Square Dance Tutorial

New Plus Calls

Table of Contents
Introduction
Clover and
Pair Off
Partner Hinge
Partner Tag
Pass the Sea
Scoot and Dodge
Triple Trade
1/4 Thru Family

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1: INTRODUCTION

As part of a realignment of the entry level programs, CALLERLAB is adding eight calls to the Plus program beginning in 2026. This "new Plus" is intended to complement a "new Mainstream", which is envisioned as being the entry level for new square dancers world-wide. With a "new Mainstream" significantly smaller than classic Mainstream, and a "new Plus" slightly larger than classic Plus, these two programs will serve more distinctive roles than in the past:

New Mainstream, being smaller than classic Mainstream, will allow for shorter and more frequent beginner classes.
New Plus will be more appropriate for dancers who want to learn a significantly larger number of calls.

New Plus includes all the calls that were part of classic Basic, classic Mainstream, and classic Plus. The calls that were part of classic Basic or classic Mainstream but that are not included in "new Mainstream" are being relabeled to be part of the Plus list. None of that will change anything for current Plus dancers, who already have learned all of those calls.

However, dancers who previously learned all of those calls will need to learn eight more calls to dance "new Plus".

The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce those calls.

The descriptions provided here may not cover all of the ways that these calls could be used, but they should be enough for you to understand the basic idea of each call, and they do cover the kinds of cases that are most likely to come up in a dance.

Links are provided on each page to two sources that provide more details -- the call description pages on ceder.net and Taminations -- if you want to know more about these calls, or want to see more examples. Please make use of them if you have any questions, But don't feel that you need to read everything all at once. The descriptions in this tutorial should be enough to get you started dancing new Plus, and then you can always come back and read the rest later.

Note: This tutorial is not intended for dancers who are trying to learn Plus for the first time. Some of the descriptions assume knowledge of the calls that current Plus dancers already know. Dancers who are starting a Plus class in 2026 or thereafter should not have to worry about these calls being "new" -- they will likely be taught in such a class along with all the calls that were previously part of Plus.