Consultants
Square Dance History Project Consultants
Bob Dalsemer (Hayesville, NC) is a dance caller, folk musician, collector and writer who served as Coordinator of Dance and Music Programs at The John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina from 1991–2013. He has published West Virginia Square Dances (CDSS, 1982), as well the cassette/booklet combinations Smoke On the Water: Square Dance Classics (1989), and When The Work’s All Done: A Square Dance Party for Beginners and Old Hands (1991).
Larry Edelman (Denver, CO) has called and played for square dances for more than 30 years. An avid square dance researcher, he has intensively studied and documented the traditional dances of southwestern Pennsylvania. Recently he has released two square dance related DVDs: Dance to the Music and Listen to the Calls: The Square Dances and Calling of Jerry Goodwin, and Yee Haw: A Curious Glimpse of the History of Square Dancing. Larry has created full-length documentaries about the Highwoods String Band and the Canote Twins.
Phil Jamison (Asheville, NC) has been calling dances since the mid-1970s at festivals and dance events throughout the US and overseas, including close to thirty years as a member of the Green Grass Cloggers. His flatfoot dancing was featured in the film Songcatcher for which he also served as Traditional Dance consultant. An advocate of old-time squares, he has done extensive research and published many articles on traditional Appalachian dance. He is dance editor of The Old-Time Herald and he coordinates the Old-Time Music & Dance Week at the Swannanoa Gathering. Phil is the author of Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance.
Bill Litchman (Albuquerque, NM) is an authority on traditional western squares. He is a past president of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation, Director of the LSF Archives (now housed at Denver University), and recipient of a Silver Spur award from the American Square Dance Foundation (Bob Osgood). He has the author of Rocky Mountain Caller: Bill Litchman’s Calling Book and he has published several CDs of instrumental square dance music and called squares including “Allemande Left!” and “Hoedown.”
Jim Mayo (Hampstead, NH), a caller for more than 60 years, was involved in modern square dance from the beginning. A member of the CALLERLAB Board of Governors since its formation in 1975, he was a member of the Sets in Order ASD Hall of Fame, The New England Square Dance Foundation Hall of Fame, and recipient of the CALLERLAB Milestone Award. He is the author of Step By Step Through Modern Square Dancing, the only book that has yet been written about the history of the modern form of square dancing. Jim died in 2023.
Tony Parkes (Billerica, MA) was a Boston-based dance caller specializing in contras, traditional squares, and 1950s squares. Tony led workshops in the United States and abroad on the many and varied aspects of teaching and calling squares and contras. He is the author of Contra Dance Calling: A Basic Text and Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century. Tony made many dance recordings as caller and pianist and had an extensive personal collection of old books and square dance recordings. Tony died in 2024.
Square Dance History Project administrators
David Millstone (Lebanon, NH) has been calling contras and squares since the 1970s. In addition to numerous articles about dance history, he has produced six documentary videos about traditional dance callers, musicians and communities, including The Other Way Back, about noted New Hampshire dance caller Dudley Laufman, Paid To Eat Ice Cream: Bob McQuillen and New England Contra Dancing, and Sweet Talk, an interview with long-time Connecticut caller Ralph Sweet. He started creating the Square Dance History Project in 2009; three years later, the site formally launched. In 2024, Country Dance and Song Society agreed to ensure the site continues into the future. Also in 2024, two other experienced callers joined as project administrators.
Sue Hulsether (Viroqua, WI) has been calling squares, circles, longways whole-set dances, contras and play parties for over 25 years, for people of all ages. A former music educator, she has also worked extensively dancing with children as a teaching artist in the schools. As a new caller in 1999, she travelled widely in the southeastern and northeastern US to interview callers and record dances. In 2020, Sue published her book and album, Join Up Hands: Dances for School and Community Groups.