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

Browse Items (1940 total)

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
Moving Image

Roll the Barrel - Pistol Packin' Mama

Singing square called by Frank Kendall, Gassetts, Vermont. The Gassetts Grange hosts a monthly dance with a mix of round dances and traditional Eastern singing squares, with live music provided by… View item
Moving Image

Danseurs de l’Ile Jésus - dip and dive

Performance by a group of dancers at an outdoor event organized by Phillippe Bruneau at the Musée canadien des civilisations (Gatineau) in 1989. The first half of the dance is built around a series… View item
Document

Early Dance Houses

This piece about Texas dance halls is a companion to the author's article on Texas dance history. View item
Document

Early Texas Dances

This article was written by Olcutt Sanders, a dance caller and historian who was among the founders of Foot 'n' Fiddle magazine, an early square dance magazine in Texas. View item
Document

Teacup Chain - 1948 publication

This may be the first publication of the Teacup Chain figure. It appeared in Foot 'n' Fiddle magazine, an early square dance magazine founded and edited by Anne Pittman, Marlys Swenson and Olcutt… View item
Still Image

Double Tea-Cup Chain

The photograph of eight couples dancing a double star as part of the double teacup chain figures is from the March, 1963, issue of Bow & Swing, "The Magazine of Square Dancing in Florida." View item
Sound

Double Tea-Cup Chain - Les Gotcher

This is Les Gotcher calling, recorded live at Kirkwood Lodge (Osage Beach, Missouri) at the second annual Les Gotcher Square Dance Institute. We hear Gotcher start with two regular squares doing a… View item
Document

Cecil Sharp at Pine Mountain Settlement School

Cecil Sharp first encountered southern Appalachian dancing at the Pine Mountain Settlement School in Kentucky on August 31, 1917. (See here for Sharp's notes that day in his diary.) The event became… View item