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

Browse Items (1930 total)

Document

Early Texas Dances

This article was written by Olcutt Sanders, a dance caller and historian who was among the founders of Foot 'n' Fiddle magazine, an early square dance magazine in Texas. View item
Document

Early Dance Houses

This piece about Texas dance halls is a companion to the author's article on Texas dance history. View item
Moving Image

Danseurs de l’Ile Jésus - dip and dive

Performance by a group of dancers at an outdoor event organized by Phillippe Bruneau at the Musée canadien des civilisations (Gatineau) in 1989. The first half of the dance is built around a series… View item
Moving Image

Roll the Barrel - Pistol Packin' Mama

Singing square called by Frank Kendall, Gassetts, Vermont. The Gassetts Grange hosts a monthly dance with a mix of round dances and traditional Eastern singing squares, with live music provided by… View item
Sound

Choo Choo Square Dance - Les Gotcher

Les Gotcher is often remember today as the Hashmaster, known for his flamboyant outfits, his energetic calls, and his often challenging choreographic sequences. However, like other performers, he was… View item
Sound

Merry-Go-Round Square Dance - Les Gotcher

See comments on Choo Choo Square Dance for more information. View item
Website

"Square Dance in the 1950s Rural West: An Oral History"

Interviews with two older dancers in the author's family. One describes dancing in Garden Valley, Idaho, including stories of all-night dancing in the middle of the road in mid-winter, a literal… View item
Document

Community Swing - 1945

This article in a recreation journal describes the growth of interest in square dancing in one Midwestern town in the mid-1940s. It's a portrait that was repeated in many communities across the… View item
Moving Image

Plain Quadrille - 1890

Caller Ralph Sweet provides the instruction and prompts the figures in this Retrospective Session from the 2000 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, held at the University of New Hampshire. The tunes are… View item
Moving Image

Windmill Lancers / Windmill Quadrille

Caller Don Armstrong provides the instruction and prompts the figures in this Retrospective Session from the 2000 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, held at the University of New Hampshire. The Windmill… View item
Sound

Windmill Lancers - Ralph Page

This recording of Ralph Page teaching the Windmill Lancers was recorded in 1972 at one of his weeklong camps. At the start, you hear Ralph providing some historical background on the Lancers before he… View item
Moving Image

Two singing squares - Tod Whittemore, 1986

Tod Whittemore provides the instructions and calls the figures at these two singing squares: Maple Sugar Gal and Smoke on the Water. Music is by Allan Block on fiddle and Peter Barnes on piano.… View item