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
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George Washington's Favourite

This dance comes from the Asa Wilcox 1793 manuscript held by the Newberry Library of Chicago; St. Louis dance leader John Ramsay found it in Leland Tichnor’s George Washington’s Birthday… 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
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
Moving Image

Quadrille (Länger, 1824, №1)

The first figure of a quadrille from 1824; the source document is Christian Länger's book, Terpsichore, Ein Taschenbuch der Neuesten Gesellschaftlichen Tänze, and can be read, in German,… View item
Moving Image

Quadrille français - 1st figure, Le Pantalon

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Quadrille français - La Polonaise - 3rd figure

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Contredanse française – La réverbère

Dance from the later 1700s, during the reign of Louis VXI (1754-1793), illustrating this dance form that emerged from the cotillon and led to the development of the 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
Moving Image

Les Quatre Berceaux - cotillion for 6 couples

“Les Quatre Berceaux” (The Four Cradles) was presented by Dance Discovery at the Missouri History Museum in conjunction with an exhibit on Napoleon. The group reconstructed the dance from… View item
Document

Les Quatre Berceaux - related documents

This item gathers together various documents related to the videotaped performance of the dance, Les Quatre Berceaux:• Instructions, as interpreted and explained by John Ramsay with assistance… 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
Website

Quadrille Mania - website

An overview of the history of the quadrille. View item