During the 1998 CALLERLAB Convention in Covington, Kentucky, a member asked why the Basic/Mainstream Committee was entitled to rule over both programs. I have been a member of the Basic/Mainstream Committee since 1991, and never really thought about it. Why do most people put the two programs together? Doesn’t BASIC have a voice of its own?

Where did the concept of Basic & Mainstream come from? Who came first? If we look back in time and follow the evolution of Square Dancing, we find the BASIC came first. Most callers prior to 1950 did not have a list to work around. Each of them had their own, learned from Caller’s School’s, and from other callers, and from a night moving checkers or teacups or other such items around. Because of the chaos that such an arrangement created, a group of callers compiled a list of common calls. "Sets In Order" gave us the first list, and called it the "50 BASICS." Later on, 25 more calls were added as the "25 Extended BASICS." A book entitled Square Dancing (Jensen and Jensen, 1966) also mentions another organization known as American Square Dance Society. Both organizations eventually joined, as did the two BASIC lists. In the early 70s, the list was known as the "75 Extended BASICS."

Mainstream entered our activity with the formation of CALLERLAB. Like SIO, CALLERLAB formed when "experimentals" and Quarterly Selections got out of hand. When the Founders designed the Program Concept, they used the old SIO lists as the templates. Most dancers knew the 75 BASICS, so at the average, or Mainstream dance it was used as the model. In a 1976 printout, the initial Programs read: BASIC (1-38 "Couples Backtrack"). Extended BASIC (35-54 "Double Pass Thru", and Mainstream (55-68 "Hinge Family"). ASDS – SIO had an Illustrated Manual printed in 1979 that went back to the old Basic/Extended Basic listing, and mention Mainstream on its cover. ASDS showed calls 1-50 (Wrong Way Thar) as Basic, and calls 51 – 78 (Substitute) as Extended Basic (Mainstream). From the rest of the package, did you know the present "Plus" Program was first called "Mainstream Plus?" (That’s another story.)

By 1980, Basic, Mainstream and Plus finally took their present form. FERRIS WHEEL marks the top of Basic, RECYCLE is Mainstream’s end, and the rest is Plus. When we view the Program Lists from CALLERLAB, we note that the BASIC Program is still there – On the same page as the Mainstream