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

Around the Outside - Ed Durlacher

Honor Your Partner was a series of rhythmic activities and dance albums, more than 20 in all, released by Ed Durlacher starting in 1949 and extending into the 1950s. This dance is from Album 1, the… View item
Document

Honor Your Partner - records

Honor Your Partner was a series of rhythmic activities and dance albums, more than 20 in all, released by Ed Durlacher starting in 1949 as 78 rpm records, continuing into the 1950s and beyond as vinyl… View item
Sound

Susanna (instruction) - Ed Durlacher

This is the very first dance on the first disk of Ed Durlacher's Honor Your Partner series, an extensive collection of dance and rhythmic music albums that were widely-used in schools. Here,… View item
Document

Juvenile Delinquency and Square Dancing

In this article, published inNorthern Junket in 1959, caller Ed Durlacher describes his experiences leading square dances in Riverside Park, New York City. It was not a promising beginning:"As they… View item
Sound

Redwing - Dip and Dive - Ed Durlacher

Ed Durlacher, caller. The tune is Redwing. Durlacher's vocal style is distinctive. Recorded in 1941, with music by Al MacLeod's Country Dance Band. View item
Sound

Farmer's Daughter (clip) - Ed Bossing

Ed Bossing was director of the Rocky Mount Folk and Square Dance Summer School in Denver, and was employed regularly by the Chicago public school system. He authored the Handbook of Square Dancing,… View item
Document

Ed Austin's Life in Dance

This autobiography by Ed Austin focuses on his lifetime involvement with traditional dance, including a detailed description of the dances he filmed in Central City, Colorado. Click here to watch his… View item
Moving Image

Central City, Colorado - 1955

The caller featured here is Ray Smith; we have not yet identified the fiddler and piano player. By 1960, Al "Tex" Brownlee was the caller and he used recorded music.Dancers:Couple 1: Dave Chandler and… View item
Moving Image

Jean Alve

Jean Alve has been calling squares for more than 50 years. She lives in upstate New York and now calls a weekly two-hour session of "Square, Round, Line & Polka Dancing" at a local senior center.… View item
Sound

Patter Call - Earl Johnston

This is a short clip from a dance called by Earl Johnston in 1970 at the Bay Path Barn in Boylston, MA View item
Sound

Earl Johnston - Patter, 1962

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Sound

Tipperary - Earl Johnston, 1962

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