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

Browse Items (1934 total)

Sound

Jimmy Morris and Tommy Cavanagh interview

Interview with two British callers, conducted by Mildred Buhler and shared with her dancers back in California. The two men were the co-founders, president and vice-president, of the fledgling British… View item
Sound

Bruce Johnson interview

This interview with a young Bruce Johnson-- he's 25 at the time-- was conducted by Mildred Buhler as part of her "Calling All Folk Dancers" radio program in 1950-1951. (The illustration is from 20… View item
Sound

Square Dance Time - Tommy Cavanagh

Two clips from Tommy Cavanagh's "Square Dance Time" album., excerpts from "Hoedown Boogie" and "Boil that Cabbage." Callers in Great Britain from time to time… View item
Sound

Wakamono Tachi - Masaru Wada

Excerpt from recording by caller Masaru Wada, with calls in English but with additional lyrics in Japanese View item
Document

Masaru Wada - 2010 Milestone Award

Text of the CALLERLAB Milestone award presented to caller Masaru Wada of Japan, as well as the speech made by Mike Seastrom in presenting the award. Seastrom acknowledged, "While there are other… View item
Document

Square Dance Clubs, Texas Style

This is a detailed description of the organizational plan of the Sally Goodin square dance club of Houston, Texas, which followed a common Texas model at the time: "Most of the square dancing… View item
Document

Don't Forget, Callers, Our Style Is Always Showing

This is a copy of a section of the minutes of a meeting of the Southern California Callers Association. Bob Van Antwerp presented the training session on the subject of dancing style and how callers… View item
Still Image

Pardners - Jerry Lewis square dance

The 1956 film Pardners, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, originally had a square dance sequence with Jerry Lewis as the caller, testimony to the role that square dancing had in American popular… View item
Document

Les Quatre Berceaux - related documents

This item gathers together various documents related to the videotaped performance of the dance, Les Quatre Berceaux:• Instructions, as interpreted and explained by John Ramsay with assistance… View item
Moving Image

Les Quatre Berceaux - cotillion for 6 couples

“Les Quatre Berceaux” (The Four Cradles) was presented by Dance Discovery at the Missouri History Museum in conjunction with an exhibit on Napoleon. The group reconstructed the dance from… View item
Sound

Polka Square - Ralph Page (clip)

This clip of Ralph Page calling Polka Square demonstrates his melodic style, part patter call and part singing. The musicians are Page's Boston Boys: George Gulyassy, fiddle; Bob Gulyassy,… View item
Document

Gary Ellison interview

This is an interview conducted by Nathaniel Lucy as part of his research for his master's thesis, "Ozark Jubilee: The Impact of a Revional Identity at a Crossroads," written in 2014. The subject of… View item