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

Browse Items (1924 total)

Website

Duke Miller website

Duke Miller was a square dance caller (and a wrestling coach) in Gloversville, NY, and later became a popular caller for summertime dances in the Monadnock region of southwestern New Hampshire. His… View item
Sound

Duck for Oysters (clip) - Burns & Wheeler

"Duck for the Oyster, Dig for the Clams" is surely one of the most common traditional square dance figures. There are many examples of this dance on the SDHP website. Here it's "Duck for Oysters,… View item
Document

Arkansas Traveller variations

After several opening paragraphs in which the author decries the tendency toward ever more complex figures, he does admit that experienced dancers enjoy "a little variation." He takes one… View item
Website

Viola "Mom" Ruth - Peek a Boo Waltz Quadrille

"Now you waltz down the center and there you divide Lady to the right, gent the other side Honor your partner and then make a trade Swing on the corner to a waltz promenade" Digitized from a live… View item
Moving Image

Monterey Polka Quadrille

The Monterey Polka Quadrilles by Charles Durang (1848) (Finale [Figure 5] - Colonel May)Reconstructed by Richard Powers (1983)Music by Fleeting Moments Waltz & Quickstep Orchestra (courtesy of… View item
Moving Image

Patter Call - A1 - Vic Ceder

FIlmed CSCTA ( Czechoslovak Callers and Teachers Association Convention + Rainbow Prague, Czech Republic View item
Moving Image

Quadrille (2 figures)

This is part of a lengthy presentation of historical dances by "Veronica's Vagabonds," Veronica McClure, director; recorded May 19, 1985, at Kramer's Hayloft, South Weymouth,… View item
Document

Vermont Country Dance Festival - 1953

Program from a 1953 Vermont dance festival, whose avowqed purpose was "To strengthen Vermont's heritage of square and contra dances and to bring together country dance enthusiasts from every… View item
Document

Arizona Style of Modern Square Dancing

This booklet, created by a consortium of 20 local square dance club, was sponsored by the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, testament to the rising popularity of square dance at that time.… View item
Document

Square Dance—Houston Style

This article, from Houston History magazine, offers a popular overview of square dance history in that region from the 1940s into the 21st century. The author was , with her husband, president of the… View item