Jack McKay Status:   Deceased Specialty:   American Squares and Rounds Range:   American Squares and Rounds	CLICK TO ENLARGE
Jack B. McKay Jack credited Grace Perryman Nicholes with getting him interested in folk dancing in 1939. He began in the folk dance movement in 1940 in northern California, two years before the formation of the Folk Dance Federation of California. Jack's group, the Fun Club, hosted the meeting in Lodi, California, in 1942, which resulted in the Federation's organization. It was at this meeting that Jack met Lawton Harris, who, five years later, founded the Stockton Folk Dance Camp, for which Jack would become director in 1967 for twenty years on Lawton's untimely death. In November of 1944, while in the army, Jack visited the Community Folk Dance Center. Mary Ann Herman introduced him as a square dance caller from California, and before he could escape, he was calling his first square! In 1946, after returning to California from the service as a Captain (he later became a Lt. Colonel), he took up calling in earnest, become a well-known national caller. In 1947, he was a substitute caller at the Stockton Folk Dance Camp, and joined the faculty in 1948. He attended Dr. Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw's Institutes at Stanford, California, in 1947 and Colorado Srings, Colorado, in 1948. Woking with Lucile Czarnowski,, he taught squares at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) for two years. Jack and Lucile collaborated on a book, How to Teach Folk and Square Dance. In addition to belonging to several clubs, he formed his own club, the Square Cutters. He also served the Federation as a Council Representative, chairman of the nominating committee, and in 1948 and 1949, as chairman of the two square dance jamborees. In 1987, Jack stepped down from his 20-year position as Director of the Stockton Folk Dance Camp, turning over the reigns to Bruce Mitchell. The camp, located at the University of the Pacific, where Jack held the academic rating of associate professor, is the premier folk dance camp in the country. Jack retained his position on the Camp Committee, however. Among Jack McKay's publications is How to Teach Folk and Square Dance, with Lucile Czarnowski, 1953. Dances Jack taught include Copenhagen, Doubtful Shepherd Contra, Fantasy, Golden Gate Waltz, Happy Polka, Jack O'Boy Waltz, Pacific Breezes, Patience Waltz, Pizza Pie Two Step, Remember Today, San Antonio Rose, Sierra Sunrise, Star Waltz, Steppin' Out, Tammy, Tonight's the Night, and Waltz Caress.

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