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

Browse Items (189 total)

  • Collection: Southern Appalachian
Website

Virginia square dance, 1925, silent movie

This silent movie footage, created by Fox News, shows dancers and fiddlers recorded in an outdoor setting in Quitman [sic], Virginia. We cannot identify this location since it does not show up on… View item
Document

Traditional Folkdance in Kentucky

Article by LeeEllen Friedland describing the social setting for community dances as well as the dance figures themselves. She differentiates among three types of dance: single dancing, couple dancing… View item
Website

The Slave Roots of Square Dancing

This is an easily-read summary of a scholarly article by Phil Jamison on the African-American roots of southern Appalachian dance and, in particular, the pivotal role played by African-American… View item
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The Shuffle - Phil Jamison - Southern Appalachian squares

Phil Jamison led a workshop session on square dances from the southern Appalachians, focusing on dances from different communities in that region. Phil described this simple figure as a common dance… View item
Document

The Saturday Square Dance and Fish Fry in Dogtown

Cultural historian and old-time fiddler Linda L. Henry has done extensive research into the history of black string band music and dance in Warren County, Tennessee, halfway between Nashville and… View item
Website

The Life and Times of Joe Thompson

This 27 minute documentary about North Carolina fiddler Joe Thompson is a look at music and dance in African-American communities, not just in the 20th century but reaching back in time. Thompson and… View item
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Texas Star (walkthrough) - Phil Jamison

Phil Jamison calls this classic square dance at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Phil uses "rip and snort" as a figure used… View item
Moving Image

Texas Star (a) - Phil Jamison

Phil Jamison calls this classic square dance at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Phil uses "rip and snort" as a figure used… View item
Moving Image

Texas Star - Phil Jamison

Recorded May 5, 2012, at the evening dance at Dare To Be Square, Riner, Virginia. Phil Jamison, Asheville, NC, is the caller. Musicians are Chance McCoy -- fiddle; Bob Browder -- guitar;; Mac Traynham… View item
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Texas Star - Mike Rogers, Wien, Missouri, 1994

The caller is 92-year-old Mike Rogers, patter calling at a jam session and square dance held at Wien (Chariton County in north central Missouri) in 1994. There's close-up footage of Rogers starting at… View item
Document

Tennessee Star - David Hendrix, 1951

East Tennessee caller D. B., Hendrix provides directions for this big set variation of the Texas Star. A biography of the author can be found at the related item, "Smoky Mountain Square… View item
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Take a Little Peek - Jerry Goodwin

Recorded at a square dance on February 7, 1987 at the Prosperity Fire Hall, Washington County, PA.Jerry Goodwin, CallerMountain Express: Chuck Monticello, fiddle Joe Fry, electric guitar Bob Hill,… View item