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

Browse Items (1930 total)

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Fledermaus Quadrille

Michael Bergman: Sadly, they've substituted walking steps for the more difficult Regency-era style steps that were still in fashion when the music was written. They are correctly using the older… View item
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Late Nineteenth Century Quadrille

Virtually every dance manual published during the nineteeth century contains information on the performance of the quadrille. The Library of Congress site where this video (and others in the same… View item
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Bob Page - 1950s (clip)

According to Bob Osgood's spoken introduction, this recording is a "re-creation" of patter calling from the early 1950s. It is unclear whether this means an actual 1950s called… View item
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Earl Johnston - Skillet Lickin' (clip)

Categorized here as Mainstream, at the time this recording was released the calls were considered part of CALLERLAB's Basic program. This excerpt, for educational purposes, comes from a compilation… View item
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Bruce Johnson - Hash - Rubber Dolly (clip)

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Auctioneer - Ralph Sweet

This is the opening of Ralph Sweet calling his version of Marshall Flippo's classic singing square, Auctioneer. Ralph is calling a basic goal post pattern; compare other versions of the dance and read… View item
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Fred Breunig - Listen to the Mockingbird - singing square

An excerpt of the calls for this old square dance, led by Fred Breunig and recorded at the 2004 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. Music by Wild Card: Terry Traub (Piano), Vince O'Donnell… View item
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Marching Through Georgia - Dudley Laufman

Better known for his barn dances and as a contra dance caller, Dudley Laufman also includes some traditional squares in his repertoire. Here, joined by his wife Jacqueline-- "Two Fiddles" -- he leads… View item
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Nellie Bly - George Hodgson

Veteran dance caller George Hodgson leads the classic singing square in this 2004 appearance at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. Dancers at that event over the years became familiar with George's… View item
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Steamboat Springs - ribbons

Ribbons distributed to participants at the Steamboat Springs square dance festival in the early 1950sView home movie footage of the festival and read national magazine coverage of the event. View item
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Steamboat Springs - magazine articles

Two magazine articles gave publicity to the new square dance festival in Steamboat Springs. Newsweek covered the first festival in its issue of August 28, 1950, and Collier's followed the next year… View item
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Using Alternative Music In Your Square Dance Program - Paul Cote

This is a 50-minute audio and video presentation designed to help square dance callers use "alternative music" to make their dance program more relevant. By offering a variety of music to… View item