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

Browse Items (1924 total)

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Take a Little Peek

Northwestern Pennsylvania version of Take a Little Peek, usually considered a southern Appalachian dance figure. Called and posted by Dan Freligh (aka RubberCrutches). The tune is Boil that Cabbage… View item
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Tait's Orchestra with Bud Udick

Cactus Tait’s Orchestra, taken at the Broadmoor hotel ballroom.. From left to right: piano, Mrs. Ethel Tait caller, Col. Earl “Bud” W. Udick (1/11/1916 – 9/5/1979) fiddle, Ben Chichester (1897-… View item
Document

Syllabus of Square Dances, Rickey Holden 1949

This is a syllabus created by Rickey Holden for a callers' workshop held in San Antonio in 1949. The course was 2-1/2 hours each night for five days. It's a useful primary source document showing the… View item
Document

Swing Your Partners! (1940 article)

Article published in 1940, profiling Lloyd Shaw and his Cheyenne Mountain Dancers. "One of the most colorful and enthusiastic of the square dance revivalists is Dr. Lloyd Shaw, principal of… View item
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Swing Your Partner - Margot Mayo diagrams

This series of cartoons and graphics appeared in back pages of 1950 booklet, Places All, published by the Canadian Square Dance Association. If viewers know where we can locate the remaining pieces… View item
Document

Swing yore partner round 'n round (The Desert Magazine, 1944)

Author Oren Arnold describes square dancing in Arizona in the early 1940s: "...A rock fireplace big enough to stand in was at one end of the room, and its blaze made dancing shadows… View item
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Swing Two Ladies (includes walkthrough) - Tony Parkes

Tony Parkes leads the walkthrough and calls the 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 and… View item
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Swing Two Ladies - Ralph Page, 1955

Recorded at a dance in Fitchburg, MA, in 1955 by Harold Spaulding. Released on Dudley Laufman's CD compilation, "The Sound of Ralph Page." See also a video clip of Tony Parkes teaching this dance at… View item
Document

Swing that Pretty Gal! - 1941 article

In the wake of the first trips by the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, this 1941 article inThe Saturday Evening Post describesthe widespread passion for squares that is growing, and gives Lloyd Shaw credit… View item
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Swing Like Thunder - Richard Kraus

Kraus writes, "This lively square dance is especially popular with teen-agers." In his book, Square Dances of Today, he writes, "This one goes under a variety of names. Some call it the 'California… View item
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Swing in the Rear walkthrough - Larry Edelman - Dances of Jerry Goodwin:

Larry Edelman led a workshop session on dances he learned from the calling of Jerry Goodwin, originally from West Virginia but living and calling in western Pennsylvania when Larry studied with him in… View item
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Swing in the Rear - Larry Edelman - Dances of Jerry Goodwin:

Larry Edelman led a workshop session on dances he learned from the calling of Jerry Goodwin, originally from West Virginia but living and calling in western Pennsylvania when Larry studied with him in… View item