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

Browse Items (1938 total)

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Pappy's Do-Si-Do – Rocky Mountain Dancers

This video shows the group dancing to a recording of Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw calling. The calls are designed to showcase a series of different figures.Performed by the Colorado Rocky Mountain Dancers. The… View item
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Rocky Mountain Dancers - Lloyd Shaw tribute

The Colorado Rocky Mountain Dancers formed in 1999 to represent Lloyd Shaw's Cheyenne Mountain Dancers in a historical pageant to be presented at the 50th National Square Dance Convention. The pageant… View item
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Herb Egender - part 2

Herb Egender was a member of Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw's legendary square dance demonstration team, the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers. This footage of his recollections of that experience was… View item
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Herb Egender - part 1

Herb Egender was a member of Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw's legendary square dance demonstration team, the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers. This footage of his recollections of that experience was… View item
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Fiddlers' Festival dance - Cape Breton

We're not sure where this event took place. The musicians here are Brian MacDonald and Hilda Chiasson.This is one of a large collection of videos posted on Facebook by the Cape Breton Music Media… View item
Document

Swing Your Partner  (Texas, Doc Journell)

This is the first issue (see Additional Files) of a square dance magazine edited by C.D. "Doc" Journell. A major focus of this issue is a discussion about the formation of a national square… View item
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Chain Lightning - Butch Nelson (clip)

Another example of Butch Nelson's calling, with fast-paced patter keeping dancers moving briskly. Again, the patter clearly shows the caller's western roots. The music is played by the… View item
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Half Sashay - Butch Nelson (clip)

"Pull up your pants and tighten the tracesAll join hands, we're off to the races."With opening patter like this, we know we're in traditional western square dance territory. Thirty seconds later, when… View item
Document

Square Dances of the Southwest

This 1951 booklet, by caller Butch Nelson, is a useful collection of calls from that region. You can hear Nelson calling Oklahoma Cyclone here.The Related Items provide audio or video clips, called by… View item
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Oklahoma Cyclone (clip) - Butch Nelson

Butch Nelson was a regular caller at the Lighted Lantern dance camp in Colorado. View item
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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
Document

"Dancing to the Music: Domestic Square Dances and Community in Southcentral Kentucky (1880-1940)"

This detailed examination of the role of square dances in south central Kentucky is written by a folklorist, who based his findings on interviews with 20 musicians, dancers, and callers in that… View item