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

Browse Items (1936 total)

Document

At the Keith Ranch (1893)

SeeAdditional Filesfor the full story.This short story, published in 1893, focuses on events at a square dance at a Colorado ranch. Although the plot itself is melodramatic, the author includes… View item
Moving Image

Frank Chavez Describes American Square Dances and Spanish Cuadrillas in New Mexico

From childhood, 70-year old fiddler Frank Chavez was exposed to New Mexico Spanish folk music, growing up west of Estancia in New Mexico. Frank was a guitar player and then in 1990, after meeting Ken… View item
Still Image

Terpsichore In The Flat Creek Quarters, Pea Ridge

Pencil drawing showing a dance with African-American musicians and dancers with the following manuscript poem below: ‘Listen when I call de figgers! Watch de music es ye go! Chassay forrard!… View item
Document

The History of Square-Dancing - S. Foster Damon

The History of Square Dancing, published by S. Foster Damon in 1957, is one of the few books that presents a broad picture of the subject. The book was a reprint of his 1952 article published in the… View item
Document

Feature Square Dancer - Nebraska, 1956

These are excerpts from two early issues (Vol. 1, #1 and #4, both 1956) of the Feature Square Dancer, a newspaper published by Bill Shilling, brother of Colorado caller Marvin Shilling. To see similar… View item
Document

Six Styles of Square Dance - Rickey Holden

Trying to categorize the different varieties of square dance can be a challenging task. Noted caller and dance historian Rickey Holden published his thoughts in this 1955 article in his American… View item
Sound

Bruce Johnson, patter - 1961

Live recording of Bruce Johnson calling to a jig. Jim Mayo comments: "Bruce kept on using 6/8 time music long after most others had abandoned it. It also shows his nearly unique ability to… View item
Moving Image

Warp and Weft - grid square

Grid square composed by Rick Mohr; dance directions on his website. Called here by Lisa Greenleaf; the tune is Julia Delaney, played by Daron Douglas (fiddle), Anna Patton (clarinet), and Karen… View item
Moving Image

Rod's Quad #2 - double quadrille

Dance written by Rod Linnell; the video includes a variation created by the caller, Lisa Greenleaf. (Rod Linnell composed five double quadrilles, which are published in "Square Dances from a… View item
Document

Chicken Plucker - choreographic innovation

The Chicken Plucker routine created by Bill Shymkus appeared in the October 1957 issue of Sets in Order; the same issue contained ads for the new record release by Lee Helsel. This routine is… View item
Sound

Chicken Plucker - Lee Helsel

This is an excerpt of a 1957 recording (Sets in Order #1102) by Lee Helsel that was the first recording of the Chicken Plucker routine created by Bill Shymkus. The dance figures appeared in the… View item
Document

The Beginnings of Modern Square Dancing - Jim Mayo

Article by Jim Mayo looking at the transition from traditional to modern square dancing, a short version of the ideas presented at length in his book. View item