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
Website

Grand Chain - Grande Chaîne

Note: The link will take you to the home page featuring a documentary by Guy Bouchard about "Traditional music and dances from the tip of the Gaspé peninsula." Interested viewers can stream the… View item
Sound

Darling Nellie Gray - Happy Hale

Happy Hale was a caller from Bernardston, MA, and some have speculated that Ralph Page patterned his style as a singing caller on Hale's technique. Other Happy Hale recordings at the Library of… View item
Sound

Yellow Rose of Texas - Dad Brundage

Dad Brundage was the father of Al and Bob Brundage, each of whom became well-known modern square dance callers. In his autobiography, This Is My Square Dancing Life, Bob Brundage writes, "Then when I… View item
Sound

Forward Six and Back (clip) - Harold Luce

This audio clip features the fiddling and calling of Harold "Chuck" Luce, who started playing in the mid-1930s and was still playing in 2012. He has been associated with the Ed Larkin… View item
Sound

First Two Gents Cross Over - Harold Luce

Harold Luce started fiddling with the Ed Larkin Dancers in north central Vermont in the 1930s and played with them until his death at age 95 on August 13, 2014. In this recording, he is accompanied on… View item
Document

Westchester's Famous Square Dance Expert

Article describing Elisha Keeler's approach to calling squares View item
Document

Four dances from Gaspé

This is a detailed description in French of the four dances documented in the Grand Chain - Grande Chaîne video. It was created by Hélène Gaulin, the caller in the video. View item
Website

Caller Hesse Reese - live recording, 1985

Caller, musician, and collector Larry Edelman describes this as "a 2.5 hour audio file that I recorded of Hesse Reese, an auctioneer and square dance caller at an evening square dance on October 11,… View item
Document

Ted Sannella - 1992 interview transcription

This lightly edited transcription of the interview appeared in the AADS News, February 1993, Vol.. 3 #1, p. 2-7 View item
Sound

Ted Sannella - 1992 interview

This interview was conducted by Hilde Dewaelheyns with Ted when he was on staff at the AADS [Anglo-American Dance Shop] Autumn Dance Weekend, held at the youth hostel in Ronse, Belgium. In it, Ted… View item
Moving Image

Hilton and Stella Kelly - Square Dance Tunes and Calls

Hilton Kelly, of Fleischmanns, New York, was a Catskills fiddler and square dance caller. He started playing in 1932, at age 5, and started calling in 1937. By the time he was 15, he had a regular… View item
Website

Hilton and Stella Kelly - interview, with tunes

This is a two-part lengthy interview conducted and recorded by Bob Nisbet with Hilton and Stella Kelly. First Parthttps://youtu.be/jZdsYz2TspMSecond parthttps://youtu.be/4Cud_VlbyLI View item