Square Dance History Project
The rich story of North American square dance finally has a home in the digital age.

Browse Items (11 total)

  • Spatial Coverage is exactly "USA, Kentucky"
Website

Eastern Kentucky Folk Dancing Oral History Project

This is a collection of recorded interviews that document the development of traditional square and related dance activity in southeastern Kentucky. The interviews were with mostly elderly residents… View item
Document

Square Dancing in the Mountains of Eastern Kentucky

NOTE: To read the actual booklet, choose the links above. Numbers 1 & 3 are large files and, depending on your internet speed, might take a while to load. This 1971 collection begins with a… View item
Website

Kentucky Square Dances

An early (1928) collection of figures collected "from callers in Kentucky who are familiar with the old square dances as they are danced in the Kentucky Mountains and elsewhere in the state."This is… View item
Document

Kentuckiana Squares and Rounds

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Document

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… View item
Document

Set Runnin' in Eastern Kentucky

Description from 1949 by Patrick Napier of traditional square dances in eastern Kentucky. View item
Document

Old Side Door: A Kentucky Mountain Dance

Article by Patrick E. Napier, originally published in 1949, describing a Kentucky dance figure and its setting. View item
Sound

Beaver Valley Breakdown - Lonesome Luke

More information about this band is available here. View item
Website

Lonesome Luke & His Farm Hands – Wild Hog in the Woods

Recorded Thursday, February 12, 1931 Richmond IN (Champion 16229)Luke Decker - FiddleIra Decker - BanjoC.W. Johnson - GuitarLee Day - Guitar/CallsPhil Jamison: "Wild Hog in the Woods is one of four… View item
Document

John Ramsay - Set Running, a Southern Folk Dance

This article, written in 1987 and updated in 2013 by longtime dancer, caller, and organizer John Ramsay, presents his views on what has been termed "set running," a style of dance that was… View item
Moving Image

Kentucky Running Set

Stew Shacklette provides a brief introduction, followed by instruction in several components of the dance (1:03), and concluding with all the figures danced (3:10). Excerpted from "The Kentucky… View item