This blog post is from our special friend Sarah Kate Morgan who helps instruct at the Carcassonne Pick & Bow and who is also a world renowed Dulcimer player and all around musical powerhouse who's work can be found at: https://www.sarahkatemorgan.com/
It’s Not a Place… It’s a Feeling: Lessons Learned from the Carcassonne, KY Square Dance
Sarah Kate Morgan
Every time I make the drive to the top of Carcassonne mountain in Letcher county, I feel like I’m leaving a burden behind. The Carcassonne Community Center is not really the kind of place you pass by on your way to somewhere else. It’s more of a pilgrimage.
Every month on the second Saturday, folks make this pilgrimage to attend the longest running square dance in Kentucky. A one-lane mountain road will lead you on a winding path through the
eastern Kentucky mountains, past a beautiful primitive Baptist church with peeling white paint, through closed-in hollers with sunlight filtering through dense rhododendrons. Suddenly, the sky opens up and you’ll find yourself on the bald top of strip job, a simultaneous bizarre and
beautiful scene. That’s when you know you’re close.
After a very sharp turn onto Square Dance Road, you’ll be greeted by an ascent up the gravel drive to what was once a one-room schoolhouse. Roofus, the fluffy golden retriever, ambles up to greet you while children run wild on the playground and in the surrounding woods. Mike,
Gabe, Manual, and a few other colorful characters will be swapping tales in the parking lot while Karen and Paula are cooking something delicious. Chicken and dumplings, baked spaghetti, or homemade cake swimming in warm chocolate gravy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream will give
you all the energy you need to dance the evening away. Once inside, you’ll hear the sounds of fiddles and banjos and a large booming voice declaring, “I’ll swing yours, you swing mine! Now
gimme back mine and everybody SWING!”
I’ve been studying the Kentucky Big Set style of square dancing for several years now, seeking to improve my skills as a dance caller. And by studying, I mean mostly being a 3rd wheel to Will Bowling and his wife Maggie. I scratch down what notes I can catch between the dances Will
calls, capturing and transcribing recordings of his calling. This year, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to dive deeper into this tradition through a Kentucky Arts Council Traditional Arts Mentorship grant. My goal has been to learn and document this dance style unique to Eastern
Kentucky, centered around the longest running square dance in Kentucky at the Carcassonne Community Center.
The Kentucky Big Set in particular, is a rare style of calling, unique to this region and is the only style of dancing done up at Carcassonne. Kentucky Big Set dances are done in one big circle as opposed to the traditional 8-person squares. When teaching others this style of dance, I often say
“this is a chain reaction; you will watch the dance come to you” A lead couple is chosen, usually the caller and their partner; both Will and I call from the floor as did Will’s mentor, Charlie Whittaker. The lead couple goes off the right and joins the second couple in line, making a circle
of four. They dance the figure, followed by a break figure of the Kentucky Do-Si-Do, neighbor swing and a partner swing, which then flows smoothly into a promenade. From there, the next
couple in line peels off to their right and repeats the figure. This “chain reaction” makes it’s way around the big circle and back to the lead couple where Will will announce with a loud holler,
“changing up the call!” And so the pattern repeats with a new figure.
Some of my favorite Carcassonne dance figures are “Chase the Rabbit Chase the Squirrel”, “Four Leaf Clover” and “Sow the Wheat, Mow the Clover”. Folks have been dancing in this style up at Carcassonne since the mid-30’s. I asked Manual Vanderpool, long-time resident of Carcassonne and farmer, what is the secret of the Carcassonne
Square Dance longevity, “It’s the people. At the end of the day, it’s a volunteer ran organization and that’s the difference. People want to be there. They are not motivated by income, or anything
other than just seeing this tradition survive and continue. But it’s the people and their acceptance
of everyone. People can be who they are and enjoy the music, food, and people… Carcassonne isn’t really a place, it’s a feeling”.
Square dancing, at it’s best, is pure joy. Creating that joy is the best part of being a caller. Maybe I’m delusional, but I think square dancing and chocolate gravy would solve most of our societal
problems of the 21st century. In an increasingly lonely and disconnected world, square dances pushes folks outside of their comfort and towards other people. It requires communication and
improvisation, letting go of your mistakes and quickly forgiving the mistakes of others. And those are lessons that last long after the band has gone home and the last bit of chocolate gravy
has been scooped from the pot.