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

Browse Items (1924 total)

Moving Image

Late Nineteenth Century Quadrille

Virtually every dance manual published during the nineteeth century contains information on the performance of the quadrille. The Library of Congress site where this video (and others in the same… View item
Sound

Dusty Roads (clip) - Jerry Helt

Categorized here as Mainstream, at the time this recording was released the calls were considered part of CALLERLAB's Basic program.This excerpt, included here for educational purposes, comes from a… View item
Sound

Bob Page - 1950s (clip)

According to Bob Osgood's spoken introduction, this recording is a "re-creation" of patter calling from the early 1950s. It is unclear whether this means an actual 1950s called… View item
Sound

Earl Johnston - Skillet Lickin' (clip)

Categorized here as Mainstream, at the time this recording was released the calls were considered part of CALLERLAB's Basic program. This excerpt, for educational purposes, comes from a compilation… View item
Sound

Bruce Johnson - Hash - Rubber Dolly (clip)

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Document

Dare To Be Square - Seattle, 2009

Dare To Be Square – Seattle, Washington, 2009Dare To Be Square is a weekend event celebrating square dancing in its many forms. North Carolina callers Nancy Mamlin and Phil Jamison created the… View item
Moving Image

Grandma Slid Down the Mountain - Tod Whittemore

Caller Tod Whittemore with his yodeling square dance, "Grandma Slid Down the Mountain." As Tod says in his introduction, "This is a dance by Ted Sannella... but he never called it exactly like this."… View item
Moving Image

Auctioneer - Ralph Sweet

This is the opening of Ralph Sweet calling his version of Marshall Flippo's classic singing square, Auctioneer. Ralph is calling a basic goal post pattern; compare other versions of the dance and read… View item
Moving Image

Fred Breunig - Listen to the Mockingbird - singing square

An excerpt of the calls for this old square dance, led by Fred Breunig and recorded at the 2004 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. Music by Wild Card: Terry Traub (Piano), Vince O'Donnell… View item
Moving Image

Marching Through Georgia - Dudley Laufman

Better known for his barn dances and as a contra dance caller, Dudley Laufman also includes some traditional squares in his repertoire. Here, joined by his wife Jacqueline-- "Two Fiddles" -- he leads… View item
Moving Image

Nellie Bly - George Hodgson

Veteran dance caller George Hodgson leads the classic singing square in this 2004 appearance at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. Dancers at that event over the years became familiar with George's… View item
Still Image

Steamboat Springs - ribbons

Ribbons distributed to participants at the Steamboat Springs square dance festival in the early 1950sView home movie footage of the festival and read national magazine coverage of the event. View item