Description
The Singles and Pairs are a modern western square dance club in the city of Santa Rosa, California. We dance the CALLERLAB Plus Program, and we welcome both singles and couples of all ages, genders and backgrounds. We especially encourage dancers who have lost a dance partner to come and get back in the swing of things.
If you think that square dancing is done in barns around hay bales with old scratchy fiddle music, you're in for a surprise. Monroe Hall may have a rustic feel to it, with all of the old farm implements and art that former owner Clarence Freitas collected and displayed on the walls, but it has a wonderful hardwood dance floor that is one of the best in the north state. Our caller, Lawrence Johnstone, uses music that ranges from country to popular standards to rock and big band. (His favorite!)
The dancing is all extemporaneous — there aren't pre-memorized routines as such. Instead, new square dancers learn to do the individual calls that make up the program we dance (the CALLERLAB Plus Program), and then the calls are put together into different patterns by the caller as he works. Dancers listen to the caller and follow the directions as he gives them. It's a unique form of dance that borrows movements from many others, and blends them into something all its own.Contacts
| Name |
Phone |
Email |
| BJ Bernette (Co-President) |
707-849-3101 | bjbernette@yahoo.com |
| Brenda Kobrin (Co-President) | 707-280-9680 | kobrin.brenda@gmail.com |
| Lawrence Johnstone (caller) |
707-462-0239 |
loj@pacific.net |
History
In January of 1963, a square dance club
was formed in Santa Rosa, CA, under the leadership of Dick Mills and
Blanche Nickelsen. Its first meeting was at the First United
Methodist Church on Montgomery Drive, with 13 members attending. The
new club was given the name Single 8's.
At some point that year (it isn't clear when), they moved to Monroe Hall.As is often the case with a singles' club, there were numerous marriages among the members. So that these couples would not be excluded, the club changed its name in 1972 to the Singles and Pairs, and a new badge was designed by Orville Hickenlooper. That basic badge design continues with the club today, and is the basis of the logo you see at the top of this page.
The club's membership has risen and
fallen over the years. It is recorded that at one point we were the
largest square dance club in Sonoma County. In fact, in September of
1979 the beginners' class started with 153 members, 75 of whom graduated
— and that's in addition to the people who were already
members of the club at the time! We're currently a
bit smaller than that, but we love to have new people come out
and join us!
Pictures, clockwise from top right: Club banner circa 1981; "Final exam" at 1980 class graduation; Newer dancer hoedown at Monroe Hall in December of 1988; Graduation cake for 1980 class graduation.
Past Callers
| Years |
Caller |
| 1963 |
Harry Whitlock |
| 1964 |
Mary Ann Athanis |
| 1965-1966 |
Lee Buckingham |
| 1967-1969 |
Jack Olds |
| 1970 |
Keith Gylfe |
| 1971-1981 |
Vern Churchill |
| 1981-1983 |
Larry Hudson |
| 1983-2005 |
Steve Minkin |
| 2005 |
Doug Saunders and Lawrence Johnstone |
| 2006-present |
Lawrence Johnstone |
Vern and Joan Churchill
(Joan was the club's round
dance cuer as well!)
[Obituary 2014-09-04]
Larry Hudson
Steve Minkin
Lawrence Johnstone
The club's photo albums only go back as far as the
late 1970s, so we have no photographs of the callers prior to Vern
Churchill. If you have any and would like to share them, feel free
to email them to loj@pacific.net.