Club of the week: Stanford Quads

I learned to dance at a small Mainstream-level club in south San Jose. When it came time that I should learn Plus, someone in that club suggested I should try Stanford Quads. This was a club where I could not only learn Plus, but I could re-learn everything from an APD perspective. (APD stands for All Position Dancing, a mode of dancing that allows a larger repertoire of dancing formations.)

When I started at Quads in the fall of 1986, they held three introductory nights on the deck outside the student union on the Stanford campus. It was fun dancing on the cement outside, dragging unsuspecting passers-by into the squares. After the intro nights, the club danced in the Old Student Union ballroom, a wonderful room with space for about ten squares on a wood floor, barre along the side walls and mirrors on the back wall. There was also a back room with couches where dancers could relax between tips.

Quads was always a peculiar club. Their classes included many students and even some faculty. Square dance attire was never required. Early on, the club always had more men than women in attendance. This required (or allowed) men to practice dancing as women. Of course, it wouldn't be fair if women couldn't therefore also dance as men. While caller John Sybalsky faithfully taught all his classes from an APD point of view, the ability of dancers to freely swap gender roles allowed reinforcement of the principles of APD.

Many challenge-level dancers enjoyed dancing at Quads. John almost always called multiple star tips after the Plus dance, especially during the summer after the beginner class had already graduated. Star tips frequently included A1, A2, C1, and C2. On rare occasions higher-level dancers would attend, and there might be C3 or C4 star tips. I recall one occasion during my first year at Quads that a large group of strangers showed up. They wore matching t-shirts with a spiral of stars, an arrow, and a sign saying "You are here." I called them the Space People. I quickly learned that they were great dancers and they could fix any problem in my square. Years later I learned that they were C4 dancers attending an annual C4 dance nearby.

Many of the bay area's best challenge-level dancers have had some association with Stanford Quads, either having started dancing there, or having practiced advanced and challenge dancing at the star tips there.

After John Sybalsky moved here from Massachusetts around 1980, he started Stanford Quads as a club modeled after the already-successful Tech Squares of MIT. John was already a notable C4 caller who had taught a series of C3 classes before moving to the west coast. The club hosted two beginner classes during the 1983-1984 season, and has hosted a beginner class every fall since then. The class
of 2005-2006 will be 24th class. John is a thorough but patient teacher who makes sure the class members are more than well prepared for the "real world" of Plus hoedowns.

Stanford Quads had to move off the Stanford campus after the earthquake of 1989 damaged the Old Union building. Since early 1990, they've been dancing at Fairmeadow School, near East Meadow and Middlefield in Palo Alto.

In 1996, cuer John Flora started teaching and cueing rounds at Quads. After seeing the early days of jeans and t-shirts, bare feet, and cross-sex dancing, round dancing seemed an unlikely direction for the club to take. But club members took to round dancing with the same enthusiasm they had for square dancing, and soon almost everyone had learned.

The highlight of the year for Quads members is the annual hoedown, which used to take place in early June right after class graduation, but now takes place in late September just before new beginner classes start. This year's hoedown takes place September 24, 2005, at St. Andrews Methodist Church on Alma Street in Palo Alto. A fun feature of the Quads hoedown is the full hour of star tips at the end. Even if you don't dance the higher levels, they can be fun to watch. Star tips start at A1 and continue up the levels until there are not enough dancers to field a square. As far as I recall, there has been only one year that failed to field a C4 square. Of course, the hoedown now also includes John Flora cueing pre-rounds and rounds between tips.