As more than 3,000 square dancers from around the world gathered in Waco last week for their annual convention, the spotlight was on the next generation.
“We need the youth,” said Gary Lester, who serves as co-chair of the National Square Dance Convention with his wife, Claudia. “We need their energy.”
The event marked one of the Waco Convention Center’s biggest-ever events, but the convention has seen attendance decline in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic. The estimated average age of square dancers is 60.
Organizers said they worked to make it easier for children and young dancers to attend.
“We want to see this continue,” Claudia Lester said. “And how else could I make that happen but offer it free to all those we need? We need the young people to take it over.”
To attract more young dancers, she asked adults who canceled their registrations to donate the entry fee to cover under-18 registrations.
That’s a mission College Station resident and lifelong square dancer Matt Whiteacre feels strongly about.
“I’ve seen squares with three generations of people dancing in them,” Whiteacre said. “I’ve known people from literally a hundred years old who still danced down to my daughter at seven.”
Whiteacre said square dancing doesn’t have to be done to traditional country music.
“I’ve danced to the Rolling Stones, “Satisfaction,” a lot of Styx and Kansas and Beach Boys,” he said. “You have to go where the people are, not physically, but environmentally, socially and convince the young people that it’s fun.”
The Lesters organized two teen dance sessions for young dancers to do just that. Joshua Ransom, 18, helped lead those sessions. He was one of the youngest callers at the convention.
“It’s one of the best communities I’ve ever been a part of,” Ransom said.
He traveled to Texas from Tennessee with seven other members of the Young at Heart dance club. Initially hesitant to start calling, he was convinced to become a caller to save his club.
“I knew that if I could learn to call, I could bring people together and put a smile on people’s faces,” Ransom said.
Riley Wilson, 20, also from the Young at Heart dance club, is a third-generation square dancer from Fort Mill, South Carolina.
“It kind of keeps the family tradition,” she said about dancing at the national convention. “It’s great to have that experience and see new places and keep [square dancing] going as a young person.”
The Waco Bridge's Justin Hamel provided photographs and additional reporting for this story.
