DALLAS TWP. — Boots were tappin’ as second-grade students do-si-doed during a hoedown at Wycallis Elementary School Jan. 19.
As some students swung their partners, unsecured cowboy and cowgirl hats toppled off their heads. The wardrobe malfunction did not stop the dancing or the fun for either the performers or the audience.
The three-decades-old event was so widely anticipated that the entire school ditched modern attire and wore Western-themed clothing for the day.
Wycallis Elementary School Principal Brian Bradshaw even wore a big bright yellow cowboy hat when he introduced the second-grade students.
Nearly 90 second-grade students held two performances, one for the elementary school and a second for parents and family. They sang songs such as “Old Susanna,” square danced and line danced to “Achy Breaky Heart,” written by Don Von Tress and performed by Billy Ray Cyrus in 1992.
The event involved lessons in listening, music, physical education and even academics, sasid Deborah Pike, the music teacher at Wycallis Elementary School in Dallas Township.
In between songs and dances, one designated student would take the microphone and share a western fact with the audience, such as cowboys wore bandanas to cover their face when the air was dusty and their boots protected them from snake bites.
Karen Arnaud, physical education and health teacher, said the students practiced skipping and circling with their partner, a challenge for some children.
“They started practicing in September,” Arnaud said.
Second-graders Spencer Long, 7, and Kate Dautrich, 8, were part of the square dancing group. Although they looked a little relieved when the first performance was over, the two said they liked the square dancing part of the event.
“I liked when we ‘traveled’ around the circle,” Dautrich said.
“The square dance is the Pennsylvania’s State Dance,” Pike said.
The second-grade square dancing event was first established about 30 years ago by a second-grade teacher at the former Westmoreland Elementary School, which was located in Shavertown.
