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

Browse Items (1926 total)

Website

Heiner Fischle's website

Heiner Fischle is a German caller, choreographer, and organizer. He has compiled a detailed website including some material of general interest. View item
Website

50 Years of Square Dancing in Germany

The first square dance was held in Bremen on July 16, 1949, called by Paul Hartman and attended by five squares, mostly American servicemen and their guests. The event was a success and Hartman began… View item
Still Image

Square Dance at La Reunion Place, Dallas, 1945

Two photographs View item
Moving Image

Bob Dalsemer – Contra and square dance writer and caller

Bob Dalsemer is an internationally-known square dance and contra dance caller and writer. Bob called dances for more than five decades in 33 states, Canada, the Czech Republic, Britain, Belgium,… View item
Sound

Harper Smith

This is a short clip called by Harper Smith at the National Square Dance Convention in Dallas, Texas in April of 1954. The choreography is hand turn hash with several Allemande Breaks. 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
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

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

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

Tunnel Through - Handley's Oldtimers

A photograph of the band from the late 1940s is available here.This is an excerpt from the full audio file, available here.Piano - Melody Handley Accordion - Roger Handley Banjo - Lloyd Handley Bass… View item
Document

Swamp Country Dance

This is a first-person account of attending a country dance in Georgia in the mid-1950s. The author describes the big circle formation in detail: "A single dance would go like this; The… View item
Still Image

Square Dance attendance & new calls

This slide contains two graphs, part of a presentation by Guy Steele on "The Mathematics of Square Dance Singing Calls," complete with dancers from MIT's Tech Squares group demonstrating figures. You… View item