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)"
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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
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Colorado dancing - Cal Campbell

Dance caller Cal Campbell started dancing at age 6 in 1943; he has written a series of reminiscences of his experiences growing up in a small Colorado town and the vital role that dancing played in… View item

Colorado Square Dance History

This is Part-1 of seven parts of a ninety-minute performance that was presented at the annual convention of the International Association of Square Dance Callers in 2007. That convention was held in… View item
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Cowboy Dance (1923 article)

This description of dances on the Texas frontier was included in a 1923 collection, Coffee in the Gourd, edited by J. Frank Dobie for the Texas Folk-Lore Society. The author paints a vivid picture of… View item
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Cowboy Dances

This is the dust cover to Lloyd Shaw's book, Cowboy Dances, first published in 1939.Used copies are common and inexpensive. A clean reprint of the book is also available from the Lloyd Shaw… View item
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Cowboy Dances - records and movies

Provides information about the Lloyd Shaw recordings on Decca, the movies that were made to accompany them, and the relevant dance figures and their location in the Co View item
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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
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Cowboy Songs and Dances

This is an excerpt-- the dance part; a later song section is omitted-- from an article that includes the author's experiences at a cowboy dance in 1903. The author includes typical patter heard… View item
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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
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Cowpuncher's Square Dance Call

Poem that appears to be square dance patter from traditional western square dancing View item
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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
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Docey-Doe hoedown #1 - Bill Litchman

Caller Bill Litchman at a dance workshop in Belgium, May, 1991, first teaching the Colorado docey-doe figure, then using it in a called dance, interspersing it with a series of traditional figures:… View item