Hoo! Single Circles turns 30 in 2011!
SINGLE CIRCLES SQUARE DANCE CLUB HISTORY
The club was started in the fall of 1981 at the Century Court apartments in Brooklyn Park. Larry Smith was our first club caller, turning it over to Dee Dee Dougherty shortly thereafter. She called for 12 years and had her largest beginners’ classes of 26 and 29 students each. She called and taught at 5 different clubs on a regular basis.
At the beginning, there were 3-4 squares but no club dances were held that first year. The following year the club held dances on the fourth Saturday monthly at Zanewood Elementary School in Brooklyn Park. In 1985 the club dances were moved to Northview Junior High School on 69th and Zane in Brooklyn Park until 1994.
The first class graduated about 26 students and then the students dropped out and three students took lessons with another club, but after much hard work and promoting by the club members, 39 students graduated in 1986 and by then it had become a chartered club with regular monthly dances and our first Queen was elected. The first club picnic was held that summer and was a fun time with food, socializing, and dancing. The picnic has become an annual event and, in addition to dancing, we make plans for the coming dance season. It's always a great time of fun and catching up.
In 1994 Abe Maier became our club caller and lessons were held at Earl Brown Elementary School in Brooklyn Center, graduating 10 students. The club was very active in traveling to other clubs and getting the banners in banner raids so other clubs had to come to Single Circles to retrieve their banners back. Abe also calls and teaches at County Line in Monticello and many of their members come to our dances. He has accrued 30 years as a caller/teacher and really loves to teach beginners, encouraging them to continue learning and having fun. He is a member of Swingmasters callers, Twin Cities area as well as state and national caller associations.
By the year 2002, the schools were charging much too much for our little club so we switched to Maple Grove where we operate through their Community Education program. The expenses were brought down to a level that we can continue with. We now dance and have classes at Oak View Elementary School in Maple Grove. We now have a very active Queen who leads us on many banner raids and helps to promote square dancing. We sometimes have a special dance not on our regular schedule. We always dance now on the third Friday of the month from September to May and lessons are on Wednesday evening from 7-9.