Old Square Dances of America
In his Square Dances of West Texas booklet and elsewhere, Rickey Holden makes frequent references to Iowa as a source of western dancing:
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There are, not counting the Southern Mountain clogging of the Ozarks, only two square dance styles traditional to the West of North America.
• There is the IaCoCa (IowA-ColoradO-CaliforniA) or CoCa (ColoradOCaliforniA) style, initially labelled "western" or "cowboy", which currently proclaims itself "contemporary" or "mainstream" or "challenge". This SQUARE dance style, studiously formulated by the brothers Lloyd and Ray Shaw, has been copiously documented and reprinted by Bob Osgood and his "Sets in Order" ( 1948-1988) apparatus.
• And there is the southwestern square DANCE style of West Texas-New Mexico , the traditions and calls of which are the subject of this book.
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A casual student of western square dance might ask, "Iowa? Why Iowa?" This booklet is the reason. Dunlavy and Boyd here present some forty dances, many of which turn up in the later writing of Lloyd Shaw. In fact, the basic organization of their booklet (see the CONTENTS page) is eerily similar to that of Shaw's Cowboy Dances. To be sure, Shaw's work is much larger in scope, with an extensive philosophy section, diagrams, and examples of fast-paced patter, all notable contributions. Still, Dunlavy and Boyd appear to be the uncredited source for some of Shaw's work.
We include here-- see Additional Files-- a few samples of their dances. You'll note that a figure typically associated with traditional Western squares—Heads to the center, Sides divide—is among the calls from this 1925 collection based on calls from southern Iowa. The book was published by Recreation Training School in Chicago—indeed, the introduction by Neva Boyd shows her as associated with Hull House—but the dances are from Iowa.
Subjects: Southern / Ozark & Midwest
Tags: Chicago, Hull House, Iowa, Neva Boyd, Tressie Dunlavy
Item Relations
| This Item | is related to | Item: Cowboy Dances |
| Item: Jesse Cosby, African-American caller | is related to | This Item |
| Item: Old Time Dance Calls (1919) | is related to | This Item |
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In his Square Dances of West Texas booklet and elsewhere, Rickey Holden makes frequent references to Iowa as a source of western dancing:
---
There are, not counting the Southern Mountain clogging of the Ozarks, only two square dance styles traditional to the West of North America.
• There is the IaCoCa (IowA-ColoradO-CaliforniA) or CoCa (ColoradOCaliforniA) style, initially labelled "western" or "cowboy", which currently proclaims itself "contemporary" or "mainstream" or "challenge". This SQUARE dance style, studiously formulated by the brothers Lloyd and Ray Shaw, has been copiously documented and reprinted by Bob Osgood and his "Sets in Order" ( 1948-1988) apparatus.
• And there is the southwestern square DANCE style of West Texas-New Mexico , the traditions and calls of which are the subject of this book.
---
A casual student of western square dance might ask, "Iowa? Why Iowa?" This booklet is the reason. Dunlavy and Boyd here present some forty dances, many of which turn up in the later writing of Lloyd Shaw. In fact, the basic organization of their booklet (see the CONTENTS page) is eerily similar to that of Shaw's Cowboy Dances. To be sure, Shaw's work is much larger in scope, with an extensive philosophy section, diagrams, and examples of fast-paced patter, all notable contributions. Still, Dunlavy and Boyd appear to be the uncredited source for some of Shaw's work.
We include here-- see Additional Files-- a few samples of their dances. You'll note that a figure typically associated with traditional Western squares—Heads to the center, Sides divide—is among the calls from this 1925 collection based on calls from southern Iowa. The book was published by Recreation Training School in Chicago—indeed, the introduction by Neva Boyd shows her as associated with Hull House—but the dances are from Iowa.