I've had some interesting inquiries about my wheelchair square dancing program and thought I'd answer a few.

1. Q: Did you come up with this program on your own?  A: No, it's been around for years.  I just like to add my personal touch to it.  Understand there are wheelchair square dance clubs, where each of the dancers are in their chairs and are physically capable of maneuvering them on their own.  The program I run is mostly in the retirement facilities where the resident ( the rider ) is in their chair and the chaueffeur ( the driver ) does all of the steering.

Drivers in this photo are easier to see because they are wearing vests. Riders are wearing cowboy hats.

2. Q: How long have you been calling to the wheelchair square dancers and how did you get started? A: I started my programs in 1995, I first saw it in 1991 and experimented with a guinnea pig square in 1992 at a personal care home where my grandfather was a resident.  He used to dance with gramma when they were younger, and when he wasn't capable anymore, I brought the dancers into him at the center.

St. Patty's Dance, I'm the one with the green ballcap on backwards with my Shamrock Pants. You should see me do the Shamrock Shake. Sometimes I get angel dancers to perform a demo, then we do some wheelchairs.

3. Q: Do you always have the same Drivers/Pushers?  A: Sometimes.  It's great to have resident's families and friends join in on the fun, but mostly it is volunteers and staff from the facilities.  Just yesterday I was in Pittsburgh calling a dance and had 60 high school freshman maneuvering the wheelchairs.  It is a fantastic intergenerational program and the energy level was incredible.

Christmas Dance at a Nursing Center and this place always has half of the drivers who are regulars and the other half who are new.  Theme dances are almost always a hit.

4. Q: Do you call the same routine each time?  A: Not all the time.  Generally, I get to meet with the different groups once a month, quarterly or bi-monthly, so I like to add variety.  I dance them in regular squares, mini squares, baseball diamonds and sometimes even contra lines. Some like the same stuff because they don't want to learn a lot.  A couple of things that keep the program fresh are the theme dances and the potpourri of music I use.

I'm calling and dancing at the same time at this Halloween Dance. Funny, cause I have trouble walking and chewing gum without tripping.  I'm the one with the orange ballcap on backwards with headset mike.

5. Q: Have you ever had something happen that you weren't expecting?  A: All the time.  Being a caller means you have to wear lots of hats and have to be spontaneous.  Many things occur at these dances.  Let's just take the avenue of the vehicle transportation. Sometimes I have gerrybeds ( that's a bed on wheels ) dancing, motorized scooters and people in walkers that want to dance and this changes things quite a bit, especially my timing and delivery.

At this particular dance, we had all Women Drivers.  You should have seen the looks on some of the men's faces.  They were in the wheelchairs looking for seatbelts, it was hysterical.

Thank you so much for your questions.  They came in by emails and phone calls mostly.  If you have anymore questions please drop me a line.  Too see wheelchair square dancing in action, check out the videos at storytrax.  By the way, if you ever find yourself maneuvering the wheelchairs at one of my square dances, first of all, bless your heart and secondly, remember this activity is primarily for the resident.  If you get anything out of the program, please tell me about it.  I'm talking about anything other than a heck of a workout. :)