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

Browse Items (67 total)

  • Collection: Historical squares
Website

Square Dance, Oakland, CA - 1919

This silent newsreel footage from Gaumont News, a French company, shows several sets of dancers doing a quadrille in an outdoor setting. The brief title before the action reads: "Choose… View item
Moving Image

Windmill Lancers / Windmill Quadrille

Caller Don Armstrong provides the instruction and prompts the figures in this Retrospective Session from the 2000 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, held at the University of New Hampshire. The Windmill… View item
Sound

Windmill Lancers - Ralph Page

This recording of Ralph Page teaching the Windmill Lancers was recorded in 1972 at one of his weeklong camps. At the start, you hear Ralph providing some historical background on the Lancers before he… View item
Moving Image

Marlbrouk Cotillion

This dance turns up in the Revolutionary War years of the United States. Here it's danced by a group of students from Brigham Young University. Note the bouncy rigadoon step, which originated in… View item
Document

Quadrille and Cotillion - history

Part of a history of English country dancing in America, this segment looks at the quadrille and the cotillion. Caution: The author is mistaken when he asserts, "The French had imported the… View item
Moving Image

Parisian Varieties Quadrille

Mid-19th century quadrille, five figures, with music including waltz, polka, and mazurka.Les Variétés ParisiennesA new Quadrille, composed by the "Société Académique… View item
Document

American Square Dancing - 1976 NSDC historical pageant

This is the program, prepared by Cal Campbell, that accompanied the square dance historical pageant at the 1976 National Square Dance Convention in Anaheim, CA. See the next item in the SDHP… View item
Document

1976 Square Dance Historical Pageant

Cal Campbell provides this account of the production of the historical pageant at the 1976 National Square Dance Convention. View item
Moving Image

Monterey Polka Quadrille

The Monterey Polka Quadrilles by Charles Durang (1848) (Finale [Figure 5] - Colonel May)Reconstructed by Richard Powers (1983)Music by Fleeting Moments Waltz & Quickstep Orchestra (courtesy of… View item
Moving Image

Royal Lancers Quadrille

A "Royal Lancers," according to the notes of the historical pageant presented at the eighth National Square Dance Convention (Denver, 1959), is "any square dance that is doubled -… View item
Moving Image

Lancers Quadrille - Silver Spurs

Performed in the 1950s by the Silver Spurs youth dance troupe of Spokane, WA The SDHP site has numerous other items about the Lancers Quadrille. View item
Document

Social Dance in the Mormon West

Detailed look at the role that social dance played (and still plays) in Mormon society. The publication includes a lengthy essay by Larry Shumway looking at dance throughout Mormon history, including… View item