Will Kooi
EDMOND — After Luis and Renee Gruntmeir’s 1984 wedding, the couple left the reception but didn’t leave for their honeymoon right away.
Instead, they showed up at the local square dance club.
“We were like, ‘Square dancing! We’ll go on our honeymoon later!’” Renee Gruntmeir said, 25 years later. The couple still enjoys square dancing as a fun, healthy and social activity.
The Gruntmeirs are the presidents of the Teacup Chains Square Dance Club, an Edmond constant since 1991. Today, about 25 couples attend the bi-monthly dances at Peace Lutheran Church at 2600 E. Danforth on the first and third Saturdays of the month. But dancing isn’t limited just to couples: There are many single dancers, and everybody gets a chance to participate.
The club tries to combat some common stereotypes associated with square dancing — that it is only for old people, or it is just like the “Grand Ole Opry” or “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
“Square dancing is not the square dancing that your grandparents did or that you took as a fourth-grade P.E. class,” Renee Gruntmeir said.
“It is very much a modern thing,” Luis Gruntmeir added.
The music and dances themselves are diverse: the soundtrack can include Elvis, Toby Keith, Brandy and the club favorite, “Y.M.C.A.”
“Between [square dances], we line dance, we two-step, we round dance, we waltz; so it kind of goes back and forth,” Renee Gruntmeir said.
While the Teacup Chains club doesn’t include any young children or teenagers, they welcome dancers of all ages. Many other clubs in the Oklahoma City area have children as young as 10 swinging their partners right beside the adults. There is even a “Kids Club” composed solely of children.
“Square dancing is a family activity,” Renee Gruntmeir said. “So, if families have kids that are 13 or so, they can take lessons right along with their parents.”
Square dancing is caller-led. The Teacup Chains’ caller, Bobby Willis, provides a mix of prepared dances and improvised calls, of which there are 64 basic directions.
“There’s the prepared [dance], which [Willis] reads off a computer screen or he may have memorized; then there’s one that — just by looking at the square dancers — he’ll just make up calls and see what looks interesting,” Luis Gruntmeir said. “That keeps it interesting for him, because he’s always trying new things, and we don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
The club is very active outside the scheduled dances. They participated in the Edmond LibertyFest the past three years and dance at schools, churches, nursing homes, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, the state Capitol building and the State Fair.
A 1994 Mayo Clinic study estimated that 30 minutes of square dancing burns 200-400 calories, and another study attached pedometers to dancers, discovering each person covered five miles in a single evening. But dancing stimulates the mind as well as the body.
“You have to remember what it means when he says, ‘Square Through Four?’ What’s ‘Pass-Through Trade-By?’ What’s a Ferris Wheel?” Renee Gruntmeir said.
“But the thing is, you don’t need to learn a whole lot of moves before you can start dancing,” Luis Gruntmeir added. “You can teach them eight calls and keep them busy for an hour.”
Saturday’s Open House means to do exactly that while recruiting new square dancers for their spring lesson series. The free event begins at 8 p.m. at Peace Lutheran Church, and while participants can simply watch, the Gruntmeirs want everyone to feel comfortable enough to join in before the night is over.
“People can come who’ve only heard of ‘Swing your partner’ and ‘do-si-do,’ but we will have them up and dancing,” Renee Gruntmeir said. “They can come and just watch square dancing, or what we really want them to do is to get up and try it before they commit to lessons, and just see what square dancing is all about.”
The lessons, from Jan. 11 to April 15, occur every Monday and Thursday from 7:30-9 p.m. at the Multi-Activity Center in Mitch Park. They are $22 a person, and to register, call Edmond Parks and Recreation at 359-4630 or visit www.edmondok.com/parks/rec by Jan. 11.
“It’s easy to get started off, and then they just build one thing on another, and before you know it, you’re dancing,” Renee Gruntmeir said.
