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

Browse Items (1930 total)

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Round Dance Positions 2

Round dancing, a form of couple dancing in which a cuer calls out the figures, is frequently a part of modern square dance clubs. In some locations, instead of round dances being incorporated into an… View item
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"The Texas Cattle Country and Cowboy Square Dance" – Olcutt Sanders

This article, scholarly yet accessible, provides an excellent look at square dancing in west Texas in the late 1800s. He starts with a look at the conditions that set this region apart from… View item
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Texas Square Dance - Family Tree

The author attempts to trace the various antecedents leading up to Texas square dancing in the 1940s. After the obligatory look at British sources, he notes: "The recent history of the square… View item
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Early Texas Dances

This article was written by Olcutt Sanders, a dance caller and historian who was among the founders of Foot 'n' Fiddle magazine, an early square dance magazine in Texas. View item
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Early Dance Houses

This piece about Texas dance halls is a companion to the author's article on Texas dance history. View item
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"The Good Ole Days" - Olcutt Sanders, 1949

Dance historian Olcutt Sanders asks, "As you unwound yourself from the mazes of the latest square dance concoction introduced at your club meeting, did your ever wonder how people ever got along… View item
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Round Dances

Olcutt Sanders was a Texas dance historian. He writes, "The round dances that are included quite generally on square dance programs these days originated in Europe in the late Eighteenth and… View item
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Ladies to the Center

This short article by Texas dance historian Olcutt Sanders looks at the role played by women in that state's dance history. Sanders notes the early absence of women: "A scarcity of woman… View item
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"Partners To Your Places

This 1949 chapter by Olcutt Sanders is a significantly expanded version of his short piece fromFoot 'n' Fiddle in 1947. Here it's complete with scholarly footnotes, making it more useful to… View item
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Foxtrot

The Old Grey Goose provided the music and Doug Protsik gave a brief introduction as dancers enjoyed a little foxtrot among other country dances. This was part of the Retrospective session led by… View item
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National Square Dance Convention 1976 - TV coverage

The National Square Dance Convention in 1976, the US Bicentennial year, was the largest in the history of that event. The convention took place in Anaheim, California, and this video is coverage by a… View item
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Easter Festival, Örebro Sweden

This video is from the annual Easter dance weekend Påskfestivalen i Örebro on March 21-23, 2008. The callers on the video are Jet Roberts (the short guy on the right) and two Swedish callers, Tomas… View item