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

Browse Items (434 total)

  • Temporal Coverage is exactly "2000 -"
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Dean Edwards interview

Dean Edwards was a square caller based in Colorado Springs for some 50 years. In this interview, he talks about his Fun Finders group and his approach to square dancing. Toward the end, he is asked… View item
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Hipsters and Traditional/Old- Time Square Dance

The author looks at the rising popularity of square dance among young hipsters and sees in it, and its Appalachian roots, a desire for a homeplace :"For one such group, the ill- defined, often… View item
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"I'll Swing Yours, You Swing Mine" - A Tribute to Rufus Fisher's Orchestra and Wilson's Westernaires

This is a recorded Zoom talk about two dance bands in the Chateauguay Valley, an English-speaking region of Quebec that has not been well documented previously.This program, hosted by Glenn Patterson,… View item
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Marie Armstrong Interview

Marie Armstrong was a longtime leader of recreation activities, including square dance, contra, and folk dance, as well as leading singing. She was married to caller Don Armstrong for many decades.… View item
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Square Dance Hall of Fame

This website, created by the Square Dance History Project, honors the 34 nominees to the Sets in Order American Square Dance Society Hall of Fame. Dorothy Shaw was the first person named, in January… View item
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Bill Litchman - oral history

This is an interview conducted with Bill Litchman as part of the research into preparing a 2018 exhibit on "Square Dancing in the American West" at the University of Denver. Litchman discusses his own… View item
Website

Interview with Saundra Bryant

Short interview with Saundra Bryant, African-American square dance caller from Chicago."At one point, there were 25 or 30 African-American square-dance callers. Now there are probably 12 or 14 of us… View item
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Classic Dances of 1960

This recording comes from the 2001 CALLERLAB convention. (The audio recording is alsoavailable online here.)Jim Mayo, the CALLERLAB President at that time, was the MC, and he explains the start of the… View item
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Mal Hayden - Seacoast Demonstration - analysis of dances and tunes

This is a detailed look at the dances, figures, and tunes used in the Seacoast Demonstration called by Mal Hayden. View item
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Camp Becket - child's view of square dance camp

Camp Becket in western Massachusetts was the regular venue for square dance camps. Caller Herbie Gaudreau, who named many of his dances for locations in his dance universe, created the Becket Reel.… View item
Website

Kitty Keller - Social Dance History

This is a series of six edited videos, selections from a 90-minute interview with social dance historian Kate Van Winkle Keller. She is a specialist in dances of the 18th century, and here she trace… View item
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Square Dance—Houston Style

This article, from Houston History magazine, offers a popular overview of square dance history in that region from the 1940s into the 21st century. The author was , with her husband, president of the… View item