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

Browse Items (1924 total)

Still Image

Swing Your Partner - Margot Mayo diagrams

This series of cartoons and graphics appeared in back pages of 1950 booklet, Places All, published by the Canadian Square Dance Association. If viewers know where we can locate the remaining pieces… View item
Document

New England Quadrilles and How To Call Them

This self-published booklet is a look at how to call traditional style New England dances. An accomplished dance caller himself, Dalsemer explains the basic structure of New England style dances,… View item
Document

Circle Up Zine (Volume 1) - A collection of square dances and thoughts towards promoting inclusivity

This is a square dance calling resource that features inclusive square dance adaptations, in the form of a printed zine. When caller/dancer/organizer Becky Hill envisioned the project, she enlisted 17… View item
Website

Ontario Traditional Music Library - Dance

Ian Bell's collection of recordings and written music, all pertaining to traditional Canadian dance and song.In Bell's words: Since the late 1970s I have been seeking out, learning, performing and… View item
Website

Square dance tunes and calls

Audio recording of interview by Alan Lomax with Alan Robertson in the Mississippi Delta View item
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Tech Squares - I Will Survive, called by Don Beck

Don Beck Calling the last tip of the Tech Squares (MIT Square Dance Club) class graduation, December 1997 View item
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Too Hot Mamas - Chapel of Love Singing Square

This video is an excerpt of the Singing Square dance Chapel of Love. Singing squares use altered lyrics of popular songs to insert dance choreography instruction into the song. Based on the song,… View item
Moving Image

Squares at a Contra Dance

Beth Molaro, Asheville, NC, discusses calling squares in the context of a contra dance. In the early 2000s, many contra dancers were not fans of squares, so she offers advice about what kinds of… View item
Document

Lloyd Shaw and the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers

As superintendent of the public K-12 Cheyenne Mountain School in Colorado Springs from 1916 to 1951, Lloyd Shaw earned national attention. After coaching a successful football team for several years,… View item
Website

A Look at Southern Squares

Bill Martin writes: "These many pages represent all the information I could find about Southern mountain square dancing. Over the years I continue to find errors and clueless guesswork here and there.… View item
Document

Don Armstrong interview - 1994, transcription

This interview with Don Armstrong was conducted by Luc Vermeiren and Hilde Dewaelheyns, a member of the AADS board in Belgium, when Don was calling at a folk dance camp in the Czech Republic. This… View item
Sound

Don Armstrong interview - 1994

This interview with Don Armstrong was conducted by Luc Vermeiren and Hilde Dewaelheyns, a member of the AADS board in Belgium, when Don was calling at a folk dance camp in the Czech Republic. An… View item