Youth square dance

Youth square dancing is square dancing among people up to their mid-twenties. In specific contexts, e.g., in qualification for some event, it may refer to dancers up to a particular age such as 18. It also may refer to a style of dancing that, while most popular among younger dancers, can be enjoyed by some older dancers.

Square dancing is an activity open to people of almost every age group, but many people think of it as an activity for people in their late fifties or older; in this context even people in their thirties or forties may be considered "young" dancers. But among those involved with the full age range of current dancers, early twenties is usually the upper limit for designating a group or event with the term "youth".

Youth square dancing, as a style, is typically open to all square dancers. The dancing is generally modern western square dancing, as it is practiced throughout the world, standardized by Callerlab.

Square dance clubs vary in their accommodation of young dancers, ranging from clubs organized specifically for youth, through ones that are populated by dancers of every age, to some that are oriented exclusively to adults.

Some representative categories of square dance clubs and classes with respect to age:

There are a number of ways in which youth square dancing differs from typical adult square dancing. These features are typical in clubs that are oriented specifically toward youth dancing, and also tend to be more common, even among adults, at mixed-age clubs and events where there are a significant number of youth dancers.

Youth dancing tends to be "higher energy". The dancing tends to be faster, with the caller using faster and more modern music. (Youth square dancing shares this characteristic with gay square dancing.)

While all modern Western square dancing uses a common set of call definitions, which specify the basic dance movements and outcome of each call, there are many possible "frills" or "flourishes" -- extra movements that can be added without changing the resulting position. These include extra twirls, kicks, and other movements of the hands or feet. A few of these are traditional among adult dancers in certain geographic regions, but youth dancing generally includes more of them regardless of location. (Youth square dancing shares this characteristic with gay square dancing.)

Gender is an essential aspect of square dance choreography. Each square consists of four "boys" (or "gentlemen") and four "girls" (or "ladies"), who maintain this identity throughout a dance tip. The caller uses this to address calls to a subset of the dancers. In addition, a relatively small number of calls, but ones that are commonly used, involve a different dance action for the boys and girls. However, for this to work it is not necessary that the biological sex of the dancers match the roles that they are playing at any given time, e.g., it is possible for a woman to dance the "boy's part".

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