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

Browse Items (351 total)

  • Collection: Northern squares
Sound

Hello, Mary Lou (clip) - Ralph Sweet

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Sound

Louisiana Swing (clip) - Ralph Sweet

Singing square: this clip contains once through the figure and the break, which contains a Grand Square. Recorded at the February 2, 2004, at the Guiding Star Grange, Greenfield, MA, on the occasion… View item
Sound

Ralph Sweet - Oh Johnny (clip)

Singing square: this clip contains once through the figure and the break, which contains a Grand Square. Recorded at the February 2, 2004, at the Guiding Star Grange, Greenfield, MA, on the occasion… View item
Sound

Shoo-Fly (clip) - Mac McKenrick

Singing square, called to the familiar children's song; not to be confused with the "Shoo-Fly Swing," a figure sometimes found at the end of big circle dances. View item
Moving Image

Crooked Stovepipe - Tod Whittemore

The caller is Tod Whittemore; musicians are Randy Miller, fiddle; Peter Siegel, mandolin; and Bob McQuillen, piano. Danced during a Retrospective session at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend,… View item
Moving Image

Gents and Corners - Tony Parkes

Danced during a Retrospective session at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, January 15, 2011. The caller is Tony Parkes; musicians are Randy Miller, fiddle; Peter Siegel, mandolin; and Bob… View item
Moving Image

The Route - Bob Dalsemer

Recorded at Dare To Be Square, Seattle, 2009 View item
Moving Image

Texas Star - Bob Dalsemer

Recorded at Dare To Be Square, Seattle, in 2009. For a more complete view of dances from the weekend, see the audio and video files posted here. View item
Document

Singing Calls - a short history

History of Singing Squaresby Tony ParkesThe earliest description of a singing square I've found so far (in fairly shallow digging) appears in the first edition (1925) of Good Morning, prepared by Mr.… View item
Moving Image

Just Because - Walter Lenk

Caller Walter Lenk, backed up by Tony Parkes, leads dancers through the singing square Just Because. Recorded at the Saturday night Grand Dance, January 1988, at the first Ralph Page Dance Legacy… View item
Website

Glenn F. Pease - Old-Time Barn Dance Caller

Glenn F. Pease: Old-Time Barn Dance Caller From just after WW II to the early 1970s, one of the places to be on a summer Saturday night in a small corner of west-central New Hampshire was at a… View item
Moving Image

Do-Si-Do and Face the Sides - Tony Parkes

Tony Parkes is the caller in this excerpt of a Ted Sannella composition, "Do-Si-Do and Face the Sides." The dance, at the Kingston, New Hampshire town hall on the evening of November 18,… View item