Browse Items (916 total)
Carcassonne big set, #1
This is an excellent example of traditional southern Appalachian big set square dance, recorded by John Ramsay in Carcassonne, Kentucky, September 19, 1991. The tune is Liza Jane. We do not yet know the identity of the caller and would appreciate…
Swing yore partner round 'n round (The Desert Magazine, 1944)
Author Oren Arnold describes square dancing in Arizona in the early 1940s:
"...A rock fireplace big enough to stand in was at one end of the room, and its blaze made dancing shadows everywhere. Indian blankets hung on the walls beside an austere…
"...A rock fireplace big enough to stand in was at one end of the room, and its blaze made dancing shadows everywhere. Indian blankets hung on the walls beside an austere…
Ed Durlacher - Central Park, photos
Photographs documenting Ed Durlacher's series of dances in Central Park, New York City. These date from August, 1946.
Scottish Country Dance - 4 couple squares
Most Scottish country dances are done as four-couple longways sets. There are, however, dances in square sets, and this Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary provides a brief overview of the formation.
Golden State Round Up 1964
Grand march at the Golden State Round Up, Oakland, CA, 1964. Each row is 4 squares, and there are about 50 rows That's 200 squares, or 1600 dancers. The event featured live music, with an 11 piece band.
Dorothy Shaw - reminiscence
Two anecdotes abut Dorothy Stott Shaw, written by Dena Fresh, a student at the Cheyenne Mountain School and a member of the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers.
Cheyenne Mountain Dancers - typical program
This is a typical program presented by the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, Lloyd Shaw's demonstration team of high school students.
Square dance callers - photos
A series of square dance magazine covers featuring these modern square dance callers:
Baldwin, Charlie
Brower, Jim
Brundage, Al
Burdick, Stan
Calhoun, Louis
Castner, Bill
Davis, Johnny
Gaudreau, Herbie
Gilmore, Ed
Haag, Jerry
Helt,…
Baldwin, Charlie
Brower, Jim
Brundage, Al
Burdick, Stan
Calhoun, Louis
Castner, Bill
Davis, Johnny
Gaudreau, Herbie
Gilmore, Ed
Haag, Jerry
Helt,…
Square Dance festival programs
This collection of more than two dozen festival programs from the 1940s until early 1960s gives a good sense of what material was being called as well as names of featured callers.
In chronological order, the festival programs in this collection…
In chronological order, the festival programs in this collection…
Square Dance - Ary, KY - 1963 (4 cpl square)
see previous item The grapevine twist figure in this dance is taught by Phil Jamison in another video in this collection.
Square dance - Ary, KY - 1963 (big set)
The caller is Corbett Grigsby, with music provided by fiddler Marion Sumner and guitarists Martin Young and Roscoe Holcomb. Grigsby introduces the figure as "around behind, lady in the lead."This footage was recorded by filmmaker George Pickow at the…
Henry Ford’s Dance Revival and Fiddle Contests:
Myth and Reality
Square dance enthusiasts generally know something of the important role played by Henry Ford in encouraging an American square dance revival. This lengthy article by Paul M. Gifford examines this story in more detail and provides a more nuanced view…