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

Browse Items (24 total)

  • Subject is exactly "Northern / New England"
Document

Sashay newsletter, Vermont, 1953

Sashay was a country dance bulletin published by musician Emerson Lang, of Danville, Vermont. It's clear from the contents that Lang's readers were open to many styles-- mention is made of squares,… View item
Sound

Abe Kanegson - live recordings, 1953 and 1955

These are four audio files from live recordings made in Dover, New Hampshire, in the 1950s. They feature caller Abe Kanegson. Notes (by Jim Mayo) on the choreography of the audio files: #1: In the… View item
Document

Balance and Swing

This account from the early 1950s describes the Vermont Country Dance Festival, an annual event that drew some 6,000 participants. Daytime events focused on school groups, with adults-- 800 coiuples… View item
Document

Bob Brundage autobiography

Bob Brundage's autobiography, This Is My Square Dancing Life, is a detailed and informative history. Brundage writes engagingly about the traditional square dances that he and his brother Al were… View item
Still Image

Callers' Jamboree - NH, 1947

Callers sitting on stage:Gene Gowing, Ralph Page, Hal Brundage, Al Brundage, Ed Durlacher, Lawrence Loy, Orville "Pop" SmithMusicians on stage:Bob Gulyassy, George Gulyassy, Dick Best, Bob McQuillen,… View item
Sound

Chip Hendrickson - square dance caller's workshop

This is a recording of a workshop led by Chip Hendrickson at the 1988 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend in Durham, NH. Chip illustrated different calling styles and the effect of different kinds of… View item
Moving Image

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
Sound

Cumberland Square Dance - Frank Kaltman

Editor's note: We have classified this as Northern / New England but in reality the dance is a traditional English square.Tony Parkes comments: The dance is Cumberland Square. The caller is Frank… View item
Document

Dixie Folk syllabus - 1951

This is the square dance portion of the syllabus from the Dixie Folk and Square Dance Institute held in Georgia in 1951. New Hampshire caller Ralph Page presented a selection of typical New England… View item
Document

How To Put On & Make Successful The Country Dance Party

This 16-page booklet is credited to Beth Tolman, though it's safe to assume that Ralph Page (her co-author of The Country Dance Book, published in 1937) had a hand in part of the text. It's a simple… View item
Document

IOCA Barn Dance 1942

Events sponsored by the IOCA, the Intercollegiate Outing Club Association, provided the introduction to square dancing for many young dancers. Students from colleges and universities in the Northeast… View item
Still Image

John Putnam, Black fiddler and caller

John Putnam (c. 1817–1895) was born into slavery and by the 1850s was living in Greenfield, MA, where he worked as a barber. He played left-handed fiddle and Putnam's Orchestra played for dances… View item