Location: Sumner, Washington.
A “Mainstream” square dance and round dance club. It was founded in 2010 and serves the southern Puget Sound and greater Tacoma/Pierce County area of Washington State and maintains an active year-round dance schedule. You can click here for the club’s “official” online calendar for up-to-date information or last minute changes. The Swingnuts dance at the Sumner VFW Hall, 1705 Willow St., Sumner WA 98390 (click here for a map).
Our “Club Caller” is BRETT KAPPENMAN…an energetic caller with tons of experience in every aspect of square dance calling. He comes by his experience “genetically” (it’s in his blood…his father was a caller for several decades). For many years Brett trained and called-for teen & youth clubs participating in square dance competitions here in the Pacific Northwest. His knowledge of sound equipment for “festival”-sized square dance venues like the WA State Fairgrounds is exemplary.
Our “Club Cuer” is MARIE WOOD. Along with her husband & our former club caller Don Wood (who passed away in December 2023) Marie was instrumental in helping our club overcome challenges not uncommon to relatively new square dance clubs. In those early days, we had no round-dancers on our club roster…but Marie stepped in and taught us how to include a round dance. Marie is an accomplished and active round dance cuer & instructor for a number of clubs in our area, and we are lucky to have her as “ours”.
CONTACT US: The current club Presidents are Lane and Gail Johnston. Lane may be reached by TEXTING (425) 765-7013 (be sure to reference “square dancing” along with your name in the body of the text message) or by email.
If you’ll complete this online form with your basic contact information (we do not sell or share it), we’ll inform you about upcoming lessons (dates, times, location, cost, etc.)
LESSONS (Thursdays): During the regular dance season (late September thru mid-June), we dedicate Thursday evenings to classes. We led an initiative in 2022 to coordinate lessons with the other clubs in Rainier Council. Our current set of 12-16 lessons started in February 2024. The next lesson set will start in the fall (September 2024). See the https://www.squaredance-rainier.org/classes/ tab on this website for more details.
SATURDAY DANCES: our “regular” dance night each month is held on the 3rd Saturday (October thru May)*.
*We will be “dark” at our hall on the 3rd Saturday in May 2024 as we will “caravan” to the Jet Steppers Square Dance Club’s 50th Anniversary dance.
“THURSDAY-NITE LITES” (SUMMER DANCES): From June thru August (when most other clubs in WA take a hiatus from dancing) the club sponsors a very popular summer-long weekly dance series featuring a different caller each week. 2024 will be our 10th year hosting these dances!! We expect to have 12 different callers over the summer, and we are billing it as “The Don Wood Tribute Series” in honor of his 8 years of service to our club.
PRE-REGISTRATION FORM FOR 2024 (Season 10) Thursday-Nite Lites: (working on it…will post soon!)
MEMBERSHIP: Pocket-friendly membership in the club is open to couples, “singles” (with or without a dance partner), and families with children 8 years or older.
The Swingnuts Square (& Round) Dance Club is a member of the Rainier Council. One of 11 councils in the Square and Folk Dance Federation of Washington, Rainier Council is comprised of 6 square and round dance clubs (there are approximately 80 federated clubs and over 2000 square dancers across the state).
PHOTO GALLERY: To check out our photo and video gallery, click here.