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

Browse Items (1924 total)

Document

Bird in the Cage - D. B. Hendrix, 1952

This is third of three articles from Progressive Farmer featuring East Tennessee caller D. B., Hendrix. Here he provides directions forhis version of a classic square dance figure. A biography of the… View item
Document

A Tennessee Square Dance

Caller David Hendrix presents a overview of typical figures that he would use in a "square dance" in his region of East Tennessee.He notes that the dances in his region are related to the… View item
Document

D. B. Hendrix correspondence

A Selection from the Papers of David B. Hendrix, Smoky Mountain Square Dance Callerby Bob DalsemerIn 1999 the John C. Campbell Folk School received a donation of several boxes of papers from the… View item
Document

"The Square Dance" - David Hendrix, 1951

East Tennessee caller D. B., Hendrix provides a general introduction to square dancing. He writes, "Square dancing is easy to learn. Anyone who can march or keep time to music can learn it. in… View item
Document

Santa Monica 1950 - interview with Dan Allen

"Calling All Folk Dancers" was a weekly radio show created by California caller Mildred Buhler. The next show after the Santa Monica dance included an interview with Dan Allen; this is a… View item
Moving Image

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
Website

"Rubber Crutches" - YouTube channel

Dan Freligh calls a regular dance in Saegertown, Pennsylvania, 45 minutes south of Erie. He has created a YouTube channel with nearly three dozen dances from his series.Among the singing calls on his… View item
Moving Image

Les Quatre Berceaux - cotillion for 6 couples

“Les Quatre Berceaux” (The Four Cradles) was presented by Dance Discovery at the Missouri History Museum in conjunction with an exhibit on Napoleon. The group reconstructed the dance from… View item
Document

Les Quatre Berceaux - related documents

This item gathers together various documents related to the videotaped performance of the dance, Les Quatre Berceaux:• Instructions, as interpreted and explained by John Ramsay with assistance… View item
Moving Image

Royal Lancers Quadrille

A "Royal Lancers," according to the notes of the historical pageant presented at the eighth National Square Dance Convention (Denver, 1959), is "any square dance that is doubled -… View item
Website

Quadrille Mania - website

An overview of the history of the quadrille. View item
Document

Henry Ford and Benjamin Lovett

Dave Taylor and Al Brundage called a dance in Lovett Hall in Dearborn, Michigan, around 1980. This article is Taylor's effort to tell some of the story of that venue. [Editor's note: some of the… View item