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

Browse Items (40 total)

  • Tags: Colorado
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Bill Litchman 1 - Traditional Western Squares

Caller Bill Litchman discusses characteristic features of traditional western square dances, incorporating his memory of Colorado dances that he encountered starting in the 1950s.For a more detailed… View item
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Square Dance - Steamboat Springs, 1951

This silent movie shows children dancing at the second annual Square Dance Festival held in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The film was taken by Leonard Fisher, whose daughter was one of the dancers;… View item
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Rocky Mountain Dancers - Lloyd Shaw tribute

The Colorado Rocky Mountain Dancers formed in 1999 to represent Lloyd Shaw's Cheyenne Mountain Dancers in a historical pageant to be presented at the 50th National Square Dance Convention. The pageant… View item
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Pappy's Do-Si-Do – Rocky Mountain Dancers

This video shows the group dancing to a recording of Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw calling. The calls are designed to showcase a series of different figures.Performed by the Colorado Rocky Mountain Dancers. The… View item
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Popcorn Quadrille

Variations on Grand Square figure, danced to early electronic music, a record named "Popcorn." Chicago caller Andy Anderson created the dance to go with it. From a demonstration of historical dances,… View item
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Royal Square

This demonstration number is for eight couples forming a tandem square, one inside the other. The choreography was created by Kira Heartsong for Calico and Boots. The High Country Squares club… View item
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Central City, Colorado - 1955

The caller featured here is Ray Smith; we have not yet identified the fiddler and piano player. By 1960, Al "Tex" Brownlee was the caller and he used recorded music.Dancers:Couple 1: Dave Chandler and… View item
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Ed Austin's Life in Dance

This autobiography by Ed Austin focuses on his lifetime involvement with traditional dance, including a detailed description of the dances he filmed in Central City, Colorado. Click here to watch his… View item
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Square Dance Postcards

A collection of postcards showing different styles and personalities associated with square dance. We are eager to acquire more to add to this collection!Additional images of square dance postcards… View item
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Lighted Lantern Folk Dance Camp

The Lighted Lantern was also known as the Rocky Mountain Square Dance Camp. It was operated by Paul and Pauline Kermiet from 1948to 1967. This website pays homage to the camp and includes a roster of… View item
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Steamboat Springs - ribbons

Ribbons distributed to participants at the Steamboat Springs square dance festival in the early 1950sView home movie footage of the festival and read national magazine coverage of the event. View item
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Steamboat Springs - magazine articles

Two magazine articles gave publicity to the new square dance festival in Steamboat Springs. Newsweek covered the first festival in its issue of August 28, 1950, and Collier's followed the next year… View item