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

Browse Items (1926 total)

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Jim Mayo 1 - Early Years of Modern Square Dance

Jim discusses his own introduction to modern squares with caller Al Brundage in 1949. He talks about the early development of modern, showing how this new activity began to separate from its… View item
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Jim Mayo - patter - 1994

Modern square dance, Plus program. Videotaped by Tim Stanger at the Papoose Pond square dance weekend, N. Waterford, Maine, 1994. View item
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Jim Mayo - hash

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Jim Mayo - CALLERLAB history

In a presentation from a CALLERLAB History / Heritage / Tradition session in 2005, Jim Mayo recounts some of the events that led up to the founding of that organization in 1974. He discusses how… View item
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Jim Mayo - 1994

This is a series of excerpts from a program called by Jim Mayo, November 5, 1994, in Marlboro, CT, recorded by Paul Trowbridge. This compilation contains portions of three patter and three singing… View item
Document

Jim Mayo - "Little Black Book"

This is caller Jim Mayo's book of dances, dating from the 1950s and into the 1960s. It's a good example of a serious caller's repertoire during this period.For comparison with another well-known New… View item
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Jim Mayo

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Document

Jessy Polka Square

Here are the directions for Red Warrick's dance. See the related item for a video showing Warrick calling for his demo team. View item
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Jessie Polka - couple dance

Sometimes danced as a couple, and sometimes (as here) in a larger group, here is a trio young dancers doing the Jessie Polka. The tune is Down Yonder, featuring Sky Bartlett (L) and Ernie Duffy (R) on… View item
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Jessie Polka

There are many examples of couple dances included in the SDHP collection.Click on this linkto go to a listing.Fall dance of the Canadian Olde Tyme Square Dance Callers' Association, a group formed in… View item
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Jesse Cosby, African-American caller

Article in Ebony magazine profiling African-American square dance caller Jesse Cosby, Waterloo, Iowa. The article references examples of racial discrimination:"Once racial discrimination stymied his… View item
Sound

Jerry Helt

This is a short clip from a tip called by Jerry Helt at the 1954 National Square Dance Convention in Dallas, Texas. The choreography is the "classic" figure Texas Whirlwind. View item