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Crosscurrents

Which East Bay school may make the Guinness Book of World Records?

Hana Baba
Music teacher Ivan DeSouza is the square dance caller at Eastin Elementary.

All of DelaineEastin Elementary School’s 863 students — plus 18 teachers and staff — are on the school tarmac, formed into squares of eight dancers each on one sunny morning. Ivan DeSouza, also known as Mr. D., is the music teacher; he's teamed up with the PE coaches to help the kids try to break the Guinness world record for largest square dance today. 

DeSouza is the square dance caller, standing high above the kids on a 15-foot crane, in a cowboy hat and microphone in hand, giving instructions: “If your square is not complete —missing people — please stand up so we can see the square that needs people.”

They’ve been teaching square dance here for years as a mix of P.E. and music standards. But today is different: Right now, the largest square dance record is 800 dancers dancing the same dance, all at once. If these students, complete the full square dance today, they will beat record -- by a lot. They’ve all been practicing for months.

https://vimeo.com/166410153">Untitled from https://vimeo.com/user4050348">KALW News on Vimeo.

Parent Kukie Srivastava is standing with a group of moms chatting and says she had never heard of square dancing before now. She’s Indian, and she’s not a minority here — in fact, Eastin’s school population is 60 percent Asian. There’s a large number of recent immigrant parents, and many of the kids here are the first generation to be born in the US.

For many moms, this is their first encounter with the country western art of  square dancing. And they say it’s like no dance form they’re used to. “No kathak, no barathnatyam, no Bollywood — nothing!,” Srivastava laughs.

But these ladies are up for the challenge. Parent Ipshita Mohanty says it’s a new tradition for her family, and she likes the chance to learn something new.

Pakistani-American Shamsa Rafay is president of the PTO, and the time-keeper for today. She, too, hadn’t been exposed to square dance before her kids came to this school. She says she loves that it has been part of this school because of what the dance signifies. “I think this square dancing unifies everyone, “ she says,  “Eight kids in a circle holding hands they don’t care who’s by them! We love it!”

The kids seem to love it, too. They had a practice run yesterday. All of them right here on the tarmac.

"How’d it go?" I go up to a group of kids to ask.

Fourth grader Brandon Trieu says it was NOT easy. He says, “Everybody was confused to do some things at once — it was hard!”

His classmate, Saanvi Garg says has a more festive recollection. “Everybody in my square was fist bumping and happy and patting each other on the back,” she says. “We were all proud and happy — but we all had a mix of feelings.”

Why square dance at all? Principal Carla Victor says it teaches important social skills like unity and acceptance — all very important in such a diverse school, with a population of students that’s so rich in culture and  different religions and ways of life.

And in a year of loud national discussions about immigration, anti-immigrant sentiment and negative rhetoric about who’s American and who’s not, Victor says this school sets an example. She says, “‘When we can come together on a common ground and do something collectively, it just shows what America really is and should be."

And what better to unify folks than a good old square dance?

It’s about to start; Mr. DeSouza looks onto the squares of hundreds of kids from atop his crane. He fixes his shades and cowboy hat. Then he takes the microphone. "Let’s show em why we’re here!” he tells the students. “When you hear the bullhorn, that is when we start.”

The kids look ready to go. But what about yesterday’s jitters?  I sneak into one square to see how they’re feeling. Hannah Calub and her square are excited. “The fun part about it is when we do join hands, circle left and double grand allemande!” Little Hannah knows her moves.

The moment has come. The bullhorn sounds and off they go! Mr DeSouza starts calling, “Join hands, circle left! Just go round and round...”

The boys and girls swing their partners, promenade right and left and do-si-do for a good five minutes. Television crews and journalists buzz around trying to get good shots for the local news.

Looking on proudly is DelaineEastin herself — California’s first female state superintendent of schools and the woman the school was named for. She drove down from Sacramento just for this. She beams and says, "Our families came here 400 years ago but they came from somewhere else! The U.S. is a country of immigrants!"

"This group of children who represent hundreds of destinations other than the U.S. of America in their ancestry, will be the finest Americans!’"

The kids do the dance twice, just to be sure they got it right.

As the dance winds down, Mr. DeSouza gets down from the risers and says that next, the school will submit its information and a video of the performance to Guinness. Then they'll wait for news.

Crosscurrents
Hana Baba is host of Crosscurrents, KALW's weeknight newsmagazine that broadcasts on KALW Public Radio in the San Francisco Bay Area.