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It was the first square dance of the year for the Montana Mavericks at the Plains Paradise Senior Center Saturday and the floor was filled with colorful twirls, precise moves and graceful swaying.

The traditional square dance apparel is normally western wear of colorful petticoats, circular skirts, denim jeans, and long sleeve plaid shirts, but the Montana Mavericks dance this night wasn't the typical square dance style - it was the Roaring 20s theme - and the dance floor was filled with the look of the times.

"I think it was a great big hit," said Darlene Jolly, the club president. Jolly went with the entire clapper ensemble, complete with the sleeveless frilled red dress, black gloves, feather headband, and a fancy foot-long cigarette lighter. Sharon Murray of Plains wore a polka dot dress she had worn in a Paradise Players play set in the 1920s. More than a dozen people donned the Jazz era apparel. Women wore the glitz and glamour look and men had slacks, vests and Fedora hats. Roger Webster went one step further with a gangster look cigar and a tommy gun.

The toy gun was a Christmas gift from his wife, Nadine, who dressed in a maroon clapper dress, complete with sparkles, white beads, long black gloves, and a feather in her hair. Webster had his gangster gun on the dance floor for only a couple numbers because it tended to be cumbersome during the moves. "It was tough because I had to keep changing it from one hand to the other," said the Thompson Falls resident.

Thirty-two men and women showed up at the monthly dance at the senior center. Participants ranged from 20-year-old Angel Webster and 21-year-old Clayton Sirucek to Jolly, who turned 88 on Thursday. At one point, the group stopped dancing to sing the Paradise woman Happy Birthday. "I think this is the best activity in the world," said Jolly, who's been a square dancer for 45 years. "It was my salvation a couple of times," she added.

Most of the participants were Montana Mavericks club members, but some drove from as far away as Helena, Lolo, and Kalispell, to dance, along with Victor's Janice Belcher, 79, who is a member of the Solo Stars club.

Ed Moreth

Square dance caller Adam Christian reveals that Darlene Jolly, president of the Montana Mavericks club, is turning 88 years old this week.

The club's caller Saturday was Adam Christman of Spokane, Washington, with his mother, Lorrie Lane of Kalispell as the cuer for the round dance numbers. Jolly said that Christman is the best caller they've ever had. The club first hired him when he was 12 years old and now at 32 he comes to Plains for the monthly dances. Christman's calling was a mixture of talking and singing the command moves with a bit of humor in the mix. Because the 1920s was mostly Jazz music, he had only two pieces from that era - "Let's Do It" and "Am I Blue" - that would work for square dancing. He went through almost 15 songs during the two and a half hour dance. Lane did 10-12 for the round dancing sessions.

"I like the themes we do. It's different and it's fun and these are crazy people and they're fun," said Donella Patalon of Thompson Falls, who went with a black clapper outfit that she bought online for $35.

Last year, Mavericks club member Donnell Sirucek of Paradise came up with the idea of having theme dances each month. They've done a sock hop and Elvis impersonator theme, and an ugly sweater or t-shirt theme. Next month - Feb. 3 - is "Dynamic Duos." Deb Pier of Hot Springs enjoys the theme dances. "It makes us look forward to the next dance, or dreading it, if you don't have a costume," said Pier.