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

Texas Squares at Pinewoods

In the late 1940s, the Country Dance and Song Society was best known for its work focused on English country dances and ritual dances. Starting in 1949 (see cover of the CDSS newsletter) and then at… View item
Moving Image

Québécois square - "La Passe des dames, la Passe des hommes"

This is part of an evening dance sponsored by Les Danseurs et Musiciens de l'Ile Jésus, the old name for Laval, across the river from Montréal. The group was founded in 1978 and holds… View item
Moving Image

Québécois square - Les p’tits chars à brasse-corps

This is part of an evening dance sponsored by Les Danseurs et Musiciens de l'Ile Jésus, the old name for Laval, across the river from Montréal. The group was founded in 1978 and holds… View item
Moving Image

Square Dance - Dolores Heagy, 1986

Portion of a square dance called at Tod Whittemore's contra dance series at the VFW in Cambridge, MA. Tod introduced Dolores Heagy by saying how much he values having contra dancers become… View item
Moving Image

Two singing squares - Tod Whittemore, 1986

Tod Whittemore provides the instructions and calls the figures at these two singing squares: Maple Sugar Gal and Smoke on the Water. Music is by Allan Block on fiddle and Peter Barnes on piano.… View item
Sound

Windmill Lancers - Ralph Page

This recording of Ralph Page teaching the Windmill Lancers was recorded in 1972 at one of his weeklong camps. At the start, you hear Ralph providing some historical background on the Lancers before he… View item
Moving Image

Windmill Lancers / Windmill Quadrille

Caller Don Armstrong provides the instruction and prompts the figures in this Retrospective Session from the 2000 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, held at the University of New Hampshire. The Windmill… View item
Moving Image

Plain Quadrille - 1890

Caller Ralph Sweet provides the instruction and prompts the figures in this Retrospective Session from the 2000 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, held at the University of New Hampshire. The tunes are… View item
Document

Community Swing - 1945

This article in a recreation journal describes the growth of interest in square dancing in one Midwestern town in the mid-1940s. It's a portrait that was repeated in many communities across the… View item
Website

"Square Dance in the 1950s Rural West: An Oral History"

Interviews with two older dancers in the author's family. One describes dancing in Garden Valley, Idaho, including stories of all-night dancing in the middle of the road in mid-winter, a literal… View item
Sound

Merry-Go-Round Square Dance - Les Gotcher

See comments on Choo Choo Square Dance for more information. View item
Sound

Choo Choo Square Dance - Les Gotcher

Les Gotcher is often remember today as the Hashmaster, known for his flamboyant outfits, his energetic calls, and his often challenging choreographic sequences. However, like other performers, he was… View item