Square Dancing, Mabou Style

Last Saturday night, several folks from L'Arche hit the boards at the West Mabou Square Dance.
That's right - the West Mabou Square Dance.
Now, I always thought that square dancing was something done in country dance halls with big skirts and cowboy boots. Turns out that they do it in Mabou as well, but the dress code isn't as strict.
I sat the first few sets out, taking everything in and attempting to figure out just what was going on. My first dance partner was a "senior" dancer from Whycocomagh who walked me through every step. Luckily, I was well trained in the "Melissa Batchilder School of Step Dancing" and I was thoroughly prepared to show off some of my fancy footwork.
My next partner was not as skilled in the fine art of the square dance however - Cathy, my house leader and I stepped into the circle hoping that we could figure things out on our own. Square dancing is much easier if you have a male partner as it's then much easier to know who to follow when you start splitting up. [For those of you not familiar with square dancing, the third set involves the couples splitting up and following a grandiose arc of people, forming lines of men and women and then meeting up with your partner.] Unfortunately, when the splitting up occured, I was put in charge of leading Cathy Brady (one of the core members - a very tiny woman with Downs Syndrome) and this lead to me grabbing her and pulling her to one side, then running to the other side, meeting up with my partner, and laughing so hysterically that I could barely breathe.
Some of the other dancers were not particularly impressed, but they slipped in to better humour as we gradually figured out how the formation thing worked!

And of course, the West Mabou Square Dance would not be complete without the classic pick-up line that I encountered as we were leaving; As I crossed the floor, one of the only gentlemen my age in the entire place (and a very good step dancer to boot) approached me, asked if we were leaving and then insisted that I looked familiar. "You're Erin McDougall from Iona - right?" I laughed, and shook my head... and he finished by telling me that I had a beautiful smile and that he hoped he'd see me back at the West Mabou Square Dance.

So, I may be the Woman from Mabou yet - we'll just have to wait and see!