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

Browse Items (160 total)

  • Collection: Traditional western
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Texas Whirlwind - Rickey Holden

Holden teaches the figures, starting with a review of Catch All Eight, a traditional figure from West Texas that became part of modern square dance: right hand turn halfway around, then left hand turn… View item
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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
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The Girl I Left Behind Me (clip) - Lee Bedford, Jr.

In his brief look at the development of singing calls, Tony Parkes cites the publication of this dance in 1925 as "the earliest description of a singing square I've found so far (in fairly shallow… View item
Document

The Varsovienne in the Southwestern United States

Master's thesis looking in detail at the history and widespread appearance of this classic couple dance throughout the southwestern part of the US. Since couple dances formed an important part of an… View item
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Three Ladies Chain - Rickey Holden

Instead of the women chaining over and back within their own square, in this variation of Three Ladies Chain, caller Rickey Holden has the women leaving their square and chaining all the way over the… 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
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Three Texas squares - Herb Greggerson

These are three examples from Texas caller Herb Greggerson. 1) In Do-Si-Do Fun, hecalls a square that relies heavily on the western docey-do: partner left hand turn, corner right hand, repeated.… 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
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Traditional Western Square Dances 4 - Docey Out as She Comes In

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
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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
Document

Tucson Square Dance (1950 article)

Magazine article (1950) describing Arizona square dances and caller George Waudby. The first PDF is a facsimile of the magazine article; it is followed by an easier-to-read version of the text. (Also… View item
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