Hi Dancers! Recently at our DBD Dance By Definition a question was posed.

Is there a difference between the 6 couple squares and the hexagons? YES! 

The kind of dancing we dance for a star tip on Thursday nights is a 6 couple square. That consists of 4 couples at the Heads spots and 2 couples at the Sides position. Remsembling a rectangle, if you will.          There are four head couples (couples 1, 2, 4, and 5) and two side couples (couples 3 and 6). Calls are generally executed normally, however, calls such as Double Pass Thru become Triple Pass Thru. On the call Right & Left Grand, go two extra hands.

Hexagon dancing is actually in the shape of a true hexagon. What makes the degree of difficulty is that in regular square dancing a dancer is either facing a HEAD wall or a SIDE wall most of the time, and not working on a diagonal. With true hexagons, 4 couples are facing on a 45 degree angle, which gives the formations a triangle look and/or a Y set up. Without boggling your mind too much, here is a clip of explaining True Hexagons at a convention. Watch the entire thing and see if you understand it better. The thing that would make this video 100% better would be a camera facing down on the dancers suspended from the ceilng and a wide screen camera. Also, note, that the caller in this video is just as confused as the dancers.  When he calls and ALL 8 CIRCULATE, technically it should be ALL 12 CIRCULATE Hexagons can be tougher than dancing CHALLENGE dancing. I danced it at a Caller's Convention in Louisville, KY with all callers and we kept breaking down. But we were laughing pretty hard. IF YOU ARE A NON-DANCER, AND REALLY LOVE PUZZLES, THIS TYPE OF SQUARE DANCING IS JUST WHAT YOUR BRAIN NEEDS. ALSO, MOST OF THE TIME WE AVERAGE ABOUT 2 SQUARES, AND SOMETIMES DANCERS WANT TO TAKE BREAKS. SO, WE DANCE 6 COUPLES, WHICH IS A SQUARE AND A HALF. I will leave you dancers with this in depth look at Hexagons, by one of our gifted callers in our activity, Clark Baker from New England. This may help because of the diagrams and explanations. And, if you understand it, please explain it to me. http://www.tiac.net/~mabaker/hexagon.html