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Date: 10/5/2022
HUNTINGTON — Two square dance callers, Rich Sbardella of Stafford Springs, CT, and Gene King of Huntington, whose friendship goes back 30 years, reconnected at Stanton Hall on Oct. 1. Although the square dance that Sbardella was going to call for the Council on Aging had to be canceled due to too few signups, the two callers had a fine time catching up with each other.
Sbardella first met King 30 years ago at caller school in Sturbridge. At the time, King, who will be 92 in December and only recently retired from calling during COVID-19, had already been calling dances for about 10 years.
At the end of the Sturbridge school, King asked Sbardella if he could call two dances for him.
“I had to learn quickly,” Sbardella said, which motivated him to sit down with Hall of Fame caller Dick Leger, known as “the man with the guitar,” for his help.
“If Gene hadn’t asked me, I may have given up,” Sbardella said. Thirty years later, Sbardella is still at it, calling “all kinds of dances for all kinds of organizations,” including weddings, parties and contras.
Asked if he still goes dancing, King said, “Every chance I get.” He goes regularly on the second Friday of the month to Albany, NY, for square and round dancing, and on the fourth Friday to Chicopee for ballroom dancing.
Kathleen Peterson, director of the Huntington Council on Aging, was disappointed that not enough people signed up to make a square, which takes eight dancers. She said she may try again to schedule a square dance in Stanton Hall, if people express an interest in doing so.
Sbardella said sometimes it takes a group that gathers regularly to get it started, such as a bridge club. He also calls dances for the Massachusetts Airport Managers Association. Recently, he invited a group of homeschooling families to a square dance with seniors in Connecticut, and more than two dozen people participated.
Sbardella also had a regular dance in Stafford Springs with seniors, which grew from fewer than eight to a barn dance with nine squares. That dance stopped meeting due to COVID-19, but participants hope to restart it. Sbardella may be reached at richsbardella@gmail.com.
Peterson said the Council on Aging will be sponsoring a 1960s-themed dance in Stanton Hall in December.