Dance is his calling

Published 12:01 am Sunday, August 28, 2011

On New Year’s Day 49 years ago, Dave Harry pushed his shyness to the side and asked the adult if he could call the next square dance.

Harry was 13 years old. That adult said yes. From that point on, Harry had found his calling.

“I made it through and people encouraged me to continue,”

Harry said. “And here I am almost 50 years later still doing it.”

Harry is a square-dance caller, but not just someone who might get tossed a few bucks calling for clubs once or twice a week.

Oh, he does that too. But Harry found a rather remarkable full-time gig as a square-dance cal

ler.

He teaches.

This fall, Harry will begin teaching the allemande left and the dosadoes to students in 29 different schools in nine school districts, including Mukilteo, Edmonds, Marysville and South Whidbey.

Turns out, the state of Washington requires its students to complete a dance program of some kind before they graduate from high school.

As Harry puts it, because most PE teachers aren’t dance people, Harry’s talents as a square dancer, combined with his knack for getting along with kids, equaled success, a success he’s had with the school districts for more than 20 years.

Teachers and school administrators call Dave Harry the real deal.

“He’s able to get seventh- and eighth- and ninth-graders who are 12 and 15 to do things I couldn’t even imagine,” said Bridget Wheeler, who heads the Life Fitness Department for the Northshore School District. “These ninth-graders are learning 100 and 150 calls and that’s only in 10 days. He is amazing.”

Wheeler commented that though Harry might appear at first as a Milquetoast type of character — the classic skinny, bespectacled kind — his personality is so honest and genuine that he commands respect.

“They do exactly what he tells them,” Wheeler said. “I can’t say enough about Dave Harry.”

A few years back, Timbercrest Junior High in Woodinville awarded Harry the Acorn Award for his years of dedicated service.

“I’ve had three daughters go through his program,” said Timbercrest office manager Terri Weir. “And they will tell you to this day it was their favorite part of PE.”

Harry said he’s going to ride his success with school children for awhile, hoping to teach for another 20 years.

In life, he plans on going a lot longer than that.

“I plan on going 130 years. I’m 62,” Harry said with a lot of sincerity. “I get up in the morning and look forward to life.”

Harry’s wife, Bonnie, who he taught to square dance 44 years ago when she was 11, gave a knowing nod. The couple sat side by side in the living room of their Lake Serene home.

“He does have a positive attitude,” said Bonnie, 55.

The story of how this square-dancing school gig began is one of passion, and a little bit of foolishness.

Harry discovered square dancing at the age of 12 in Lynnwood. His best friend told him he had to try it.

“And I’ve been going ever since and I never stopped and it’s still just as exciting today as it was back when I was 12,” Harry said. “It never gets old.”

Harry took his love of square dancing into the college level as a vocal major in a music education program. But in the middle of his student teaching, Harry dropped out saying he didn’t have what it took to control the students.

He focused instead on square-dance calling, cavalierly quitting job after job if it got in the way, like his full-time job as apprentice cook at the Washington Athletic Club.

Harry said he knew his priority.

Then, as sometimes happens in life, the phone rang and everything changed.

Sammamish High School called Harry 29 years ago based on a recommendation and asked him to lead their hoedown. They were offering $35.

Harry suggested instead he would teach a 10-day square-dance program for the same amount. A deal was struck and Harry taught for 10 days and made $35 a day.

At the time, Harry was also Mr. Mom, caring for the couple’s 5-week-old daughter. She and daddy wound up doing the 10-day program together, with Harry changing diapers in between teaching the promenade.

The hoedown was a success. Then Bellevue High School called. Then Northshore School District, where today Harry teaches square dance to five junior high schools.

Harry admits that he has over the years had students who were not crazy about square dancing. But for the most part, especially in the Northshore District, ninth-graders have been known to wait to sign up for PE until Harry teaches the program.

“We rarely have a student who doesn’t want to take Dave’s class,” said the district’s Wheeler. “And still they are working really hard. We’ve put a heart rate monitor on these kids and they are working as hard as a 30-minute fitness run and they are sweating.

“I do the dances too and I am absolutely exhausted. But Dave, he just goes and goes.”

The irony of going from college drop-out to respected square-dance teacher is one of those full-circle deals that Harry mostly shrugs off.

He says he gets through to the tougher students by explaining to them that sometimes in life there will be things you won’t want to do.

But like chocolates, you sometimes have to sample from the box.

“Everybody has this idea that square dancing is old, it’s a history lesson, it’s dead, it’s square,” Harry said. “What I want to impress on my students is that you should sample everything in life, providing it’s legal, because you know, it might be something that you like so much, that you do it the rest of your life.”

How he keeps it all together

When Dave Harry isn’t on a gymnasium floor teaching tweens how to square dance, he calls dances for the Whirlybirds Square Dance Club and the Mount Vernon Singles.

When Bonnie Harry isn’t backing up her husband on drums during square dance club night, she runs the couple’s business, Petticoat Junction in Lynnwood, selling outfits and accessories to dancers of all types.

The couple explains that their square dance technique isn’t the traditional kind, but a type known as modern western square dancing.

Harry, who plays accordion and keyboards, said modern western can be set to any type of music, including hip hop. The tricky part of this method is that Harry makes dancers think. As the caller, he keeps the choreography a surprise and it’s generally “whatever comes to my mind at the moment.”

After nearly 50 years of calling, Harry can play an instrument, hold a conversation and hold the floor simultaneously.

It’s that kind of mental agility that Harry believes will keep him “young for another 100 years.”

“I truly believe if you square dance, you have a good chance you will live a lot longer and your mind is going to stay sharp a lot longer.”

For those interested in learning, Whirlybirds Square Dance Club meets ever third Saturday from September through May at The Hayloft RV Park, 15320 35th Ave. W., Lynnwood. Call Doug Keyes at 425-806-8423 or email dougkeyes@clearwire.net.