Hip to Be Square

They come from all walks of life to stomp, swing and sashay around a dance floor.

According to Open Square magazine, the official voice of square-dancing, 15 clubs are listed in the San Fernando Valley alone.

Jerry Kantor, a tax consultant and former president of the Granada Hills-based Trail Dusters square-dancers, the 260 couples in his group include lawyers, doctors, court reporters, teachers and aerospace technicians.

Most of the members are in their 50s, and they say square-dancing is not the result of a midlife crisis but something husbands and wives can do together and a way to make new friends.

“And,” Kantor said, “it’s good exercise too!”

Most couples don’t just go headlong into frilly skirts and western shirts, said Mitch Zoren, an aerospace programmer and former president of the Trail Dusters.

“Most of the wives, the first time they see the flouncy skirts with the 60 to 90 yards of petticoat material, say, ‘You’re not gonna get me to wear that outfit,’ ” said Jackie Kantor. “I know, because that’s what I said.”

“Now,” she said, “the closet is full of them”--at $60 to $145 each.

The fluffy skirts are an integral part of the art as women work them in a playful manner as they dance.

The costuming rules are simple: Women must wear skirts and the men must wear long-sleeved western shirts.

“That’s so the women won’t have to touch a sweaty arm,” Jackie Kantor said. Her husband added that women can wear short-sleeved blouses “because ladies don’t sweat--they glisten.”

The groups generally meet one night a week in a classroom session and then hold a monthly, full-dress dance.