HEY! IT'S HIP TO BE SQUARE; GROUP CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF GOOD, CLEAN, BIG-SKIRTED FUN.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

The music starts with a flourish of guitars and fiddles, and the big skirts - held out stiff by layers of petticoats - start to swish and swirl. Boots stomp in time to the music.

The caller sings a few bars and breaks into a yodel.

From among the knot of dancers, somebody calls ``Yee-haw!'' and everybody laughs.

No, it's not a barn-raising in Oklahoma or a box social in Arkansas. It's the back yard of a stately two-story home in Northridge.

And a couple dozen members of the Trail Dusters, with more than 500 members one of the largest square dancing organizations in the world, are just kicking up their heels. In fact, the lively Valley bunch is celebrating its 40th anniversary tonight with a big barbecue and dancing till everybody drops. Then, they'll probably dance some more.

But isn't square dancing a pioneer, covered-wagon kind of thing that went out with the Gold Rush?

Let's just say tickets for tonight's event have been sold out for weeks.

``We just have so much fun,'' said Farol Brifman of Northridge, co-president of the group with her husband Mark. ``We have such a good time, it should be illegal.''

This group - whose members range in age from their 30s to their 60s - has been having a ball for a long time indeed. It was 1957 when a bunch of firefighters and their wives decided they wanted to learn to square dance and started a club they called Chicks and Chaps, a name almost immediately changed to Trail Dusters. As more couples joined - and the group grew to include lawyers, doctors, media executives, fashion designers and more - the club moved from place to place, seeking an ever-larger site.

When they weren't dancing, they were collecting canned goods and filling Christmas baskets for needy families, collecting Christmas cards for charity projects and entertaining at local hospitals.

After their original caller retired in 1968, interest waned for a while, but the group reinvented itself a year later and began to grow again. Now, the bursting-at-the-seams club still welcomes new members of all ages, offering classes each fall for those with a yen to learn the dances that have their roots in folk dances brought to the United States in centuries past by Irish, English and Scottish immigrants.

Heed the caller

The basics are simple: Each ``square'' is formed by four couples, one couple on a side. The dancers advance and retreat, twirl with their own partner and others, and often connect in a kind of dance floor free-for-all involving all four couples in moving circles and intricate footwork.

The caller is the boss, directing the dancers through their paces to the background of changing music styles. Most songs - played on 45 rpm records spinning on a turntable - are country-western in theme, but dancers also move expertly to reggae, big band and popular songs. No matter what the music, the beat remains the same, said Dick Hodnefield, the Trail Dusters' caller since 1981.

``The music tells the dancers when to put their feet down,'' he said. ``Feet go down on the downbeat, up on the upbeat.''

And while dancers could carry out their dance floor maneuvers in sweats or shorts, the outfits - big skirts covering modestly ruffled ``sissy pants'' for the women, jeans and boots for the men with shirts and neckerchiefs matching their ladies' dresses - are part of the ambience.

As the music heats up, the dancers seem to twirl faster and faster, becoming a blur of color.

While some clubs also function as a source for singles' matchmaking, the Trail Dusters is strictly a husband-and-wife group.

``It's a couples activity, something you do together that you both have fun at,'' Hodnefield said. ``Square dancing doesn't attract the type of person who wants to spend their life on a barstool.''

The lively pastime has many benefits, the dancers say: It's good exercise, a great stress reducer, a way for couples to spend time together - and it's a downright good time.

``When you come to square dancing, you leave all your problems outside the door,'' said Jackie Kantor of Woodland Hills, who dances with husband Jerry.

``It really clears your mind,'' agreed Stuart Levy of Calabasas, who with wife Judy, has been square dancing since 1996. ``You really have to concentrate on the calls.''

That's because in just the first class, a fledgling square dancer is expected to learn 96 calls.

Helping hands

To ease new couples into the group, each is paired with a pair of ``angels,'' veteran dancers who can help sort out the unfamiliar footwork as well as make them feel like part of the existing group.

But even with willing mentors, women say they initially face the same balkiness they see any time they even think of heading for a dance floor: They want to dance; their husbands' reaction ranges from reluctance to outright rebellion.

But that's soon overcome, they say.

``My husband, Mitch, promised me he would go one time, and I was never to ask him again,'' said Arlene Zoren of Chatsworth. ``Halfway through the first evening, he said, `Can we do this again?' ''

Marsha and Saul Zwirn of Northridge, who've been dancing nearly three years, confirmed the man-woman stereotype.

``For three years, I tried to get him to try this,'' said Marsha.

``She dragged me here one night - and I was hooked,'' Saul said. ``Now I would dance every night of the week.''

What's the attraction?

``It was just learning that there was more to square dancing than what you learned in junior high school,'' Saul said. ``It's a lot more complicated.''

``When I talk to men, they say they can't do any kind of ballroom dancing,'' said Margie Hausman of Calabasas, who dances with husband Jeff. ``But they can do this. The men look at it as sort of a puzzle to solve.''

About half the 500 or so Trail Dusters have become inactive, largely the result of partners lost to poor health, death or divorce. But many inactive members are expected to turn out to mark the group's 40th anniversary.

Lifelong passion

Among the old-timers expected at tonight's celebration will be Mary Alice and John Schilinger of Calabasas, who've attended most club functions and classes for the past 20 years. Lured into the dancing life by friends, as most square dancers are, they didn't know quite what they were getting into.

``We needed some exercise,'' said Mary Alice. ``We thought we were in good shape - but we found that this was quite a workout.''

``We used to come back from square dancing and be tired,'' said John. ``Now, we go for pizza.''

The Brifmans, co-presidents of the group, say they were amazed at how their lives changed when they took up square dancing five years ago.

``We started to spend time when we weren't dancing with the people we danced with,'' said Mark Brifman. ``That's the thing about square dancing - you do everything by couple.''

``Most of our closest friends are in this room,'' Farol Brifman said, looking around at the smiling faces of other dancing couples. ``My very best friends in the whole world, I've known only five years. Imagine that!''

For information about square dance groups and classes in the community, call the National Square Dance Information line at [phone]. Trail Dusters offers a beginners' square dance class for adult couples from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays starting Sept. 9, with open enrollment for the first three weeks. Classes cost $5 per person and are held at Bay Laurel School, 24740 Paseo Primario, Calabasas. For information, call [phone] or [phone].

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

PHOTO (1--Cover--Color) SQUARE ROOTS

For 40 years, Valley dance group has heeded the call to do-si-do.

(2--4) Clockwise from left, Jackie Cantor steps lively at a Trail Dusters get-together; matching costumes are the order of the day; and a ``square'' of four couples forms a circle.

David Sprague/Daily News