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

Browse Items (32 total)

  • Contributor is exactly "Bob Dalsemer"
Sound

Mountain Grove, VA, Square Dance

Bob Dalsemer collected live recordings of this dance. The featured talent was Rodney Chestnut, caller, with The Rebels Band.Dalsemer described the series in this way: "Mountain Grove, Virginia is just… View item
Document

Beatnik square dance

All forms of social dance reflect changes in the broader society in which they take place. This call, found in an unidentified caller's notebook, dates from the 1950s and shows a common set of… View item
Still Image

Blue Bonnet Set - 1939

This 1939 newspaper pictoral spread looks at Herb Greggerson's Blue Bonnet Set, the team that won the Texas square dancing championship in March that year. Before that, the prize was often taken… View item
Sound

Marching Through Georgia - Worley Gardner

(Note: This site also contains a video clip of the dance as called by New England caller Dudley Laufman.)from the chapter on Morgantown, WV, in West Virginia Square Dances, by Bob DalsemerSinging… View item
Moving Image

The Route - Tony Parkes

The caller is Tony Parkes; musicians are Yankee Ingenuity (Jack O'Connor, mandolin; Mary Lea, fiddle; Cal Howard, bass; Peter Barnes, piano), joined by Steve Hickman, fiddle and harmonica. Filmed… View item
Document

American Square Dancing in Three Sections of Maryland and the District of Columbia - 1943

This is a Master's thesis based upon observation at three locations in Maryland:1. Salisbury and vicinity, particularly Public Landing, on the Eastern Shore2. Oakland and vicinity, particularly… View item
Sound

Glenville, WV Square Dances called by Mack Samples

The dances (with instruction) are: Butterfly Whirl First Boy to the Right Grapevine Twist Take a Little Peek Texas Star_Take a Little PeekBob Dalsemer writes: "These recordings were made on May… View item
Document

Texas Square Dance Contests

These are a series of newspaper clippings made by J. Olcutt Sanders, documenting Texas square dance competitions. (Unfortunately, most of them are undated.) We assume that these are from Fort Worth;… View item
Document

Douglas Kennedy on American dances, 1939

Douglas Kennedy succeeded Cecil Sharp as director of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. He visited the United States in 1939 to teach dancing and to observe what he could while in this country.… View item
Document

Smoky Mountain Square Dance Collection

In his later years, Tennessee caller David Hendrix was working on an expanded version of his Smoky Mountain Square Dances, complete with diagrams and professional photographs. After his death, his… View item
Document

"The Square Dance" - David Hendrix, 1951

East Tennessee caller D. B., Hendrix provides a general introduction to square dancing. He writes, "Square dancing is easy to learn. Anyone who can march or keep time to music can learn it. in… View item
Document

D. B. Hendrix correspondence

A Selection from the Papers of David B. Hendrix, Smoky Mountain Square Dance Callerby Bob DalsemerIn 1999 the John C. Campbell Folk School received a donation of several boxes of papers from the… View item