If Sheldon Lawrence tells you to dive for the oyster and dig for the clam, he’s not giving you directions to find shellfish.
Lawrence is an acclaimed square dance caller, and his colorful patois is all part of the job. Or rather passion for a Wichitan who’s been spreading his love of square dancing for half a century.
“I don’t know how many thousands of people I’ve taught how to square dance over the last 50 years, but it’s a lot,” Lawrence said.
He will teach a few more as part of a Chautauqua being held Oct. 3 and 4 at Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine. The event will feature clinics, workshops and lectures on a variety of topics. At 6 p.m. Oct. 3, Lawrence and a live string band will lead an old-fashioned barn dance on the arboretum’s grand lawn.
Lawrence traces his love of square dancing back to the 1940s, when he’d spend summers at his grandparents’ place near Eureka. Residents of several counties gathered at a community center to dance.
“They would take me and find a little girl, and she and I square danced,” he said. “Anybody could just get in and do it.”
As it happened, the caller for those dances was a man named John Carr, who ran the road grader from Eureka to Teeterville, right by Lawrence’s summer home.
“He would stop, and I would go out and get in the road grader, and he’d call all these old calls as we’d go up to Teeterville and back,” Lawrence said. “I loved the guy. I learned a lot.”
Those early lessons came back to Lawrence when he started calling dances himself in 1971. He later added clogging to his repertoire after seeing it done during a national square dancing convention. In the 1980s, Lawrence and his wife, Cindy, organized a youth clogging group called the Air Cap Tappers that performed around the country, winning several contests, and regularly in Wichita. In 1986, their daughter, Debbie, and a partner finished second on the finals of “Dance Fever,” a popular syndicated television show.
Retired from Learjet, where he headed computer operations, Lawrence at one time traveled a five-state area to call square dances on weekends. He regularly calls dances for the West Side Steppers, and he and Cindy enjoy dancing themselves.
Lawrence said there are several different styles of square dancing, and the “old-time” style he’ll call for the arboretum’s barn dance is the easiest of all to learn.
“You don’t have to know anything” to participate, he said.
Lawrence said his family has an interesting connection to the arboretum. His father courted his mother there, taking her on canoe rides along the stream that runs through the property.
And he won’t be surprised if the barn dance produces a few converts to his favorite pastime.
“First off, it’s a lot of fun,” he said. “It helps you stay young. You meet a lot of new people who become friends. You can have the most stressful job in the world, but if you come square dancing, you’re going to forget about your stress and walk out of there feeling real good.”
Bartlett Arboretum Chautauqua
The Chautuaqua movement was started in the late 1880s to promote community education and culture, expanding from New York across the country. The Bartlett Arboretum’s inaugural Chautauqua will be held across its landscaped 20-acre grounds Oct 3-4.
Highlights in addition to the barn dance include:
• Yoga on the lawn both days
• Workshops and presentations
• Saturday Stone Soup Supper
• Sunday morning church service
• Sunday concert with Mo Pitney
Tickets are $25 per day for adults or $40 for the weekend. They can be purchased on the day(s) of the event. For a complete schedule, advance tickets or to pre-register for workshops, visit barlettarboretum.com.
