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

Browse Items (349 total)

  • Collection: Northern squares
Sound

Cut Away 6, 4, 2 (clip) - Fred Townsend

Canadian caller, born 1900, who was the caller for Don Messer's bands on its many cross-country trips. A three-LP boxed set of his dance calls (Let's Square Dance) was released (Doncaster DS-3-102).… View item
Sound

Crooked Stovepipe (clip) - Gene Gowing

This is the start of Gene Gowing's recording of a classic New England singing square. Gowing half sings, half chants the figures, in somewhat the same manner-- though less melodiously-- as his… View item
Sound

Polly Wolly Doodle (clip) - Gene Gowing

This dance uses the familiar children's song as the basis for a singing square. It's unclear whether caller Gene Gowing is singing the song at the beginning; the quality of the voice… View item
Sound

Quadrille #1 - Gene Gowing

Gene Gowing, here accompanied on piano by Willa Semple, prompts a quadrille to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw." Gowing was an associate of Ralph Page for many years, a co-producer of their… View item
Moving Image

My Little Girl - singing square - Gene Ward

Singing square dance called by Gene Ward; recorded at the Original Dulcimer Players Non-Electrical Funfest, Evart, Michigan, July 18-22, 1990. Ward, a caller from Durand, Michigan (near Flint), was… View item
Moving Image

Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane - George Hodgson

The song was written by William Shakespeare Hays in 1875, and George Hodgson is the caller for the singing square, recorded January 16, 2004, at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, Durham, NH. The… View item
Document

Square Dancing in the Park

Short article describing the start of Ed Durlacher's program of teaching square dancing in Riverside Park in New York City. The Additional File ("Youth and the Squares") will provide a… View item
Sound

Darling Nellie Gray (clip) - George Wade

Notice the tempo of this version! View item
Sound

Lady Round the Lady - George Wade

Played by George Wade and his Cornhuskers. The tune is Lord Saltoun's Reel. You'll note that the introduction to Wade dance recordings is longer than many others. View item
Moving Image

Newfoundland Square Dance - Fogo Island

Traditional Newfoundland square dancing in the early 1990's. Tunes played on the accordion are: Off She Goes, Mussels in the Corner, and Rode up in a Dory. The dances are performed by many of the… View item
Website

"I'll Swing Yours, You Swing Mine" - A Tribute to Rufus Fisher's Orchestra and Wilson's Westernaires

This is a recorded Zoom talk about two dance bands in the Chateauguay Valley, an English-speaking region of Quebec that has not been well documented previously.This program, hosted by Glenn Patterson,… View item
Still Image

West Newbury, VT - square dance competition

This is a newspaper account (and acccompanying poem) describing the 1941 success of a team from West Newbury, Vermont, in a dance competition. We often think of square dance contests in Texas, but… View item