Browse Items (21 total)
Kentucky Mountain Square Dancing
Written in 1949 and republished many times, this is a vital reference for anyone interested in southern Appalachian dance. Patrick Napier is a well-known dance leader at the Christmas Country Dance School in Berea, Kentucky, and this is his…
Carcassonne big set, #2
This is another example of traditional southern Appalachian big set square dance, recorded by John Ramsay in Carcassonne, Kentucky, September 19, 1991. This clip has a different caller from Carcassonne #1. With relatively few examples on our site of…
Carcassonne big set, #1
This is an excellent example of traditional southern Appalachian big set square dance, recorded by John Ramsay in Carcassonne, Kentucky, September 19, 1991. The tune is Liza Jane. We do not yet know the identity of the caller and would appreciate…
Square Dancing Atop Lookout Mountain
Article by Karen terHorst describes dancing in New Salem, Georgia, an historically-isolated community above Chattanooga, TN. The article is based on her visit to the dance in the 1970s. The dance stopped taking place sometime around 1990.
"New…
"New…
Traditional Folkdance in Kentucky
Article by LeeEllen Friedland describing the social setting for community dances as well as the dance figures themselves. She differentiates among three types of dance: single dancing, couple dancing and group dancing. Folklorist Burt Feintuch…
Old Time Square Dancing on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
Author Bob Dalsemer discovers a long tradition of the "big circle" square dance on this island off the North Carolina coast, far from the Appalachian Mountains where it is usually encountered.
Lester Bradley - Oh Johnny - Big Circle Mixer
Lester Bradley (caller and guitar) with Paul Amey, fiddle, joined by other musicians: Bob Reed, banjo; David Colburn, guitar; George Randall, 12 string guitar, spoons; Mike Hebb, fiddle; Sylvia Miskoe, accordion; Sue Hunt, accordion; John Derby,…
Big Set square dance called by Phil Jamison
Phil Jamisonn calls at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Figures included in this version include right hands across, Georgia Rang Tang, birdie in the cage, and make a basket…
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…
Dare To Be Square - Seattle, 2009
Dare To Be Square – Seattle, Washington, 2009Dare To Be Square is a weekend event celebrating square dancing in its many forms. North Carolina callers Nancy Mamlin and Phil Jamison created the event in 2003 and hosted the first few gatherings…