Browse Items (113 total)
"Dancing to the Music: Domestic Square Dances and Community in Southcentral Kentucky (1880-1940)"
This detailed examination of the role of square dances in south central Kentucky is written by a folklorist, who based his findings on interviews with 20 musicians, dancers, and callers in that region. (Another look at Kentucky dancing, by researcher…
Stu Jamieson - The Old-Time Kentucky Running Set
Although the title speaks of Kentucky Running Set, this article deals with many different variations of the big circle or big set formation of Southern Appalachian mountain dancing. The author is Stu Jamieson, who was the caller in the film "To Hear…
West Virginia Square Dances by Robert G. Dalsemer
Dalsemer describes dance figures as done in five rural West Virginia communities in the mid- to late 1970s and reports on their regular dance events, including programming, type of audience, price and method of admission, and the traditions of figure…
Worley Gardner - Marching Through Georgia
(Note: This site also contains a video clip of the dance as called by New England caller Dudley Laufman.)from the chapter on Morgantown, WV, in West Virginia Square Dances, by Bob DalsemerSinging square, recorded by Bob Dalsemer in Morgantown, West…
Kentucky Set Running - 1993
Notes by John Ramsay: "The Kids From The Country, a country dance team from Silver Creek School in Berea, Kentucky demonstrate "running a set" or Set Running. Their music teacher, Mr. Barton, is the caller. Note that each couple takes a turn being…
Appalachian Big Set - Berea- 1993
The Berea Festival Dancers, with caller Teresa Lowder, perform an Appalachian Big Set demonstration at the 1993 Mountain Folk Festival, Berea, Kentucky. The group is introduced by their director, John Ramsay; the dance itself begins about…
John Bill Allen - Big set, Berea, 1975
Note: The first minute of the video has garbled sound, but then it clears up.
Notes from John Ramsay: Documentary of local square dancing in Berea, Kentucky circa 1975. The caller, John Bill Allen, had been a member of the College's original Folk…
Notes from John Ramsay: Documentary of local square dancing in Berea, Kentucky circa 1975. The caller, John Bill Allen, had been a member of the College's original Folk…
Shoo-Fly Swing and La Boulangère
Compilation of sources that reveal the similarity between La Boulangère, a European dance around 1800 and the only dance mentioned by name by Jane Austen, and the Shoo-Fly Swing, its American descendant found as the closing figure of a big set…
John Ramsay - Southern Folk Dance
This article, by longtime dancer, caller, and organizer John Ramsay, presents his views on what has been termed "set running," a style of dance that was named by folklorist Cecil Sharp when he came upon it in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1917. The…
Bob Dalsemer - introduction to Morgantown, WV
audio only, recorded at Dare To Be Square, Seattle, 2009Bob Dalsemer gives an introduction to the common break figure found in Morgantown, West Virginia: "Dance around your corners all and dance around your partners all." He explaines that it's like…
Bob Dalsemer - West Virginia dances
This is audio only; it's part of Bob Dalsemer's introduction to his workshop introducing different dance styles from West Virginia. Despite its small size, there are different square dance styles in that state. Elkins-- home of the Augusta Dance…
Bob Dalsemer - Take a Little Peek
Swing your partner and she'll swing you. Step right back and watch her grin Step right up and swing her again Step right back and watch her smile Step right up and swing 'er a while! View from behind the musicians: Sandy Bradley, guitar; Greg Canote,…