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

Browse Items (1930 total)

Document

Round Dances

Olcutt Sanders was a Texas dance historian. He writes, "The round dances that are included quite generally on square dance programs these days originated in Europe in the late Eighteenth and… View item
Document

Quadrille and Cotillion - history

Part of a history of English country dancing in America, this segment looks at the quadrille and the cotillion. Caution: The author is mistaken when he asserts, "The French had imported the… View item
Document

How To Put On & Make Successful The Country Dance Party

This 16-page booklet is credited to Beth Tolman, though it's safe to assume that Ralph Page (her co-author of The Country Dance Book, published in 1937) had a hand in part of the text. It's a simple… View item
Moving Image

Black Hawk Waltz

Black Hawk Waltz is a classic round (or couple) dance. The tune was composed by Mary Walsh in 1877. Here is a link to an illustration of the sheet music cover; you may also view instructions on the… View item
Website

Round Dance history - the early years

Round dancing refers to choreographed couple dances, prompted by a cuer and found as part of most regular programs of modern square dancing, interspersed with the patter calls and singing squares.… View item
Still Image

Otto and Marguerite Wood – photos

Three photos of Otto Wood (fiddler and dance caller) and Marguerite Wood (pianist and accordion player). In the second photograph, the piano player (seen from the back) is Phil Merrill. The last photo… View item
Sound

Sally Goodin variations

Sally Goodin is a square dance based on picturesque names for the other dancers in your set. (See Carl Herzog diagram). The active dance turns other dancers in a particular sequence, occasionally… View item
Sound

Otto Wood - live recordings

This item includes several examples of singing squares called by Michigan caller (and fiddler) Otto Wood, with his wife Marguerite playing piano or accordion. Otto and Marguerite were regulars at the… View item
Website

Susan Spalding Appalachian Traditional Dance Video Collection, 1988-2002

This collection consists of video recordings of interviews and community dance activities in eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia, and east Tennessee recorded at various times, 1988-2002. The… View item
Website

The Slave Roots of Square Dancing

This is an easily-read summary of a scholarly article by Phil Jamison on the African-American roots of southern Appalachian dance and, in particular, the pivotal role played by African-American… View item
Website

Sets in Order yearbooks

Bob Osgood published in 1954 a Five Year Book that printed every dance that had been published in Sets in Order in the first five years. In 1956 he issued the first Yearbook that included everything… View item
Document

Kentucky Square Dance

The author describes in general terms what he prefers to call the Kentucky Square Dance:"The Kentucky Square Dance (Sharp’s original “running set”) is a four couple square formation… View item