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

Browse Items (1930 total)

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Starline - walkthrough

This short clip shows caller Tony Parkes leading the walk-thru for the most challenging part of Ed Gilmore's "Starline" dance, the section where the leading couples are involved in… View item
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Starline

This dance, an Ed Gilmore composition published in Sets in Order Year Book No. 3, was part of a workshop of "Jigsaw & Origami Squares" led by Tony Parkes at the annual Star Hampshire Weekend of… View item
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Fiddlin' and Square Dancing Are Back

Newspaper article (1971) written by caller Betty Casey, describing the start of the Green Grass Cloggers.Percussive clogging in choreographed routines had been made popular at the Mountain Dance and… View item
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La Strasbourgoise Cotillion -Regency era

Demonstration of a period cotillion at a Napoleonic Ball View item
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"The One Night Stand"

This short article from Sets in Order talks abotu the special challenges of events that are the first square dance experience for those gathered. It looks in particular at Margie and Ozzy Stout and… View item
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Square Dance Certificate

This "diploma" was awarded to graduates of a series of introductory modern square dance lessons. In the 1950s, square dancing still played on its country roots, witness the language used in… View item
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1940 Texas Square Dance Contest

Newspaper accounts of a square dance competition won by Bob Sumrall's Abilene set. The story goes into detail about each of the six competing teams,naming each of the dancers, the judges, and… View item
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'Sophisticated' City Folks Are Getting Rural Rhythm

Newspaper story (1946) datelined New York that describes the post-WWII enthusiasm about square dancing: ---lt's hep these days to be a square—a square dancer, that is. Folks from 7 to 70 are… View item
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Broom Dance - Ava, Missouri

In modern square dance programs, squares are often intermingled with round dances. Similarly, traditional dance programs often involve a variety of dances other than squares—waltz, polka, schottische,… View item
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Two-Step at a Square Dance

In modern square dance programs, squares are often intermingled with round dances. Similarly, traditional dance programs often involve a variety of dances other than squares—waltz, polka,… View item
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Cabool, Missouri - Square dance with Bob Holt

This is the last of 11 clips filmed at a 1997 dance in Cabool, Missouri, featuring fiddler Bob Holt, a National Heritage Fellowship recipient. Calling is done by dancers in the squares, different… View item
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"Social Dancing in America" - Rod LaFarge

This lengthy history of social dance was written by Rod LaFarge and appeared over three years in American Squares magazine. LaFarge begins with a short look at English country dance, moves to dancing… View item