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

Browse Items (8 total)

  • Tags: Don Beck
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

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

Don Beck - square dance background

This is Don Beck's account of how he got interested in square dancing. View item
Moving Image

Lonesome Me - Don Beck

Recorded December 1985 at Bay Path Barn, West Boylston, MA. The caller had been one of the founders of Tech Squares at MIT and was that club's first caller, in 1967. Another clip on YouTube, recorded… View item
Moving Image

Don Beck - patter

Recorded December 1985 at Bay Path Barn, West Boylston, MA. The caller had been one of the founders of Tech Squares at MIT and was that club's first caller, in 1967. Another clip on YouTube, recorded… View item
Moving Image

Tri-State History Panel, 1988

This presentation by three of the early “Modern” square dance callers in New England is a personal look at the transition from traditional New England square dancing into what is known… View item
Document

The Calling Computer

In the late 1980s, Don Beck programmed his Macintosh computer to be able to call modern square dances, automatically selecting calls according to a programmed set of rules. Beck had been associated… View item
Website

Neil Barden - Square and Contra Dance Figures and Definitions

(The link above will take you to the website of the Square Dance Foundation of New England, where you can download a copy of Barden's booklet.)Square & Contra Dance Figures & Definitions was… View item