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Randolph area residents work to stay in step with square dancing

Trisha Benton

Randolph Times

NORFOLK — Jenny Gubbels turns heads whenever she’s dressed up and ready to go out square dancing.

The Randolph woman wears the traditional square dancing dress with the full skirt and petticoat.

“Whenever I wear my square dance clothes in public, people are always like, ‘Tell us more about it,’” Gubbels said.

She’s more than happy to do so and if you get her talking she can be quite persuasive, making you want to join in on the fun.

“We all hear people say, ‘I can’t dance. I have two left feet.’ I always say, ‘If I can do it, you can do it.’ You just learn the patterns and they just become a part of you,” Gubbels said.

Jerry Junck of Wayne, formerly of Carroll, recalls his first square dance when he was a senior in high school. At that time, there weren’t any classes set up for him to learn.

“I learned by the seat of my pants,” he said. “I went to everybody’s dances and tried to imitate what they were doing.”

Gubbels and her husband, Randy, are members of the Laurel Town Twirlers and she has been square dancing for the past 35 years.

Recently, she’s become concerned about the dwindling number of Twirlers. In fact, at any given dance there may only be 10.

“It would be a tragedy to see this end and we’re fighting with everything we’ve got,” Gubbels said. “We want to keep what we have in this area going but to do that we have to have more people.”

After all, eight are needed to form a square.

Gubbels, along with some of her friends from Norfolk’s square-dancing clubs, set up square-dancing lessons. The lessons will be offered for 10 weeks at Norfolk’s LifePoint Church every Monday night.

If there’s enough interest, she’d like to start lessons in the Cedar County area.

Junck, who is a professional square dance caller, will be providing the calls and instruction for the classes.

Gubbels especially wants to encourage younger people and families to participate.

That’s how she got her start, tagging along with her mother, father, uncles, aunts and cousins at dances. Her son, James, and his wife, Sara, have started square dancing and bring along their three children.

“It’s kind of stereotyped as something just for grandmas and grandpas but it’s really for everybody,” she said.

Square dancing music is not just your typical “old-folksy” songs, either, Gubbels said, with country, rock, bluegrass, any kind of genre pumping out of the stereo.

Along with being a family-friendly event, square-dancing provides many benefits to physical and mental health.

Focusing on your movements and remembering the steps required all improve cognition. Studies have also shown dancing to improve stress levels and increase emotional health. It’s a low-impact exercise that burns calories, too.

It’s also an excellent way to socialize, said Gubbels.

“People are so friendly and kind,” she said. “You make friends for a lifetime and you just stick together. We’re just a big family. It is fun to know that you can go anywhere in the world and there’s a square somewhere that you can join and just like that people are your friends.”

Junck agrees as his professional career as a square dance caller takes him all over the world. Any new square dancer is “going to make more friends than they ever knew they had,” he said.

Gubbels would love to fill the room at LifePoint Church during the weekly lessons. Frankly, she’ll leave you without an excuse to bow out.

No time?

“People aren’t taking the time to do something for themselves. Dancing is an activity that’s really good for you,” she says.

No dance partner?

That’s fine. Come alone and get paired up. You won’t sit on the sidelines, she promises.

No prior knowledge or experience?

None required.

Not in shape to dance?

You only need to be able to maintain a walking pace.

Too expensive?

The first lesson is free. After that, the cost is $3 per lesson.

You don’t even need the full skirt and petticoat.

“Come for a really good time,” Junck said.

 

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