The musical “Fiddler on the Roof” features a lot of singing about the importance of tradition as societal glue. Fiddlers of the rural American variety honor the old ways, too. But for any good tradition to endure, it has to evolve.

Rhiannon Giddens performing at the Dotmatrix Project, Greensboro, NC. Photo by John Leonard.

Mary Pilon writes in The Wall Street Journal about the challenge of keeping American square dancing alive. Without new dancers, musicians and callers, it’s a legacy that may very well die out. So a number of square dancing clubs in Oregon—a hotbed of the formalized favorite of pioneer barn dances—are making big changes that sometimes step on the toes of the purists.

It turns out rock and hip-hop tunes work just fine for youthful recruits to a hipper version of square dancing. Consequently, dancers with an average age closer to 60 sometimes get more of a contact sport than they’re accustomed to when 20-somethings speed up the tempos and do-si-does.

Pilon’s story is a fun take on “adapt, adopt, improve,” but a lot of change in our lives can be as difficult as it is necessary. When we rethink a career that may have suffered from the recession, or face life after a divorce, or get a directive from a boss that it’s time to shape up, we can go into denial, dig in and resist or give up. Why? Change is sometimes painful. But it’s almost always necessary for growth and survival.

Square dancing in Oregon may survive. The Wall Street Journal article tells us youngsters are discovering the tradition on their terms because the old timers have read the writing on the wall and are willing to make room on the floor for a new breed of enthusiast.

Ready to change? Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

“Square-dancing here isn’t really what people imagine it to be,” Mr. Silveria says of the hybrid rock and square-dance moves he does. “It turns into a hoedown mosh pit.”—Wall Street Journal