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Welcome to SquareDanceHistory.org

This web site is a work in progress. In time, this site will provide access to a rich collection of information about the history of American square dancing and its many forms. Eventually, this will include moving images, audio clips, text, interviews, and photographs.

For a more detailed look at our plans, please read the accompanying project overview. In addition to the financial support we have already received, we are also seeking major grant support. Obtaining the rights to old footage can be expensive, let alone the cost of digitizing the images on film.

At this time, six organizations are cooperating in this project:

Helping guide this project is a group of experienced dance callers plus scholars, archivists, and digital specialists at the University of New Hampshire. All the dance consultants participated in Dare To Be Square at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC; this major square dance event (November 18-20, 2011) showcased a wide variety of squares: New England, southern Appalachian, traditional western, modern, and singing squares. That weekend attracted 70 dancers—three-quarters of whom were callers!—from around the country. With CDSS financial support for videotaping the event, 100 video clips from Dare To Be Square have been made available. (See VIDEOS tab above for more information and links.)

Over the past two years, we have been searching archives and collections throughout North America. If you have or know of good movie footage that shows square dancing, please contact us at millstone@valley.net with more specific information.