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

Browse Items (214 total)

  • Subject is exactly "Transitional/Western 1950s"
Sound

Yucaipa Roll Away - Carroll White

The dance was created by Ed Gilmore, who ran a hardware store in Yucaipa, CA, when he started his calling career. The dance was published in 1950 in Square Dancing: The Newer and Advanced Dances, by… View item
Sound

Your Home Town - Fenton "Jonesy" Jones

A rare live recording of Jonesy calling, this time a singing square. View item
Moving Image

Wrong Way Thar - Bob Dalsemer

Bob Dalsemer calls this figure, which he adapted from Milly Riley's self-published book Western Square Dancing based on Dorothy Shaw's syllabi of the Lloyd Shaw Dance Fellowship, 1955-1970. The… View item
Sound

Wreck of the Old '97 - Jim Munyon

Jim Munyon was a popular caller in southern California in the early 1950s. Indeed, he was one of the callers at the famous (and enormous) 1950 square dance in Santa Monica with Lloyd Shaw as the MC.… View item
Document

What's New in SD? (1955)

This 1955 article takes a brief look at some figures that were considered new at the time. Among them: Pass Through, Allemande Thar, Dopaso, Box the Gnat, Rollaway, and Throw in the Clutch. View item
Document

Waltz Quadrilles

This detailed booklet describes waltz quadrilles, a style of dance enjoyed by dancers in this Oklahoma City group. The author are careful to draw a distinction with traditional dances, and predict… View item

Trinidad Twister - Marvin Shilling

This recording by Colorado caller Marvin Shilling—the Trinidad of the title refers to the Colorado location rather than the Caribbean island—was recorded in 1953; it appeared on the Western Jubilee… View item
Moving Image

Trail of the Lonesome Pine called by Bill Litchman

Don Armstrong took the basic figures of Gents and Corners, a New England style square by Ralph Page, and set them to a popular tune, thereby creating a well-known singing square dance. Here,… View item
Moving Image

Traditional Western Square Dances 3b - Heads to the Center, Sides Divide

Bill Litchman taught this dance as part of his session (November 19, 2011) on Traditional Western Squares at the Dare To Be Square Weekend, John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Co-sponsored by… View item
Website

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 item
Document

Three Southwest SD records

Here is a website dedicated to Southern Colorado vinyl recordings, including several square dance: For He's a Jolly Good Fellow (Al Horn and Elmer Swartwood's Prairie Hornets)Sunshine Lollipops and… View item
Document

The Care and Feeding of Exhibition Sets

This article fromAmerican Squares outlines items to be taken into consideration when developing an exhibition square dance team:===Putting the “dance” in square dancing is the basic… View item