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

Circle Up Zine (Volume 1) - A collection of square dances and thoughts towards promoting inclusivity

This is a square dance calling resource that features inclusive square dance adaptations, in the form of a printed zine. When caller/dancer/organizer Becky Hill envisioned the project, she enlisted 17… View item
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Clare Plain Set

The August set dancing weekend in Kilrush, Co Clare, features outdoor ceilis in the town's market square. The Glenside Ceili Band were the featured musicians on Saturday afternoon when they played… View item
Document

Clarence Haller - Ralph Page correspondence

These letters were sent from Lucile and Clarence Haller, Indiana square dance caller, to Ralph Page, the dean of New England dance callers at the time. They are clearly interested in learning more… View item
Moving Image

Clark Baker - Calls and Concepts

In this third video in the series, Clark explains the difference between square dance "calls" and "concepts" and notes that "concepts are what make Advanced and especially… View item
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Clark Baker - MWSD & Challenge

Clark describes the structure of modern western square dancing as it exists today, outlining the different programs or levels. He then talks about he got involved in MWSD Challenge dancing, explaining… View item
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Clark Baker - MWSD & music

Many traditional square dancers look at videos of MWSD and see a lot of stop-and-go rather than continuous motion; this is often termed "puzzle solving set to music." Clark reminds the viewer that in… View item
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Clark Baker - Tech Squares

Clark describes the history of Tech Squares, the MWSD group based at MIT in Cambridge, MA. This club takes new dancers through the Mainstream in 8 weeks and on through Plus in 5 additional. A typical… View item
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Clark Baker - traditional and modern

In this fifth and final video in this series, Clark Baker looks at two related kinds of dancing and explains the attraction of each: MWSD squares, especially in the Challenge program, on one side, and… View item
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Clark Baker 1991 - Easy C4

This clip and its companion document a calling trip Clark Baker made to Japan in 1991. View item
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Clark Baker 1991 C4

Clark Baker made a calling trip to Japan in 1991 to share his interest in Challenge squares. Two videos on the SDHP site come from that experience.In this video, starting with the couple whose back is… View item
Document

Class Notes - Jim Mayo, 1963

Unlike traditional square dance, modern SD is based on a series of classes that teach the basic figures. As the activity has increased its vocabulary of figures, the number of suggested classes has… View item
Sound

Classic Dances of 1960

This recording comes from the 2001 CALLERLAB convention. (The audio recording is alsoavailable online here.)Jim Mayo, the CALLERLAB President at that time, was the MC, and he explains the start of the… View item