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

Browse Items (111 total)

  • Subject is exactly "Traditional Western (pre-1940)"
Website

Utah Square Dance History

The June 28, 1973 issue of the Deseret News (a Mormon-owned daily newspaper published in Salt Lake City) contained a supplement on the 22nd National Square Dance Convention. The article on Utah square… View item
Moving Image

California Heritage Dancers exhibition

The video shows the California Heritage Dance Group in a demonstration at the California State Square Dance Convention in San Diego, CA in April 2011. The demonstration shows the Spanish influence on… View item
Website

Learn To Dance and Call Square Dances the Foster Way

Two sets of instructional cards are available online. Each set contains 35 two-sided cards, with descriptions of basic figures as well as complete dance routines.Some original sets are available for… View item
Sound

Cheat or Swing (clip) - Sandy Bradley

Sandy Bradley calling with the Arm and Hammer String Band (Vermont): Pete Sutherland, fiddle; Joel Eckhaus, guitar; Hilary Woodruff, bass; Sid Blum, banjo; from Potluck & Dance Tonite, Alcazar… View item
Moving Image

Square Dance, Raton, NM

Outdoor square dance. Calls include "lady round the lady and the gent follow, lady round the gent and the gent don't go." The tune is Waggoner, sometimes called Tennessee… View item
Document

Cowboys' Christmas Ball - Anson, Texas

Poem written in 1890 describing the Cowboys' Christmas Ball in Anson, Texas. For more information about the author, see this website on cowboy poetry. The Ball continues, following the original rules… View item
Still Image

Utah Square Dance History (JPG)

The June 28, 1973 issue of the Deseret News (a Mormon-owned daily newspaper published in Salt Lake City) contained a supplement on the 22nd National Square Dance Convention. The article on Utah square… View item
Moving Image

Cheyenne Mountain School and Dr. Lloyd Shaw

A history of the Cheyenne Mountain School of Colorado Springs through the films of Dr. Lloyd Shaw shot in the 1920's and 1930's and narrated by former Cheyenne Mountain School student and… View item
Moving Image

Bill Litchman 1 - Traditional Western Squares

Caller Bill Litchman discusses characteristic features of traditional western square dances, incorporating his memory of Colorado dances that he encountered starting in the 1950s.For a more detailed… View item
Moving Image

Cowboy Medley Square - Silver Spurs

Caller Red Henderson, who founded the Silver Spurs youth dance troupe, here calls a "cowboy square dance," mixing together figures based on traditional western square dances. The film dates… View item
Moving Image

The Dancing "Silver Spurs" - 1951

This is an excerpt from a half-hour film, made in 1951 by Standard Oil, about the Silver Spurs, a performing dance group from Spokane, WA. The group was founded in 1947 by E. S. "Red"… View item
Document

Cowpuncher's Square Dance Call - response

Folklorist Sam Hinton has some fun with the poem. If it is to be taken literally as an example of a dance call, Hinton calculates that the cowboys are dancing at a speed greater than 20 miles per… View item