Larry Edelman - roots of early modern square dance

At a 1992 workshop in Denmark, caller and dance historian Larry Edelman explains influences that created the early forms of modern square dance in the years after WW II. Callers drew on figures from both New England and southern Appalachian traditions, used them in new ways, and created new figures (in this dance, a cross trail), leading to a new kind of dancing. The number of calls multiplied, which in turn led to the necessity of classes held in clubs for dancers to learn the new material. He illustrates this with the dance The Missing Link, by Frank Tyrell, written in 1953. A dance such as this illustrates the transitional period between traditional western and modern western square dance. The first Related Item on the SDHP website shows Larry in 2011 teaching the figures and the figures being danced.

This 1992 workshop was part of a two-week tour to Denmark by Edelman (and musicians Steve Hickman and Laurie Andres). The contra and traditional square dance movement in Denmark was in its ascendency at that time, and Edelman presented two callers' workshops in Copenhagen and Fjerritslev, plus dances in Vissenbjerg, Askov, Bronderslev, Aarhus, Vojens, Thisted, Slagelse, Helsingør and Roskilde.