Hayshaker dancers Sylvia Davis and Wayne Wood will twirl and promenade at this year's Seaside Sashay. Photo illustration by Lori Assa.

SEASIDE – Square dancers Sylvia Davis and Wayne Wood twirled, marched and finally bowed to each other as they demonstrated square dancing.

“People say I have a grin on my face all the time while I’m dancing,” said Davis, vice president of the Hayshaker Square Dance Club. “It’s just fun and it’s good exercise. I don’t know why I’m grinning. It’s just fun.”

The Seaside Sashay, sponsored by the club and the Seaside Chamber of Commerce, is in its fourth year and already has 198 dancers signed up to participate Friday and Saturday, Oct. 22 and 23. Events will include dancing in circles and in squares, in basic, or mainstream, and plus dancing. The plus dancing, which Davis said was the most exciting to watch, will be held from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Turnaround on Broadway Drive next to the beach, weather permitting.

“Everyone stops and looks,” Davis said. “They really like that level.”

Square dancers fill the floor of the Seaside Civic and Convention Center at a previous Seaside Sashay. Photo courtesy of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce.In case of rain, events will be held in the Seaside Civic and Convention Center at 415 First Ave.

The event is open to the public. Tickets for both days are $17 in advance or $20 at the door and can be bought at www.seasidechamber.com

“A lot of people have square dancing in high school and they hate it, so it’s a turnoff,” Davis said. “But I’ve found that if men like it, they like it even better than the women.”

Wood agreed, saying he can’t keep the rhythm of any other type of dance.

Square dance callers use diagrams like this one to chart the flow of dancers from one call to the next. Graphic from www.all8.com”You can have two left feet and you don’t have to have rhythm,” Davis said.

She also said the group tries to play interesting and non-corny music for their dances.

“It’s not the really boring stuff from clear back when,” she said.

Daryl Clendenin and Scott Zinser will be the callers for the Sashay, announcing what step is next for the square dancers. Debbie Taylor, a cuer, will fulfill the same function for the round dances.

Davis said the club holds amateur calling once a year, but she has a difficult time staying on the beat when she tries it. If a caller gets off the beat, it is very obvious, she said. However, she said she still enjoys it.

The Seaside Sashay will give dancers a chance to twirl this Friday and Saturday. Photo courtesy of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce.”I’m basically a really shy person, and yet when I get up there and do it, it’s really fun,” Davis said.

Davis said she has been a square dancer since 1992.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s really been a major part of my life for 12 years now.”

Wood, the sheriff of the club, said he has been dancing since 1971.

The club has about 32 members, which is considered a small group, Davis said. The club performs for the Fourth of July and has performed at Providence Seaside Hospital and two senior centers.

Wood said as sheriff, he can fine club members a quarter for such offenses as forgetting to wear their badges to practice or for not promenading long enough in the dances.

The official organization of square dance callers, CALLERLAB, sets universal standards for calls and offers training programs for new callers. Graphic from www.callerlab.org”It’s all in fun,” he said. “It’s not criminal.”

The club’s regular practices are open to spectators at the Pacific Grange at 90475 U.S. Highway 101 between Seaside and Astoria, on the first and third Saturdays of each month. Davis said the club welcomes new members.

“It’s not hard, but we do request that you take lessons first,” she said.

She said if there is enough interest, the club could start a lesson series in January, which would take about four months and cost $3 each session.

Square dancing is Oregon’s official state dance and the national folk dance. The 54th National Square Dance Convention will be held in Portland in June, Davis said. People will come from across the country. The club is planning for 200 recreational vehicles to travel from St. Louis, Mo., to Astoria and camp at the Clatsop County Fairground for three days before going on to Portland.

Square dancers like Sylvia Davis and Wayne Wood will have a chance to promenade on the Promenade this Friday and Saturday. Photo by Lori Assa.”If you see a couple hundred people dancing, it’s really exciting,” Davis said.

Those interested in learning to square dance can call Sylvia Davis at (503) 861-1772 or Kathy Worthington, the president of the club, at (503) 861-2726.