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

Browse Items (1943 total)

Document

Meet the Docey-Doe Family - 1949

Square dancers in the late 1940s and 1950s encountered a variety of similar-sounding terms meaning very different figures. The do-si-do / docey-doe / dos-a-dos / do-paso confusion produced several… View item
Moving Image

Mental Image calling - Don Beck

Don Beck started calling more than 50 years ago. In this two-hour video, he provides an introduction to the Mental Image method of square dance choreographic management, a way for the caller to keep… View item
Document

Mental Image Overview

This is the handout prepared by Don Beck and distributed to participants at the workshop shown in the preceding video. View item
Moving Image

Merry Mix-up - Tony Parkes

Dance by Ted Sannella, published in "Swing the Next" This dance was taught by Tony Parkes as part of his workshop session on New England Square Dances, recorded November 19, 2011, at the… View item
Sound

Merry-Go-Round Square Dance - Les Gotcher

See comments on Choo Choo Square Dance for more information. View item
Moving Image

Merry-Go-Round, The - Tony Parkes

Tony Parkes calls at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. In his introduction to the dance, Tony commented that this dance… View item
Website

Miami Valley Dance Council archives - Ohio

This archive contains records of clubs in the Dayton, Ohio, area as well as the regional dance council. The Miami Valley Dance Council was formed in 1955, with representatives from 15 dance clubs. A… View item
Document

Mica Flats, Idaho - traditional dance

This article describes traditional dances in Mica Flats, Idaho, eight miles south of Coeur d'Alene. It was written by Penn Fix as a chapter in his book, Contra Dancing in the Northwest. View item
Moving Image

Michael Ismerio - Take a Little Peek

Michael Ismerio calls a Take A Peek at the 2009 Portland Old Time Gathering. Music by Ebenezer (Caitlin Daum, fiddle; Scott Killops, banjo; Robin Wilcox, bass; Ryan Fitzpatrick, mandolin; and Patrick… View item
Website

Michigan Fiddle Style

Folklorist Eliot Singer presented a paper—"How to Start Figuring Out What "Michigan Fiddle Style" Is"—at a Michigan Historical Society meeting in 1988. In it, he references… View item
Sound

Middle of the Mound - Selmer Hovland, patter

This is a live recording of Selmer Hovland, from Wagon Mound, New Mexico, calling at Kirkwood Lodge, Missouri. Hovland was a staff member at a Square Dance Institute that featured Les Gotcher. (One of… View item
Website

Midwestern Fiddle Masters:
Michigan's Les Raber and Indiana's Francis Geels

Biographies of two fiddlers, each of whom played extensively for square dances in Michigan and Indiana. View item