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

Browse Items (46 total)

  • Tags: Jim Mayo
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Patter - Jim Mayo - MWSD 4

This is the fourth clip in a series of videos documenting Jim Mayo's workshop on Modern Western Square Dance, recorded November 19, 2011. This was part of the Dare To Be Square Weekend held at… View item
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Old Grey Bonnet - Jim Mayo

Listen to Charley Thomas calling this song. View item
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New Call Problems in the Mid 1970s

This is an excerpt from the book Step by Step Through Modern Square Dance History by Jim Mayo. It describes the situation that had been created by a flood of new calls in the mid 1970’s. Related… View item
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MWSD - The First Ten Years

This article by Jim Mayo looks at the first ten years of what is usually called Modern Western Square Dancing. Jim traces the development of the activity in detail, citing specific callers and their… View item
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Modern Square Dance History - Jim Mayo

This summary of developments and trends in modern square dance was written by Jim Mayo. This illustrated version appeared inBehind the Mic, a square dance journal from Australia. View item
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Just Because - Jim Mayo

Jim Mayo calls a series of hash figures at the Dare To Be Square weekend held November 18-20, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Unlike the more traditional figures associated… View item
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Jim Mayo's 40th - Hash

The caller is Earl Johnston, a member of the first CALLERLAB Board of Governors. Johnston was from Vernon, CT, and was a disciple of Al Brundage. This footage was taken by Bill Cross on October 1,… View item
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Jim Mayo 6 - Key Elements of Modern Square Dance

Jim discusses features that make modern square dancing different from traditional squares, including the unpredictable nature of the calls, the necessity for lessons, and the club structure that… View item
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Jim Mayo 5 - Basic Formations, Complex Calls

Jim points out that there are only a few basic formations in modern square dancing. One of the distinctive features of modern squares is the way that a series of basic moves are combined into one… View item
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Jim Mayo 4 - New choreography

New calls such as Wheel and Deal and Swing Thru gave modern square dance callers powerful tools for creating new choreography and patterns of movement. Callers discovered that the sequence "Wheel… View item
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Jim Mayo 3 - Start of CALLERLAB

The 1970s saw a dramatic increase in the number of calls, which led to repeated cries from dancers for someone to bring order out of chaos. This led to the formation of CALLERLAB. View item
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Jim Mayo 2 - Square Thru and Changing Choreography

The call "square through" provided callers with a new tool for moving dancers around on the dance floor. Jim describes how callers experimented with the figure and how he introduced it in… View item