Utah Square Dance History
The June 28, 1973 issue of the Deseret News (a Mormon-owned daily newspaper published in Salt Lake City) contained a supplement on the 22nd National Square Dance Convention. The article on Utah square dance history (on page 2-S) gives interesting information that is hard to find elsewhere. Its authors, Wendell and Celia Taylor, learned to square dance in 1945 from a local teacher, Helen Anderson, who had attended one of Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw's classes at the College of the Pacific in California.
Most of the articles, including introductions to round dancing and contra dancing, were obviously furnished by convention committees. Many of the advertisements are aimed at convention-goers. One ad welcomes "the National Square Dance Association." As far as we know, there was no such entity; the ad writer must have extrapolated that name from the convention's name. (In reality, each convention incorporates separately; the event is overseen by a National Executive Committee comprising the past General Chairmen.)
Subjects: Traditional Western (pre-1940), Transitional/Western 1940s, Modern Western 1960 - 1974
Tags: Mormons, National Square Dance Convention, Salt Lake City, Utah
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The June 28, 1973 issue of the Deseret News (a Mormon-owned daily newspaper published in Salt Lake City) contained a supplement on the 22nd National Square Dance Convention. The article on Utah square dance history (on page 2-S) gives interesting information that is hard to find elsewhere. Its authors, Wendell and Celia Taylor, learned to square dance in 1945 from a local teacher, Helen Anderson, who had attended one of Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw's classes at the College of the Pacific in California.
Most of the articles, including introductions to round dancing and contra dancing, were obviously furnished by convention committees. Many of the advertisements are aimed at convention-goers. One ad welcomes "the National Square Dance Association." As far as we know, there was no such entity; the ad writer must have extrapolated that name from the convention's name. (In reality, each convention incorporates separately; the event is overseen by a National Executive Committee comprising the past General Chairmen.)