Square Dance Tutorial

GDP Mainstream Calls

Table of Contents
Introduction
Hinge
Cast Off 3/4
Spin the Top
Slide Thru
Scoot Back
Walk and Dodge
Pass to the Center
Cloverleaf
Tag the Line
Half Tag
Fold (and Cross Fold)
Recycle
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1: INTRODUCTION

The SCVSDA (Santa Clara Valley Square Dancers Association) General Dance Program includes selected calls from the CALLERLAB Basic, Mainstream, and Plus programs. Since each CALLERLAB program is defined to include the preceding ones, the Plus program by definition includes all the calls from the Mainstream and Basic lists. So anybody who already dances Plus can also dance GDP.

Dancers who only know the Basic program, however, need to learn some of the calls from the Mainstream and Plus lists before they are ready to attend a GDP dance. The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce the twelve Mainstream calls that are part of GDP. The seven Plus calls that are part of GDP are covered in the GDP Plus Calls tutorial.

In addition to including only some of the calls from the CALLERLAB lists, GDP dances also don't make use of as many possible variations of those calls. The descriptions provided here may not cover all of the cases that could come up in a full Mainstream dance. But they do cover the cases that dancers are expected to know at a GDP dance.

Links are provided on each page to two sources that provide more details, if you want to know more about these calls. If you are planning to learn Mainstream or Plus, these will help you understand about the additional variations used in those programs. But if you just want to get started dancing the GDP level, it's fine to skip those for now -- you can always come back and read the rest later.

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