Tonya Ketchum, of Mclouth, dances with her group Saturday with the Happy Time Squares Square Dance Club at Prairie Park School, 2711 Kensington Road.

Dozens of square dance couples transformed Prairie Park School into a kaleidoscope of shuffling feet and smiling faces Saturday night.

In unison, about 100 people ranging in age from 30 to 90 gracefully navigated their way through arms and twirling bodies at the monthly Happy Time Squares Square Dance Club. The age difference doesn’t show on the dance floor when they are doing steps such as “spin change and exchange the gears” and “load the top.”

“I like to do the twirls,” said Betty Loucks, 69, of Lawrence. Square dancing is part of her exercise program, she said. It’s one she’s stuck with since 1976, when she started dancing with her husband, who has since died.

The dance club that Frank and Betty Alexander started with eight other couples in August 2005 is not only good for a cardio workout, but it’s a social network.

“I enjoy the fact that you have friendship,” said Lloyd Northrop, 66, of Lawrence. “It’s a wonderful way to get good exercise, and it certainly beats being on a treadmill.”

He and his wife, Connie, presidents of the club, were hooked on square dancing after they participated in a demonstration at their church, First United Methodist, in 1971.

There wasn’t a dance venue in Lawrence then, so they traveled to surrounding square dance clubs in places such as Topeka, Ottawa and Atchison. They recruited up to 200 people from those locations to join them in their first dances at their venues, the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds or Prairie Park School.

“Some folks say they’re not good dancers, but square dancing is very easy and a lot of fun,” Lloyd Northrop said. “Also our ladies make a lot of good snacks.”