Texas Square Dances - Rickey Holden
This is a detailed description of three Texas squares, presented by Rickey Holden as an exhibition dance at the fourth annual New England Folk Festival, November 15–16, 1947. Holden based much of his material on Herb's Blue Bonnet Calls (Herb Greggerson, 1946). Holden's original appears in the window; the Additional File called "RickHolden1947.pdf" offers a neatly typed version of the same text, much easier to read!
Holden had originally wanted to present three dances intact, as they are described in these notes, but then realized that they would take too long and might bore the audience. Instead, these dances "were deliberately designed and arranged to look flashy and very very difficult. Repetition might crack that impression by – uh – explaining the trick. So the first half of B and the short A were lumped as one dance, and C was set up symmetrically by two couples' leading to the right."
A1 Texas Do Si Do
A2 Sides Divide
A3 Allemande left and a right and left that
A4 Thread the needle
B1 Indian style
B2 Ocean wave
B3 Allemande left and stomp on the ground
B4 Same as A4
C1 Quadruple half chain
C2 Wagon wheel
C3 Texas chain (Holden variation of Teacup Chain)
C4 Rip and Snort
Throughout the detailed descriptions, Holden inserts editorial comments, such as these notes on figure A2, Sides Divide: "This is a sublimely contrapuntal change where the head and side couples are completely independent of each other except that the calls for each are sandwiched into a single run of patter."
Acknowledging that New England and Texas dancers use different terms, Holden includes a chart translating from one region's dance language to another. The dance figures are presented with patter, most of it derived from Greggerson but with modifications made to the timing; alongside the patter are notes about what the dancers are actually doing at each moment through the dance.
Subjects: Traditional Western (pre-1940), Transitional/Western 1940s
Tags: exhibition, Herb Greggerson, NEFFA, Ocean Wave, Rickey Holden, Rip and Snort, Sides Divide, Teacup Chain, Texas, Texas Chain, Texas Do Si Do, Thread the Needle, Wagon Wheel
Item Relations
| This Item | is related to | Item: Herb Greggerson - Herb's Blue Bonnet Calls |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Milagro Square called by Larry Edelman |
| This Item | is related to | Item: West Texans Do It Differently |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Rickey Holden - interview & three dances |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Mildred Buhler demonstration group |
| Item: Square Dance Institute - Rickey Holden, 1950 | is related to | This Item |
| Item: West Texas Square Dances - Index | is related to | This Item |
| Item: "The Texas Cattle Country and Cowboy Square Dance" – Olcutt Sanders | is related to | This Item |
| Item: Texas Square Dance - Family Tree | is related to | This Item |
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Description
This is a detailed description of three Texas squares, presented by Rickey Holden as an exhibition dance at the fourth annual New England Folk Festival, November 15–16, 1947. Holden based much of his material on Herb's Blue Bonnet Calls (Herb Greggerson, 1946). Holden's original appears in the window; the Additional File called "RickHolden1947.pdf" offers a neatly typed version of the same text, much easier to read!
Holden had originally wanted to present three dances intact, as they are described in these notes, but then realized that they would take too long and might bore the audience. Instead, these dances "were deliberately designed and arranged to look flashy and very very difficult. Repetition might crack that impression by – uh – explaining the trick. So the first half of B and the short A were lumped as one dance, and C was set up symmetrically by two couples' leading to the right."
A1 Texas Do Si Do
A2 Sides Divide
A3 Allemande left and a right and left that
A4 Thread the needle
B1 Indian style
B2 Ocean wave
B3 Allemande left and stomp on the ground
B4 Same as A4
C1 Quadruple half chain
C2 Wagon wheel
C3 Texas chain (Holden variation of Teacup Chain)
C4 Rip and Snort
Throughout the detailed descriptions, Holden inserts editorial comments, such as these notes on figure A2, Sides Divide: "This is a sublimely contrapuntal change where the head and side couples are completely independent of each other except that the calls for each are sandwiched into a single run of patter."
Acknowledging that New England and Texas dancers use different terms, Holden includes a chart translating from one region's dance language to another. The dance figures are presented with patter, most of it derived from Greggerson but with modifications made to the timing; alongside the patter are notes about what the dancers are actually doing at each moment through the dance.