Natalie's Everyday Heroes: Milwaukee hosts National Square Dance Convention for first time in 45 years

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee has hosted a number of high-profile events this year. There's one you might not have heard of, though. Just before the Republican National Convention, thousands of people came in from across the country for the 73rd National Square Dance Convention.

This week's everyday heroes helped bring it back to Milwaukee for the first time in 45 years.

"Forward and back, and side to the right," a caller tells the dancers.

Starting off slowly makes dancing look easy.

"Paddle around," she commands. 

Add a little music, and you're off.

"Step together, step," the caller said. 

According to Karen Gulbrand, "If you can walk, you can square dance."

Her advice: just follow the caller.

"The main thing is, you have to be able to listen," she stressed.

Gulbrand and her husband, Ellery, have been dancing for decades. 

"It seems complicated when you start, when you first start," he said. 

They started square dancing in the 1970s.

"Friends of ours who asked us if we wanted to go along one night to a dance. And I was like, I don't know," he said, unsure what to expect.

But the camaraderie of the square dancing community has kept them going for decades.

"There was a time when we used to go maybe three times a week, square dancing," Gulbrand recalled.

The couple played a major role in bringing the national convention to Milwaukee for the first time since 1979. And the Gulbrands, who live in Green Bay, remember it well.

"For us, being a young couple at that time, it was amazing," Ellery Gulbrand laughed.

Karen pitched the city to the national committee. She said a lot of people have misconceptions about square dancing.

It's not what you may remember from elementary school.

"We do do-si-does, but not like you did it grade school, where almost every other call was a do-si-doe," she said.

The convention drew nearly 2,500 people.

It doesn't compare to the 24,000 back in 1979.

But the Gulbrands have hope for the future of square dancing.

"But now I see it's coming back to where we got more young people coming in," Ellery Gulbrand said. 

Keeping the tradition alive.

"Hey, give yourself a hand, you've been marvelous," the caller said at the end of one dance.

There are currently 37 different square dancing clubs across the state of Wisconsin. For more information, click here. 

If you'd like to nominate an everyday hero, send Natalie a message at [email protected].