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

Browse Items (1926 total)

Still Image

Jean Alve

Jean Alve has been calling squares for more than 50 years. She lives in upstate New York in the town of Spencer, half an hour south of Ithaca. She now calls a weekly two-hour session of "Square,… View item
Moving Image

Hash with Allemande Thar - Jim Mayo

Jim Mayo calls at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Jim was the first caller on Sunday morning, working with a roomful of… View item
Moving Image

Calico Top square dance called by Larry Edelman

Larry Edelman calls at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. An accompanying video on this website shows Larry's walkthrough… View item
Moving Image

Calico Top square dance walkthrough

Larry Edelman leads the walkthrough for this dance at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Elsewhere on this site you can see… View item
Moving Image

Big Set square dance called by Phil Jamison

Phil Jamisonn calls at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Figures included in this version include right hands across, Georgia… View item
Moving Image

Peek-a-Boo Square Dance called by Larry Edelman

Larry Edelman calls at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. In addition to the basic figure, which he demonstrates at the start,… View item
Moving Image

Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane - George Hodgson

The song was written by William Shakespeare Hays in 1875, and George Hodgson is the caller for the singing square, recorded January 16, 2004, at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, Durham, NH. The… View item
Moving Image

Roscommon Lancers - Irish set

Chris J. Brady writes: How about the Roscommon Lancers - with an embellished 'rant' step termed 'battering' in Ireland. Wonderful stuff.There are nine figures (aka square dances) in the Roscommon… View item
Still Image

Schlitz beer ad, 1950

Full page ad for Schlitz beer that appeared in Newsweek magazine, August 21, 1950, attesting to the popularity of square dance in popular culture. Modern Western square dancers were not pleased to… View item
Still Image

Doonesbury - square dance

...in which Zonker, a character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury, presents a common view of one social activity... This "Doonesbury Flashback" appeared March 20, 2012, a… View item
Document

Swing that Pretty Gal! - 1941 article

In the wake of the first trips by the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, this 1941 article inThe Saturday Evening Post describesthe widespread passion for squares that is growing, and gives Lloyd Shaw credit… View item
Moving Image

Maryland Line Square Dance Sampler - Bob Dalsemer

Bob Dalsemer leads a workshop on "Dances of Maryland Line," a small town in northern Maryland that he visited often in the 1970s. Attentive viewers will note the distinctive style of… View item