Standard Application & Extended Application

 

Standard Application or S.A. is the most commonly used geometric formation of the square and/or the most commonly used dancer arrangement.  Example:  S.A. Pass the Ocean would use Facing Couples or Facing Lines ending in one ocean wave or two parallel waves.  S.A. Pass the Ocean would also mean the facing couples would be a boy with a girl on his right hand side.

 

Extended Application or E.A. is everything except S.A.  Even though definitions of square dance calls rarely change, applications like formations and arrangements can and will change.  I.e. Pass the Ocean usually starts from the formation “Facing Lines” ending in 2 two “parallel ocean waves”.  It can also start from “twin facing boxes” ending in a “Tidal Wave”.  Pass the Ocean usually starts from a S.A. couples “boy on left girl on right”.  However Pass the Ocean is used from many other arrangements such as, “half sashayed couples” (girl on left boy on right) or same “sex couples”. 

 

Any call done right handed can, probably, be done “left handed”.  The EA concept is all about creating beautiful flowing choreography and an extraordinary dancing experience.  Without EA square dancing can become rather boring and will entice dancers to move up the Square Dance program ladder far too quickly and ends up severely hurting the quality, strength and over-all health of the activity.

 

Callers and dancers are encouraged to call and dance the Club 50 program and learn the Extended applications to those 50 calls before moving on to the other programs. CALLERLAB, the international Association of square Dance Callers, recommends 2 years dancing experience through MS. Mainstream with EA training along the way, before going on to the PLUS program should be required.  

~ Jerry Story