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

Browse Items (1930 total)

Website

Square Dance Resources - CDSS website

A rich, detailed, extensive collection of resources assembled by caller Nils Fredland and hosted on the website of Country Dance and Song Society. In some ways, the website mirrors this site in… View item
Moving Image

Square Dance Revival - Australia, 1980

Television documentary that looks at square dancing in Australia. Mention is made of the boom years of the early 1950s an the start of square dancing there, but this focuses on a revival around 1980.… View item
Document

Square Dance Revival Due To Shaw’s Dreams in the 1920’s

This newspaper essay by Dorothy Stott Shaw describes, in her usual poetic manner, the rise of square dancing as seen through Lloyd Shaw and his experiences at Cheyenne Mountain School. There are more… View item
Document

Square Dance Revival in Lincoln [Nebraska], 1940–1950

[Note: Large file may take a while to load completely.] This detailed booklet describes the revival of square dancing in Lincoln, Nebraska, and offers resources to encourage further growth. After… View item
Document

Square Dance sources

Bill Martin was an active promoter of square dancing, inspiring musicians and callers to revive older squares and to establish new series. His Bubba Guitar website was a hub of terrific resources,… View item
Sound

Square Dance Time - Tommy Cavanagh

Two clips from Tommy Cavanagh's "Square Dance Time" album., excerpts from "Hoedown Boogie" and "Boil that Cabbage." Callers in Great Britain from time to time… View item
Document

Square Dance Timing for Callers: Philosophy

New England caller Dick Leger, "the man with the guitar," believed strongly in fitting calls to the musical phrase. In this, he was sometimes an outlier in the modern square dance community… View item
Moving Image

Square Dance Tonight - with Elisha Keeler

This 1949 film features caller Elisha Keeler of South Salem, NY. Keeler was featured in The New Yorker in a brief "Talk of the Town" piece in 1949 and then was given a lengthy profile (some 5,000… View item
Website

Square dance tunes and calls

Audio recording of interview by Alan Lomax with Alan Robertson in the Mississippi Delta View item

Square Dance Video collections

There are thousands of videos on sites such as YouTube that show modern square dancing. Several individuals have done their own collecting, presenting many videos on one location. Andy Abeles is based… View item
Website

Square Dance Videos - MWSD

Caller Matt McGovern <matt@mattmcgovern.net> has started a YouTube channel devoted to modern square dancing, including his own videos and those contributed by others. This collection offers a… View item
Website

Square Dance Videos (West Coast) - Joe Dehn

A collection of several hundred videos videotaped by Joe Dehn, mostly from West Coast MWSD conventions, illustrating a variety of styles, callers, and programs. Among the many dances, you might… View item