About...Dave Muller Picture

Dave started as a child…. “Fast forwarding” a bit, Dave has been loving square dancing for a long time.  Dancing at 12 and calling at 18, he just loves the activity of “friendship set to music” and giving the dancers a good time. 

Dave will tell you what counts after the dance… “It really matters to me how people feel at the end of the night as they get in their cars to go home.”  A good time out will have the dancers coming back.  If you want real fun, a good time of square dancing from a caller taught by the best, call Dave today!

People count to Dave.  He is picky about his choreography but most important to him is the feelings of all those out to enjoy themselves.  He has the attitude that everyone is there for THEIR entertainment and could easily be somewhere else.  “Feelings” count, as no matter the dance simplicity or mental challenge, everyone will feel good about the time dancing to Dave.

Call, email, write, send a messenger pigeon… let Dave know you want him to call for you.  If the date can’t match up with your event, he will help you find a good and fun caller for you.

New to square dancing?

“Square dancing is a party time every time you do it Square dancing brings people together for fun and fellowship – even when learning how.  The fun starts right on the very first night.  You meet new people and make new friends.  And the fn keeps right on going as long as you do – most square dance groups meet once a week.  It is a wonderful way to share common interests with other people, and to escape the worry and pressures of today’s busy world.”*

Modern square dancing is a mental and physical challenge for all ages.  It is dancing, thinking “on your feet” and real teamwork of performing shapes with others… all this done at once.

How is this done?  One square dance call at a time.  The caller will teach the simplest call of identifying who you are to a “split counter rotate with a half twist on an axis”.  Actually the latter call was made up.  The dancers don’t learn a routine of calls.  They learn call by call and let the caller “make up the dance” right there, in front of everyone with all the dancers enjoying the choreography to the music with their dancing with each other, having fun with each other.

If you have never danced before, call Dave and he will tell you how much fun you can have just by showing up.

*CALLERLAB New Song and Dance Routine publication

Are you are square dancer?  Then Dave is the caller for you.  He loves good body flow and keeping the dancers moving.  When he dances, he falls asleep if the caller has him stand there for a long time while he explains who turns around while others jump up and down.  When he calls, he loves to give the dancers enough of a challenge to think about their position and formation and let them dance.  He NEVER enjoys breaking down a square.

Dave is a patient man.  He loves classes and workshops.  He respects the dancers who are there to have fun first and learn more about their own dancing.  But also, in a class of any sort, people make friends faster by helping each and learning as real teamwork takes over for accomplishment of the square.  On the selfish side of life, Dave says, “I feel so good and accomplished if I add to the dancers’ enjoyment and learning experience”.

Who should call Dave for a dance from a Fun Nite through A2….. Easy answer…. EVERYONE

History

Back in 1966 my twin sister wanted to take square dance lessons at the local teen square dance club, the Shirts ‘N Skirts, in Northampton, Mass. We were 12 at the time and back then, square dancing was a “real” thing to do. There were many teen clubs and teen callers. I knew many of those callers, some calling today like Will Larsen, Jack O’Leary, Bruce McCue and so many other good callers.

Along with the teen club, we volunteered at the local state hospital dancing with the patients. The club was known as the Hilltop Squares. This group met every Wednesday night. All the callers volunteered and came from all over New England. The lineup included local and well known callers. We danced 10 – 15 squares but over time that number dwindled, especially after the state placed many patients in “halfway houses”. In later years, I became the only caller for the group with a select group of volunteers because of so few patients.

The Hilltop Squares shaped my appreciation for people and teaching. At the age of 15, Robert Myers, the group coordinator, explained to me how much these patients looked forward to the Wednesday night dance. He also told my how “down” the patients could get on themselves if they didn’t dance well. He showed me how valuable self confidence is in dancing and in later years, everything else. Robert Myers showed me that everyone, regardless of education, handicaps, background have the same issues, just to different degrees. That valuable lesson taught me the patience to teach with enthusiasm, enjoyment, and appreciation of success.

At 18 I started calling “fun nights” with my 25 watt Newcomb, $5.00 microphone, and Newcomb speakers. Eventually I worked up to a 40 watt Newcomb and $20.00 homemade column speakers. I called for church groups and other gatherings, mainly of teens and college students. By that time I was dancing at the Heymakers SDC at the University of Mass. at Amherst, Mass. I picked the brains of local callers who genuinely did everything to help: Buddy Dow, Del Barone, and Bob Howard.

I was in awe and that was just the beginning of appreciation of calling as the years passed. I watched and learned from Red Bates, Earl Johnston, Al Brundage, and Dick Leger. My first caller’s school was Dick Leger in New Hampshire in 1976. Dick taught me timing phrasing, skills never taught anywhere else in calling, at least not to the intensity he taught. I learned to prompt contras and learned how to listen to music, the skill, most valuable in using music as a square dance caller.

Eventually I attended the finest school ever, Earl and Johnston and Al Brudgage in 1979 and 1980. By that time I graduated four classes with the Swinging Sweethearts in Shelburne Falls, Mass and the two at the Heymakers and Umass. Teachers included Clint McLean and Jim Mayo. I still remember lessons that shaped my calling from these teachers.

Jim Hilton sold my my Micro 75 in 1977 and Earl Johnston some me my Yak Stack, both of which I have today, although use a much larger Hilton today. Both companies shaped square dance sound and I am proud to know their originators and histories.

Through the years I taught lessons for may clubs from the CALLERLAB Programs Basic through A2. New England was very good to me guest calling up to 135 – 150 nights a year. I called with icons of calling whom I always respected, liked, and was in awe. Calling with them was a privilege and they made me feel “ten feet tall”, as they made me look good. Thank you Red Bates, John Hendron, Jim Pulaski, the late Dick Leger, and so many more.

In 2001 I came to Southeast Alabama in Enterprise. I came close to my twin sister after so many years. Right now I call from Pensacola, Florida, through Alabama, Eastern Georgia, and South Carolina. I teach for the Swinging Squares in Panama City, Florida and in January 2008 I will be calling for the Dixie Plus dancers in Montgomery, Alabama.

Some southern callers have been very good, and generous to me, such as Willis Simmons, Larry Belcher, and Bob Poyner.

I love to teach and workshop. I love to call and have the dancers actually dance. I am not one to have some dancers just stand there while the caller tells who is holding hands and to turn a quarter, then others “do this” and just slowly move little chess pieces. Definitions used as intended and not exaggerated beyond the “danceability” is what I am about. Please call me for fun with a little challenge for dances, lessons, workshops, or “fun nites”.