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

Browse Items (1929 total)

Sound

Don Armstrong - progressive squares

Don Armstrong calls a tip that moves dancers from one square to another. At the start of the clip, he alerts dances how this will be done and warns them that when they reach the outside of the hall… View item
Still Image

Don Armstrong - early years in Florida

1. Don & Laverne Armstrong2. Don Armstrong portrait3. Don Armstrong's band4. Don Armstrong - Danceland promo5. Don Armstrong - parade floatThis series of photographs shows caller Don Armstrong in… View item
Moving Image

Docey-Doe hoedown #2 - Bill Litchman

Caller Bill Litchman calling a mix of traditional figures. He explained, "I used three or four visiting couple figures and then the Colorado-style Docey-Doe each couple following up as the dance… View item
Moving Image

Docey-Doe hoedown #1 - Bill Litchman

Caller Bill Litchman at a dance workshop in Belgium, May, 1991, first teaching the Colorado docey-doe figure, then using it in a called dance, interspersing it with a series of traditional figures:… View item
Document

Docey-doe / Do Paso agreement

Docey-doe / Do Paso / Do-si-do / Dos a Dosexcerpt from Step by Step Through Modern Square Dance History by Jim Mayo... Others were more receptive to change. Another action that spread, probably from… View item
Sound

Doc Alumbaugh speaking to Al Brundage, 1957

Doc Alumbaugh, based in southern California, was one of the first traveling callers. In 1950, he founded Windsor Records, which became one of the foremost square dance record labels. (In addition to… View item
Document

Doc Alumbaugh - styling

Alumbaugh's "Styling Suggestion for Square Dancing" is a systematic approach to what he sees as the five components: • Poise • Bearing • Rhythm • Timing • Local Mannerisms The… View item
Sound

Do-Si-Do and Face the Sides (variation) - Ted Sannella

This clip is part of a series of eight square dances called by Ted Sannella at the Chesapeake Spring Dance Weekend, sponsored by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington. (Ted called another four or… View item
Moving Image

Do-si-do and Face the Sides - Tony Parkes

Recorded at the Greenfield, MA, Grange Hall on June 27, 2010. The event was sponsored by Country Dance and Song Society to celebrate the publication of "On the Beat with Ralph Sweet."… 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
Moving Image

Do-si-do and Face the Sides - Tony Parkes

Tony Parkes calls Ted Sannella's square dance, Do-si-do and Face the Sides, at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. The tune is… View item
Sound

Do-Si-Do and Face the Sides - Ted Sannella

Ted Sannella calls his dance, Do-Si-Do and Face the Sides, in a live recording from c. 1958. In Balance and Swing, Ted explains, "I wrote this dance in February, 1953 for a dance exhibition at the… View item