Between Those Ladies (clip) - Ray Smith
This 1953 clip features Texas caller Raymond Smith introducing the seeds of modern Western square dance style at Camp Becket in Massachusetts. He's calling "Between Those Ladies" by Toby Allen, a variation of the traditional figure "Right Lady High, Left Lady Low."
The form of square dancing that became MWSD started in the 1940s when callers began "hashing" traditional figures, first by having each couple do a different figure, then by writing new figures (such as the one here) that incorporated elements of older ones. The next step was to break the figures down into their essential elements, called "basics," and combine those basics in any possible order that allowed for reasonably smooth flow. This required training dancers to memorize the basics and respond to them instantly in any context. By the late 1950s most of the traditional figures, and even many of the first generation of new figures, had disappeared from the MWSD repertoire.
Subjects: Transitional/Western 1950s
Tags: Becket, Left Hand Low, MWSD, Ray Smith, Raymond Smith, Right Hand High Left Hand Low, Right Lady High, Texas
Item Relations
| Item: Raymond Smith - photo | is related to | This Item |
| Item: Texas Squares at Pinewoods | is related to | This Item |
Citation
Dublin Core
Title
Subject
Description
The form of square dancing that became MWSD started in the 1940s when callers began "hashing" traditional figures, first by having each couple do a different figure, then by writing new figures (such as the one here) that incorporated elements of older ones. The next step was to break the figures down into their essential elements, called "basics," and combine those basics in any possible order that allowed for reasonably smooth flow. This required training dancers to memorize the basics and respond to them instantly in any context. By the late 1950s most of the traditional figures, and even many of the first generation of new figures, had disappeared from the MWSD repertoire.