Smoky Mountain Square Dance Collection

In his later years, Tennessee caller David Hendrix was working on an expanded version of his Smoky Mountain Square Dances, complete with diagrams and professional photographs. After his death, his family donated his papers to the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. Bob Dalsemer was director of music and dance programs at the Folk School and he eagerly welcomed this collection. More recently, Dalsemer assembled the various pieces to create this document.

In his introduction, Dalsemer writes: "The Hendrix papers give a rare glimpse of a traditional southeastern caller who experienced first hand, the great square dance revival that took place roughly during the the years 1935-1960. During this time, various old time regional styles of square dancing were discovered, recovered and popularized, eventually helping to give birth to the modern club square dance movement. Hendrix self-published the first edition of Smoky Mountain Square Dances (1,000 copies) in 1941 and reprinted it four times in the decade that followed.
 
"[Henrix] wrote articles about dancing for magazines like The Progressive Farmer, organized and called for a square dance club (the Smoda Club - short for Smoky Mountain Dances), and maintained a busy schedule of calling and performances by his club. He never charged fees for calling or for performances, accepting only donations to cover expenses.

"Square dancing was an all engrossing hobby for Hendrix. His first love was traditional Appalachian dance, particularly the “grand circle” style native to East Tennessee, Western North Carolina and North Georgia. In 1939 he put on a special dance/ performance for Douglas Kennedy, director of the English Folk Dance Society who was touring the U.S.. In 1946 he received a visit from New York based caller Margot Mayo who wanted to record his calling for the Library of Congress. Unfortunately there were no musicians available at the time., so the recording never took place."