Free Square Dance Lessons

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By Nichole Szemerei

Story Published: Jan 15, 2009 at 8:36 PM MST

Story Updated: Jan 15, 2009 at 8:36 PM MST

BILLINGS - To some, it may sound like an old tradition, but in the spirit of Montana square dancing is attempting a come back in Billings.

"People think of square dancing years ago, when they did maybe square dance," says Shirley Hamby who's been square dancing for 23 years. Hunter Keller is her group's caller, and he's only been involved in the square dancing scene for about 5 years now.

"My grandma and grandpa drug me from square dance to square dance when I was little and my parents square danced too as a matter of fact and 2002 my grandpa passed away and I began square dancing just about 2004," says Keller. And two years later as just a teen he began calling.

"There's not a lot of young callers around, there used to be back in the 70's and 80's but we just don't have a lot of younger generation folks taking square dancing, they always think that it's for older people and that's not the case at all," says Keller.

You see Hunter is only 20 years old and although he loves this older crowd, saying "They keep you grounded and they're like second grandparents to me and second parents to me," he says it's the younger crowd that brings the enthusiasm. "There's nothing more fun than when the entire place is just going crazy with noise and that makes a caller feel really good," says Keller.

And it's not a one way street. The dancers can't get enough of Hunter's young vibe. "We're very fortunate to have Hunter, he's a young caller and an excellent caller and that's a plus for us too," says Shirley.

"The caller makes up a lot of it, I mean I don't care what type of music you have it's the caller that really does it," Shirley's husband and square dancing partner, John, agrees. "And he furnishes the tapes too and if you have a caller who maybe never purchases a new tape then it gets a little boring," says Shirley.

And that's the goal. To try to spice things up not only by using modern music, but getting some fresh, young faces out to turn your partner round and round. For more information on free square dancing lessons, click here or contact Hunter directly at (406) 690-2640.

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