This section is intended to give current square dancers and callers some insight into how Mini-Squares was conceived and designed. Those new to square dancing might want to skip this page.

The Mini-Squares CD is organized in 6 Steps.

Each Step introduces 2, 3, or 4 new calls, and each Step has several sequences associated with it which review the new calls plus all the calls from all the previous Steps.
The following table displays Mini-Squares' organization.
 Step No.of
New Calls		 New Calls Introduced No.of
Sequences
1 4 Quarter In/Out, Partner Trade, Pass Thru, Square Thru 8
2 3 Touch ¼, Scoot Back, U-turn Back 8
3 4 Pass the Ocean, Swing Thru, Explode, Hinge 8
4 4 Left Swing Thru, Cast Off ¾
Fan the Top, Square Thru Variations		 8
5 3 Follow Your Neighbor, Spread, Leads Run 12
6 2 Spin the Top, Step and Fold 16
 
Here are some of our reasons for selecting these particular calls.
1. Our overall purpose is NOT necessarily to provide a teaching tool that leads directly to the Mainstream or Plus level. Rather, our purpose is to demonstrate to people how much fun square dancing can be, to whet their appetites, so to speak.
2. In general, these calls are fun to dance. Square Thru is the key call. It provides interaction of people, significant movement, variation, and it's fun to dance. Hence, we want to introduce it immediately.
3. None of the calls requires more than 4 people – an obvious necessity in Mini-Squares!
4. None of the calls is gender or sex-related (like Star Thru and Slide Thru).

Throughout Mini-Squares we strive to eliminate as many barriers to square dancing as possible. By eliminating gender-related calls, we remove the necessity of each mini-square needing precisely two male and two female participants. For example, it will be more acceptable to children if they aren’t required to assume the other gender’s role – think about 4 ten year-old boys! In addition, this makes it very simple to re-dance the sequences by dancing in a different position, which is an excellent additional learning tool.
5. All the calls are taken from the Mainstream and Plus lists, with two exceptions – the first and the last, Quarter In/Out and Step and Fold.

We needed a choreographic tool in the first Step to allow maneuvering dancers and to resolve the sequence with only four calls at our disposal – hence the inclusion of Quarter In/Out. The last call, Step and Fold, provides an entirely different movement and allows a much-needed additional way of converting a wave to a box of four. Additionally, for dancers that have the ability to make it to the 6th Step, it isn’t a hard call.
6. We eliminated any calls whose names seem to reinforce the "barn dance" or "turkey in the straw" image that modern square dancing has unfortunately (and inaccurately) acquired. This public perception of modern square dancing is arguably the greatest barrier to new dancers joining our hobby.

This page copyrighted © by P. Galburt and B. Heimann, last revision March 29, 1999