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

Browse Items (1930 total)

Moving Image

Comin' Round the Mountain - Bob Livingston

Bob Livingston, caller, with the Falltown String Band: Jack Arensmeyer, acoustic guitar and mandolin; Jason Burbank, keyboard, fiddle; Jack Nelson, bass; Champ Dickinson, electric guitar, and Linwood… View item
Document

Come Square Dancing (Australia, 1953)

Note: The file is a large one. Depending on the speed of your internet connection it may take a while to load. For ease of viewing offline, you could also click on the download icon (next to the print… View item

Colorado Square Dance History

This is Part-1 of seven parts of a ninety-minute performance that was presented at the annual convention of the International Association of Square Dance Callers in 2007. That convention was held in… View item
Moving Image

Colorado Double Star

The double square was started by the Aggie Haylofters at Colorado State University in the 1950's as a dance formation for exhibition square dancing; The double square was danced by the Aggie… View item
Document

Colorado dancing - Cal Campbell

Dance caller Cal Campbell started dancing at age 6 in 1943; he has written a series of reminiscences of his experiences growing up in a small Colorado town and the vital role that dancing played in… View item
Sound

Climbing Up the Golden Stairs (clip) - David Park Williams

From the CD set "Mostly Quadrilles," containing two CDs of called dances, 24 in all, and two CDs of just instrumental tracks, arranged by David Park Williams. Musicians are Bill J. Sparrow,… View item
Moving Image

Climbing Up the Golden Stairs - Bob Livingston

Bob Livingston, caller, with the Falltown String Band: Jack Arensmeyer, acoustic guitar and mandolin; Jason Burbank, keyboard, fiddle; Jack Nelson, bass; Champ Dickinson, electric guitar, and Linwood… View item
Moving Image

Climbing Up The Golden Stairs - Adam Boyce

The caller warned the dancers that after going through the figures three times, he was going to speed up the tempo the last time through. Traditional singing square dance, recorded in West Newbury,… View item
Document

Clayton Eighters - guidelines

Toward the start of the square dance boom in the St. Louis area, there were three clubs that sponsored Lloyd Shaw's visit: The Lancers, Boots and Belles, and The Promenaders. However, at the same… View item
Document

Classic Squares of 1960 - CALLERLAB demonstration

This is the handout of a workshop held at CALLERLAB's 2001 convention. The goal was to illustrate square dancing in 1960, a time when modern square dancing was branching off in new directions. This… View item
Sound

Classic Dances of 1960

This recording comes from the 2001 CALLERLAB convention. (The audio recording is alsoavailable online here.)Jim Mayo, the CALLERLAB President at that time, was the MC, and he explains the start of the… View item
Document

Class Notes - Jim Mayo, 1963

Unlike traditional square dance, modern SD is based on a series of classes that teach the basic figures. As the activity has increased its vocabulary of figures, the number of suggested classes has… View item