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

Browse Items (1930 total)

Sound

Comin' Round the Mountain - Bob Van Antwerp

Bob Van Antwerp, an important and early West Coast caller, was one of the founders of CALLERLAB. It's easy to forget that such individuals also had roots in traditional squares, as you can hear in… View item
Document

Don't Forget, Callers, Our Style Is Always Showing

This is a copy of a section of the minutes of a meeting of the Southern California Callers Association. Bob Van Antwerp presented the training session on the subject of dancing style and how callers… View item
Sound

Crawdad Song (clip) - Bob Van Antwerp

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Document

Bob Sumrall - Olcutt Sanders correspondence, 1939

These letters between Bob Sumrall and J. Olcutt Sanders provide a glimpse into Texas square dances in the late 1930s. Sanders was a serious student of square dance history, part of a group of… View item
Document

Social Dancing in Early Minnesota

Scholarly yet accessible article, with illustrations, published in Minnesota History magazine, providing a detailed look at social dance in Minnesota in mid-nineteenth century. Also available online.… View item
Sound

Fundamentals of Square Dancing

Bob Ruff and Jack Murtha collaborated on a detailed program of teaching square dancing using a series of recordings. The clips in this item are taken from their Instructional Series, Levels 1-3, plus… View item
Sound

Hey Lei Lee Lei Lee (clip) - Bob Ruff

California caller Bob Ruff sings the calls set to a popular song at the time. This clip includes the introduction plus once through the figures. Vic and Debbie Ceder has information about Ruff on… View item
Sound

Settin' the Woods on Fire - Bob Ruff

Borrowing the tune from the popular Hank Williams song of 1952, this excerpt features caller Bob Ruff with music by the Buckboard Busters on the Sets in Order label. The "lady 'round two and… View item
Document

Bob Ruff - Teaching Can Be Fun!

This 10-page handout is designed for callers interested in leading beginners' classes. Ruff argues that many callers are more interested in the latest flashy gimmick than in learning the basics… View item
Moving Image

Bob Ruff - Square Dancing Fundamentals, part 2

Also available elsewhere online.This is the second of two films created by caller Bob Ruff (Whittier, CA) to accompany his record, "The Fundamentals of Square Dancing, Level 1" that in turn is part of… View item
Moving Image

Bob Ruff - Square Dancing Fundamentals, Level 1

Caller Bob Ruff (Whittier, CA) created this video to accompany his record, "The Fundamentals of Square Dancing, Level 1" that in turn accompanies a square dance teaching series he created with Jack… View item
Document

Women Callers - article

Article presumably written by Bob Osgood, describing the challenges and opportunities for women square dance callers View item