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

Browse Items (1940 total)

Document

The Square Dance Caller

This is one of the most successful efforts to describe in detail just what is involved in being a good square dance caller. (Tony Parkes, in his Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century,"… View item
Sound

The Square Waltz (clip) - Carson Robison

music by the Pleasant Valley Boys View item
Document

The Value of Square Dancing - Ralph Maxhimer

In this essay, Ralph Maxhimer explains why he sees square dancing as a vital social/recreational activity. He was a founding member, along with his wife, Eve, of the National Square Dance Convention… View item
Document

The Varsovienne in the Southwestern United States

Master's thesis looking in detail at the history and widespread appearance of this classic couple dance throughout the southwestern part of the US. Since couple dances formed an important part of an… View item
Moving Image

There Is a Tavern in the Town / Three Ladies Chain - Dudley Laufman

To the tune of "There Is a Tavern in the Town," Dudley Laufman calls as part of the "Square Dance" Retrospective session at the annual Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend in Durham, NH. The musicians are… View item
Moving Image

This Land Is Your Land - Bob Howell

The caller is Bob Howell; is is a clip from the "Joy of Dancing" video issued by the Kentucky Dance Foundation and used with permission. Kentucky Dance Foundation, c/o Folk Dancer Record… View item
Moving Image

This Land Is Your Land - Jim Mayo

Jim Mayo calls this dance at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Musicians are Steve Hickman, fiddle; Jim Morrison, guitar;… View item
Moving Image

Three Ladies Chain - Rickey Holden

Instead of the women chaining over and back within their own square, in this variation of Three Ladies Chain, caller Rickey Holden has the women leaving their square and chaining all the way over the… View item
Website

Three singing squares - Vermont, 1956

Three singing squares from an October 6, 1956 recording of the Dick Perry Orchestra and caller Ira Huntley playing a square dance in Newfane, Vermont. Original tape donated to the Vermont Folklife… View item
Document

Three Southwest SD records

Here is a website dedicated to Southern Colorado vinyl recordings, including several square dance: For He's a Jolly Good Fellow (Al Horn and Elmer Swartwood's Prairie Hornets)Sunshine Lollipops and… View item
Document

Three Styles of Squares - 1951

This 1951 article describes a large and successful square dance festival in Chicago. View item
Sound

Three Texas squares - Herb Greggerson

These are three examples from Texas caller Herb Greggerson. 1) In Do-Si-Do Fun, hecalls a square that relies heavily on the western docey-do: partner left hand turn, corner right hand, repeated.… View item