Articles -- Challenge - Technical Papers

Basic Positions and Movements for Challenge Dancers by Charles Young: Many Challenge dancers do not understand basic square dancing positions and movements. This paper is written to clarify dancer positions for Challenge dancers.
Choreographic Rules of Flow in Square Dancing www.lynette.org by Lynette Bellini: These are my rules of flow in square dancing.
Dancing the Matrix Concept www.lynette.org by Sue Curtis: This paper describes a method of thinking about the Matrix concept.
Disconnected Concept by Charles Young: This commentary has four sections. The first was written by Linda Kendall and was printed in Zip Coder in 1998. The second was written by Bill Ackerman and posted to Lynette Bellini's web site in September 2002. The third part is a summary of the rules developed in Linda's and Bill's articles and email discussions on the challenge-sd email service. Diagrams are provided to illustrate these rules. The fourth part provides additional diagrams about the Disconnected concept.
Jay Concept by Charles Young: An explanation of the Jay Concept.
Multiple Formations Working Everywhichway www.lynette.org by William B. Ackerman and J. Eric Brosius: These concepts generalize the existing concept Triple Boxes Working Together and also expand and clarify the Grand and Triple Lines concepts.
Once Removed Dance Strategies by Charles Young: A discussion of the definition of Once Removed, problems with the Once Removed concept, and strategies which may be used to dance this concept. Many diagrams are included.
Once Removed Notes and Diagrams by Charles Young: The Once Removed concept is one of the hardest and least understood concepts in Challenge square dancing. This paper provides an explanation of this concept for most of us. This will be done by showing sample calls with some discussions of the nuances of the examples including discussion of the strategy to be used for the call.
Parallelograms and Offset Lines | Columns www.ceder.net by Keith Rubow: How to successfully dance the more difficult Parallelogram and Offset Line/Column calls.
Parallelograms and Offsets Notes and Diagrams by Charles Young: There are some basic facts about parallelograms that must be understood if you are to become competent in the use of the concept.
Positional Awareness in Challenge Square Dancing by Charles Young: Square dancers require a significant awareness of what is going on in their square at all times. "Positional Awareness" requires detailed knowledge of the following: 1) the starting formation for the call 2) the definition of the call and how the call is danced from the starting formation 3) how, when and where to move in the mechanics of the call 4) formation to end up in at the end of the call.
Rotates by Jimmy Davis: This book on Rotates is a comprehensive study including directions, teaching hints, diagrams, and choreography by the author of the call/concept himself.
Split Phantom Lines / Columns by Charles Young: A list of the things you must know when you do Split Phantom concept calls.
Square Breathing by Charles Young: Breathing is the expansion and decrease of the size of the formation as we execute a call. We breathe all the time while dancing but never think about it. It is important to successful dancing to be aware of breathing and to be able to do it well.
Square Breathing by Barry Lieba: A lot has been said over the past couple of years about square breathing and the importance of keeping it in mind when one is dancing. Still, I see two kinds of situations where dancers continue to have problems with it - and in the second situation many callers also have trouble.
Star Wars - When Meta-Concepts and Supercalls Collide www.lynette.org by Bill Heimann: Callers have begun combining meta-concepts with supercalls.
Star Wars ? The Sequel or When Meta-Concepts and Supercalls Collide www.wmk2.com by Bill Klein: (after the original work of Bill Heimann see: http://www.lynette.org/starwars.html )
Stretch Concepts For Most of Us by Charles Young: There are three Stretch concepts; Stretch itself, Stretched Box ans Stretched Line/Wave. Each of these concepts has its own rules and strategies for dancing. Some of the dancing strategies are applicable to more than one of these concepts.
Supercalls www.lynette.org by Lynette Bellini: A class of calls which fall in a currently undefined region between call and concept.
Supercalls: A new class of concepts www.lynette.org by Dan Neumann: Calls can become concepts!
The 3 by 1 Concept www.lynette.org by Sue Curtis: This definition accurately describes previously-used calls such as Checkmate (and even Transfer!) and allows the 3 by 1 concept to be applied to many other calls.
The 3 By 3 Concept www.lynette.org by Sue Curtis: The 3 by 3 concept clarifies the 12 Matrix concept since it provides a well-defined method of converting 8-person calls to 12-person calls.
The Challenge Dancing Handbook fortytwo.ws by Clark Baker: Clark Baker's definitive work on Challenge Dancing written in 1978. Including discussions on Naming Conventions, Setups and Formations, Descriptive Terminology, Concepts, Extensions and Variations, Calls and more.
The Fractional Twosome Concept www.lynette.org by Scott Morton and Sue Curtis: The Fractional Twosome Concept is a new method of working jointly with another dancer.
The Rewind Concept www.lynette.org by J. Eric Brosius: You may have seen diagrams that explain calls using little pictures of dancers with arrows showing the paths one takes when dancing the calls. What if the arrows went in the opposite direction?
The Scatter Concept www.lynette.org by Dan Neumann: SCATTER is a motion-based concept where the leaders in a wave (or line) who would normally flip over into their partner's space, dance to the spot that the other lead would normally flip into and adopt the identity of that dancer.
The Single Concept www.lynette.org by J. Eric Brosius: A proposed definition of "Single".
The Straight Concept www.lynette.org by Dan Neumann: An extension of the call "Straight Fire".
The Twisted Concept fortytwo.ws by Clark Baker: A concept that can be used with any call whose active's initial dance action contains a pass thru, pull by, touch, or single circling action.