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

Browse Items (1930 total)

Document

Fiddlin' and Square Dancing Are Back

Newspaper article (1971) written by caller Betty Casey, describing the start of the Green Grass Cloggers.Percussive clogging in choreographed routines had been made popular at the Mountain Dance and… View item
Document

Waltz Quadrilles

This detailed booklet describes waltz quadrilles, a style of dance enjoyed by dancers in this Oklahoma City group. The author are careful to draw a distinction with traditional dances, and predict… View item
Sound

The More I See You - Betsy Gotta

Betsy Gotta calling a patter call. View item
Sound

Betsy Gotta - patter

Betsey Gotta callng a MWSD Mainstream Patter call to the tune of Hernando's Hideaway. View item
Document

How To Put On & Make Successful The Country Dance Party

This 16-page booklet is credited to Beth Tolman, though it's safe to assume that Ralph Page (her co-author of The Country Dance Book, published in 1937) had a hand in part of the text. It's a simple… View item
Moving Image

Squares at a Contra Dance

Beth Molaro, Asheville, NC, discusses calling squares in the context of a contra dance. In the early 2000s, many contra dancers were not fans of squares, so she offers advice about what kinds of… View item
Moving Image

Using squares at a contra dance - Beth Molaro

Caller Beth Molaro, of Asheville, NC, is a well-known caller who loves calling both contras and squares. In this clip, talking with Dennis Merritt, she explains some of her thinking that goes into… View item
Sound

Grapevine Twist - Beth Molaro

Recorded at Augusta Dance Week in 1997, with caller Beth Molaro and the Volo Bogtrotters. This item includes two audio files. (Be patient... the second clip is longer and may take longer to load.) 1)… View item
Sound

Shoot the Owl - Beth Molaro

Augusta Dance Heritage, Elkins, West Virginia, 1997; the band is the Volo Bogtrotters. View item
Document

Mildred Buhler - biography

Article by Bert Spinney that provides brief biographical information about caller Mildred Buhler and her involvement in starting the British Association of American Square Dance Clubs. Additional… View item
Website

Bernard Chalk Calling a Square Dance

Larry Edelman writes: "I recorded this file in 1978 or 1979 when British square dance caller Bernard (Bernie) Chalk was visiting me in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and leading a square dance… View item
Moving Image

Big Set - Berea Country Dancers, 2011

The Berea Country Dancers perform a version of the southern mountain Big Set. (Searching for that term will bring up several dozen additional Related Items.) Paul Adkins called the dance from the… View item