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Brochure describing the summer program created by Ralph Page and Gene Gowing

This dance uses the familiar children's song as the basis for a singing square. It's unclear whether caller Gene Gowing is singing the song at the beginning; the quality of the voice certainly differs from Gowing's delivery of the calls.

Album jacket and record label for Gene Gowing recording

This is the start of Gene Gowing's recording of a classic New England singing square. Gowing half sings, half chants the figures, in somewhat the same manner-- though less melodiously-- as his sometimes colleague Ralph Page. This site contains other…

Gowing was a contemporary of Ralph Page. Unlike Page, who stayed in the Monadnock region of southwestern New Hampshire where both men grew up, Gowing spent time in Hollywood and attempted to bring traditional square and contra dance to sophisticated…

This short clip includes just one time through the figure. The tune is Haste to the Wedding. Gowing does each couple in turn, then two head couples, two side couples, and finally all couples going at the same time. This is the same pattern used in…