Square dancing requires at least eight people to dance and one person to call.
A professional caller keeps the crowd moving and smiling.
Square Dance Caller Bill Fox said, "Square dancing is just something that's a lot of fun and it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg."
They keep their arms and their legs and their feet moving at the Square Dance Center in downtown Knoxville.
Jean Gibson started dancing almost 20 years ago.
"I was a single parent. I got out of the house and started square dancing and I've square danced ever since," she said.
Tammy Berry started at age 13.
"The fellowship, the friendship, the exercise is a good bonus. I had one girl say she has a hard time keeping her weight up when she's square dancing so I'm hoping that happens," she said.
Jean Gibson added, "Everybody needs fun and everybody needs exercise. And if you can put one foot in front of the other you can dance."
Bill Fox knows the stats. "A night of square dancing is equal to three miles walking."
No walking here but they do promenade, allemande, and do si do.
Bill Fox started calling square dances 43 years ago.
"You put the record on and then you think what pops in your head and work with it," he said.
The calls are instructions for patterns of moves called figures. The caller combines figures to make up the choreography of the dance.
"I haven't square danced myself in years but I still call and teach and learn new figures and teach them to these people," he said.
Eight people (four couples) make up a square with heads and sides and partners and corners.
Bill Fox explained how he practices away from the dance floor. "I have a little square board, got eight dolls on it. And I sit and work those dolls just like they're people."
A caller has to know the figures, know how they blend together, and know when folks on the floor need gentle guidance.
"Generally if you watch your floor you can fix it before it falls apart. You have to know what to do to get it back to where it should be," he said.
It should be a lot of fun.
"To make everybody smile and laugh and have a good time. That's what you're after," Fox said. "I love it as much today as I did the first time I picked up a mic. It just gives me a real thrill."
He would like to call for another 43 years.
"I'm only 81," he said. "She asked me one time how long I was going to quit and I said when they put me in the ground."
Bill Fox keeps them on their feet, keeps them square dancing, and keeps them smiling.
For more information on square dancing in the Knoxville area email southerndancegirl@gmail.com