Square Dance History Project
The rich story of North American square dance finally has a home in the digital age.

Browse Items (1935 total)

Sound

Half Way Round (clip) - Rod Linnell

Maine caller with his composition, a singing call set to the RCA VIctor recording of "Back Up and Push." Linnell's version is published in View item
Sound

Maple Sugar Gal (clip) - Rod Linnell

This clip includes once through the figure, once through the chorus (which comes after each figure), and the closing break, which mirrors the start of the dance.The dance is described in detail in… View item
Sound

Mountain Music Madness (clip) - Rod Linnell

The tune is "I Like Mountain Music," here adapted into a singing call. Recorded on the Apex label, #9-26431. The band is Don Messer's Islanders. In her notes to the dance in Square Dances from a… View item
Sound

Presque Isle Eighth (clip) - Rod Linnell -

The tune is Crooked Stovepipe. Rod Linnell: "We used to spend each winter in northern Maine and call dances there and in neighboring New Brunswick. During one of these winters, the Presque Isle club… View item
Sound

Pack Up Your Troubles / Three-Quarter Promenade (clip) - Rod Linnell

The tune is Pack Up Your Troubles. Linnell's calls were released on the Rodeo label (Canada, RXP1), with music by The Maritime All Stars. View item
Sound

Rod's Right and Left (clip) - Rod Linnell

This dance was recorded on the flip side of Mountain Music Madness, on the Apex label, #9-26431. The band is Don Messer's Islanders. The tune is Debbie's Jig.In her notes, Louise Winston writes, "This… View item
Moving Image

Rod's Quad #2 - double quadrille

Dance written by Rod Linnell; the video includes a variation created by the caller, Lisa Greenleaf. (Rod Linnell composed five double quadrilles, which are published in "Square Dances from a… View item
Moving Image

Square Dance (with Corky Calkins)

This 1955 film, produced by Roger Tilton, features Corky Calkins and his band. Calkins was a popular caller in the Springfield, MA, area. Among the dances shown here are Nellie Bly, The Route and the… View item
Moving Image

Nils Fredland – Four Square

Nils Fredland calls a contemporary composition as part of the "Square Dance" Retrospective session at the annual Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend in Durham, NH. The musicians are Old New England (Bob… View item
Document

Square News  (Indiana)

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Document

The Care and Feeding of Exhibition Sets

This article fromAmerican Squares outlines items to be taken into consideration when developing an exhibition square dance team:===Putting the “dance” in square dancing is the basic… View item
Sound

Chase that Rabbit - Roy Rogers

Born in 1911 in Cincinnati, Leonard Sly started calling square dances when he was 12 years old. He moved with his family to California in 1930, traveled extensively as a musician, worked for a year as… View item