Browse Items (111 total)
- Subject is exactly "Traditional Western (pre-1940)"
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Traditional Square Dance Figures
One section of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation's website provides detailed instructions (and source information) for 20 figures from traditional Western and southern Appalachian squares:Arkansas… View itemDocument
Texas Square Dances - Rickey Holden
This is a detailed description of three Texas squares, presented by Rickey Holden as an exhibition dance at the fourth annual New England Folk Festival, November 15–16, 1947. Holden based much of his… View itemDocument
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 itemDocument
Square and Couple Dances with Directions and Calls - Lloyd Shaw
This is a supplement to Cowboy Dances and Good Morning that was used in a 1947 summer session at the University of Colorado. "Most of these dances have been taken from the mimeographed material… View itemDocument
At the Keith Ranch (1893)
SeeAdditional Filesfor the full story.This short story, published in 1893, focuses on events at a square dance at a Colorado ranch. Although the plot itself is melodramatic, the author includes… View itemWebsite
Square Dancing in the 1800s
Fred Feild is a long-time caller and square dance enthusiast; now living in Tucson, he was instrumental in creating the Chicago Barn Dance Company in the mid-1970s. In recent years, he has started… View itemSound
Sally Goodin - Eddie Carol & his Corn Cobbers
Eddie Carol, called by some "the greatest authority on the American square dance In Australia," was a leading Australia caller who specialized in a singing patter style of calling after… View itemDocument
Frontier Dances - Bob Cook
A native of Colorado, Bob Cook's dancing experiences go back to the time when he was a seventh grader at the Cheyenne Mountain School. He was a member of the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers from 1939 to… View itemDocument
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 itemMoving Image
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 itemMoving Image
Docey-Doe hoedown #2 - Bill Litchman
Caller Bill Litchman calling a mix of traditional figures. He explained, "I used three or four visiting couple figures and then the Colorado-style Docey-Doe each couple following up as the dance… View itemMoving Image
El Paso dancing, 1939
Square Dancing in downtown, El Paso, Texas, recorded during the Sun Carnival of 1939. We don't know for certain, but it's likely that these dancers were coached by El Paso caller Herb Greggerson. Pay… View item
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