Last Modified: Monday, July 23, 2012 11:20 AM

By Warren Arceneaux / American Press

WESTLAKE — The Swinging Rebels Square Dance Club is both helping to keep a dying art form alive and serving as a social center and workout facility for the group’s members, who meet each Thursday night.

Leading the group is caller/instructor Chuck Burnum, whose duties include teaching the steps to members, then taking the microphone and calling them out while the music plays.

Burnum drives in from Lafayette each week to keep his love affair with square dance going.

It was love of another kind that got Burnum started.

“I got involved when I was a teenager and have been calling for 21 years,” he said. “I always enjoyed watching the callers, I would see what they did and think ‘I want to do that.’ I still dance, too, but my favorite thing to do is teach. I have been doing that the whole 21 years I have been calling. Each of the steps are taught one-by-one, then my job is the put them together. Most of the time I will do them as I go, but sometimes I will have them planned. I first got interested because my girlfriend’s father was a teacher in Alexandria. I wanted to get in good with him, so we started taking lessons. It helped, I ended up marrying her.”

Most of Burnum’s calls are made on the fly, meaning he has to choreograph the dances in his mind before issuing instructions to the dancers.

“It is a challenge, but an enjoyable one,” he said. “It took a while to get the hang of calling, it was a slow process, probably a couple of years. But, I had dancers that put up with me, going slow and helping me out by being my guinea pigs. Dancers are probably the best people in the world. You don’t meet any bad square dancers. I liked it from the first day. Normally, it is hard to get they guys up there for the first time, but if you do, they normally like it more than the girls. Once you get up there, it is very enjoyable.”

Burnum said it hurts to see the dance form going out of style.

“It is becoming a lot less popular, I hate to see it, it is almost dying out,” he said. “I wish we could get it going again. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, about the time the John Travolta movie “Urban Cowboy” was out, was probably the most popular it has been. It is slowly dying out; it is hard to get young people involved. It is good exercise, it is good for your mind. Young kids pick it up like that. It would take half the time to teach kids. I had a teenage group when I first started and they were very good; I could hardly keep up with them. The hardest thing is getting them up here. Normally, if they come here, they have a good time and will come back.

“I love this group, they are such nice people. They welcomed me with open arms.”

Group member Irene Sotomayor has been involved for more than three decades.

“I have been dancing off and on for 35 years,” she said. “I talked my husband into taking classes back when we were in California. I like the dressing up. I am just now getting back involved after 15 years. I have been here since February. I am a widow and was just looking for something to get me out of the house. The club has been very open and has provided me with a partner. People have given up their partners so there could be somebody to dance with me. It is a good exercise, it is easy to learn. Chuck is an excellent caller and is a good teacher. My favorite memories are of dancing with my husband, Ben.”

Fredericka Gorum serves as vice president of the group.

“I have been in the group for eight years,” she said. “My husband and I saw an ad in the paper and liked dancing and gave it a shot. We had been doing country and western dancing, but loved square dancing right away. The people were so nice, we felt like we had known them forever. It took us a while to catch on, but everyone was so nice and patient with us. It was just a matter of repeating things until we had the hang of it. By the end of the first year, we had everything down. “

Gorum said the group occasionally visits other dance clubs in the state and eastern Texas.

“We usually go and dance with their caller, visit between tips and have a good time. We do a few exhibitions, we did one at Moss Bluff Elementary, they seemed to enjoy it, but the girls were more interested in our skirts and petticoats. We also did one at Our Lady Queen of Heaven. We enjoy doing them because we hope to get more people to come out.”

Susie Knowles is a relative newcomer, joining last year to dance with her dad and longtime club member Carl Newhouse.

“I have been dancing about a year, my husband Reggie and I took the lessons last year and are doing them again,” she said. “We watched Mom and Dad dance all these years, and make these lasting friendships. After Mom passed away, my sisters and I were concerned about him staying active, and we wanted to participate in the things he enjoyed doing. We realized how much fun it was and decided to stay with it. I have enjoyed it more than I expected. It is a lot of fun. Dad knows the dances frontwards and backwards. He has good rhythm and knows where everybody is supposed to be, I really enjoy dancing with him.”

Newhouse had danced for more than 30 years.

“I began dancing in 1981,” he said. “My wife, Rosie, drug me to it. It took me a couple of days before I started liking it. I liked the fellowship. Susie is doing good, she is learning.”

Earl Balser got his start overseas.

“I have been dancing for 60 years or more. I started in the military, they were having square dancing in the servicemen’s club,” he said. “When they all got up to dance, my wife and I were the only two sitting down. They needed one more couple, so they told us to get up there. We messed the square up because we did not know what we were doing, but it worked out that we were so interested, we starting going three times a week for 20 years. My wife, Mary, was a good dancer, she was pretty sharp. I met her in Scotland, we were married there right before I was shipped home.”

Balser has just returned to the dance floor after recovering from a leg injury.

“I had fallen about six months ago and had injured my knee real bad,” he said. “Tonight was the first time I got back and did a full square, and boy I was huffing and puffing. That tells you it is good exercise. It feels good to be back out there.”

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The Swinging Rebels Square Dance Club gathers weekly on Thursdays, 7-9 p.m., 809 Mulberry, Westlake. For more information on the club, call 855-9303.