The Old Folks Danced the Do-Si-Do

This is a detailed look at one iconic figure from American square dance, but as the author points out, the phrase can mean different things at different times and in different parts of the US. Jamison begins with a historical survey of the roots of the figure igoing back to John Playford's publication in 1651. In America, he looks at the Northern back-to-back figure, as well as several variations of the Southern Do-si-do, (a series of hand turns), the Kentucky Do-si-do and the Georgia Rang-Tang, as well as the Western figure, called by Lloyd Shaw the docey-doe. Jamison also looks into the background of the crossed arms that often crops up when new dancers hear the call.

He writes, "Perhaps the most parodied square dance figure is the Do-si-do. Ask people to imitate square dancing and they will invariably cross their arms and dance around each other passing back-to-back. This cliché is an indelible image in the minds of the American non-dancing public, and it often appears whenever square dancing is portrayed in the media . . . Over the years I have become increasingly interested in the origins of the figures that I dance and call, and I have discovered that the Do-si-do, as simple as it may seem, has a story behind it. In fact there are as many stories and hypotheses as there are different versions of dance figures known by this name, only one of which is the clichéd back-to-back version that most people would associate with square dancing."