Page 36 - Square Dance News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

State legislatures with laws in indiana and arkansas that critics charge with modify discrimination in the name of religion. a different sort of fight is playing out in the state of tennessee. tennessee has a lot of symbols, the amphibian is a salamander and the tree is the poplar and the dance is a square dance. and this week close to a state book. >> a bill that could make the bible the official book of tennessee passed state house. >> that's right, the tennessee state house voted yesterday to make the bible the state's official book. you may be saying hey, wait we have a separation of surge...

Tennessee has a lot of symbols, the amphibian is a salamander and the official tree is the poplar and the dance is a square dance. and this week lawmakers came close to naming a state book as well. >> a bill that could make the bible the official book of tennessee passed state house. the vote came in at 55-38. >> that's right, the tennessee state house voted yesterday to make the bible the state's official book. you may be saying, hey, wait, this is america, we have the separation of church and state. you know who else feels that way? tennessee attorney general who pointed out making the bible...

Because he's been wanting to do this ever since he was a little boy. >> even today she didn't want to say she was concerned about his safety. again, it was a short call. it wasn't the first time he's done this. but the last time he was in space, he called his grandmother. she wasn't there. she missed the call. why? what do grandmothers do? they square dance. and she was out square dancing. >> love it! that's awesome. my husband checks in with his grandparents every day. she's at bingo, he's working the puzzle in the group room. stuff to do. >> down at the bar. >> playing bingo. there were so...

Then we would go to the state convention, and there would be 12,000 people there. now when we go, the it's not hardly 1,000 people. 800 usually. >> reporter: some square dance supporters will tell you the popularity of the art is at a crossroads. a place it's been before. its origins have been traced back to the american pioneers. when the settlers gathered for food and fun on saturday nights after a week of building cabins and toiling the land, they would dance. but the beats were different for the scots, irish, french, and others. so a new common dance was created with steps from all the new...

Dance. but the group grows smaller each year. >> it was a big group all over georgia at that time. we belonged to a club in marietta then. then we went to the state convention in macon and there would be 1,000 people there at that time. big crowds. now, when we go, it's about 800 people usually. >> reporter: some square dance supporters tell you the popularity is at a cross roads, a place it's been before. the or gins are traced back to the american pioneer. when the settlers gathered for food and fun on saturday nights after building cabins and toiling the land they would dance. the beats wer...