Confined to her hospital bed, unable to walk due to an automobile accident that injured her husband and killed their dog, Barbara Harrison thought one thing.
It wasn’t about being ejected from the pickup she was driving or about being life-flighted to the hospital.
Instead, it was, ‘I’m lucky to have my leg and my life. Now, how long before I can dance again?’
To Harrison, who works as an intake coordinator in the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry scheduling appointments and doing pet therapy with her dog, Lady, square dancing isn’t just a hobby. It’s life. And her fellow dancers are family.
“I’ve come a long way from not being able to walk,” she said of her accident 14 years ago this week. “It was my family and fellow dancers who stood behind me. There wasn’t a day that went by when I was in the hospital for three months that there weren’t 10, 15, 20 of them in my room. They helped keep me motivated.”
Originally from Waverly, Iowa, Harrison started square dancing at age 15 and hasn’t stopped since. She moved to Omaha in 1977, and married her husband, Terry, whom she met at a square dance.
“He could sing and dance and that’s what I liked,” she recalled.
Harrison is a round dance cuer and frequently cues with the River City Squares. Terry is a square dance caller whose name is in the Iowa Square Dance Callers Hall of Fame.
The difference: cuers recite rehearsed, pre-choreographed sequences while callers provide commands called patter that keep dancers guessing their next move.
A caller sings the steps. For example, tag the line, step to a wave, bow to your partner, boys circulate and girls trade. What’s most impressive is that somehow, callers always manage to put two partners back together again at the end of a song.
At a recent Red, White and Blue Memorial Day Salute dance put on by the Belles and Beaus square dancers of Omaha, Harrison cued commands while record music played through Yak Stack speakers.
Though some may have preconceived notions of what type of music is heard at square dances, callers play everything from popular tunes to the golden oldies.
“Square dancing has gotten a bad rap,” Harrison said. “Those who haven’t been around it don’t have a clue.”
Harrison admits there are fewer younger dancers and dancers in general than there were in her day. She encourages those of all ages to try it once, noting that it’s inexpensive entertainment, good exercise and not hard to learn.
Harrison, who has been at UNMC for 12 years, even offers to teach beginning level round dancing, square dancing and line dancing. She is currently checking into offering lessons to UNMC employees through the Center for Healthy Living.
She is a Silver U recipient, which is given to outstanding UNMC employees.
“I love my job,” she said. “The docs are great and my bosses are wonderful.”
Sidebar:
Harrison has two step children, Troy and JoLynn, and two nephews, Joshua and Spencer. She also has three nieces and four grandchildren.
Her very, very, very, very (that’s precisely four) best friend is Edie Young, a fellow square dancer.
Harrison belongs to Bunco Babes, Midwest Dutch Oven Dabblers, International Dutch Oven Society, Omaha Callers Association, Nebraska Callers Association, Southwest Iowa Callers Association and Callerlab. Her hobbies include camping, fishing, reading, scrap booking, photography, golf, curling and playing cards and board games.
For more information about square dancing, visit: www.squaredanceomaha.org, www.squaredancene.org or www.Iowasquaredance.org.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $80 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.