The Colorado Rocky Mountain Dancers held a square dance exhibition of many different American dances Sunday night in the Forker Building.

The dancers performed several types of traditional American dance, along with athletic moves such as jumps and lifts.

“Here they come and here they go,” said Peggy Pingel, coach of the Rocky Mountain Dancers.

The dancers twirled into the room, the women with their skirts raised high at the side. Pingel called out the formations and the dancers gracefully glided from one from the next including an impressive lift called the carousel or merry-go-round, in which the women were carried on the men’s shoulders as they spun in a circle.

A small group of musicians playing two fiddles, a guitar and a piano played the music for some of the dances. On the piano was Roger Alexander, associate professor of mathematics.

Pingel said the group consists of about 12 to 29 dancers ranging in age from 10 to 55 from the Denver metro area.

“Our dancing has a twist to what you would normally see at a square dancing convention,” said Tessa Hennesy, 12, of Denver.

Tessa and her sister Jessy, 18, have been dancing with the group for three years.

“Square dancing is definitely not hip,” Jessy said. “It is an intergeneration activity.”

Ben Harper, 23, of Aurora, Colo., has been dancing with the Colorado Rocky Mountain Dancers for eight years, but said he has been square dancing ever since he was little.

He became interested in square dancing because his grandfather was a caller, the person who tells the dancers what to do while dancing.

Harper said performing square dancing is really cool, even though the dance is generally not seen as a popular activity for youths.

Pingel said many youth start square dancing with the Rocky Mountain Dancers because they enjoy the excitement of traveling and dancing with their peers.

“It’s just a whole different energy when you have high school students on the floor,” Pingel said.

The group practices once a week for three hours and travels at least once a year to go to competitions or perform shows. Past destinations have included Disneyland, Knotsberry Farm, the Colorado State History Museum, the National Folk Organization’s Conference on Youth in Dance and six national square dance conventions.

The Colorado Rocky Mountain Dancers began in fall 1999 as part of a history of dance pageant. The group performs square dancing influenced by Lloyd Shaw’s Cheyenne Mountain Dancers.