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

Browse Items (1930 total)

Moving Image

An Evening with Lloyd Shaw

Richard Marold was director of theCheyenne Mountain Heritage Centerat the time of this presentation. He developed this one man show in which he appears as Dr. Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw, speaking directly to… View item
Website

Amish Barn Dance

Article from Pennsylvania Folklife (winter 1962-63) describing how a traditional community with no electricity hosts events with large crowds: "The most disturbing technical problem that faces the… View item
Document

American Square Dancing in Three Sections of Maryland and the District of Columbia - 1943

This is a Master's thesis based upon observation at three locations in Maryland:1. Salisbury and vicinity, particularly Public Landing, on the Eastern Shore2. Oakland and vicinity, particularly… View item
Document

American Square Dancing - 1976 NSDC historical pageant

This is the program, prepared by Cal Campbell, that accompanied the square dance historical pageant at the 1976 National Square Dance Convention in Anaheim, CA. See the next item in the SDHP… View item
Document

American Square Dances of the West and Southwest

Electronic copy of 1949 book by Lee Owens, with music arranged by Viola Ruth. Excellent resource made available through the Internet Archive. The book can be read online, downloaded as a PDF file, or… View item
Moving Image

American Square Dance - Coronet Films, 1947

This 1947 instructional film, produced by Coronet Films, was created in collaboration with the Chicago Parks District. (Note that Lloyd Shaw's Cheyenne Mountain Dancers performed in Chicago in… View item
Document

American Country Dancing on Colorado's West Slope

The article is based on oral history collected in 1979, though no footnotes or direct quotations are included. Instead, it is a generalized summary of the author's findings. "Depending on… View item
Sound

Allemande Hash - Carroll White

Another dance from "A Night at Sunny Hills," a series of records "for experienced square dancers," released in 1951. As the name suggests, the Allemande Hash contains variations on allemandes,… View item
Document

Allemande Alphabet

This look at the "allemande alphabet" is by Dick Pasvolsky, writing in The American Dance Circle, quarterly publication of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation. A concise listing of the figures can be found… View item
Document

Allemande Alphabet

Allan Brozek, Oxford, CT: "Charles Crabbe Thomas, from Woodbury, NJ, was the publisher of American Squares during the magazine's early years. Most likely, some of these alphabet calls were made up by… View item
Document

Alex Boustead – biographical info

Alex Boustead was also one of the founding members of the Canadian Olde Tyme Square Dance Callers Association. He was introduced to squares in the winter of 1931-32, and in a short time he started… View item
Sound

Alamo Style

This 1949 description of "Alamo style" balances comes from Rickey Holden, who coined the term to describe the figure. Holden points out that the action itself had been around for a while.… View item