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

Browse Items (1935 total)

Sound

West Coast Blues - Blind Blake

There were hundreds of 78 rpm records with dance calls released in the 1920s and 1930s; this clip from Blind Blake's "West Coast Blues" is one example. Other African Americans callers who appear on… View item
Document

Chicken Plucker - choreographic innovation

The Chicken Plucker routine created by Bill Shymkus appeared in the October 1957 issue of Sets in Order; the same issue contained ads for the new record release by Lee Helsel. This routine is… View item
Sound

Bill Shymkus

This is a short clip of a tip called by Bill Shymkus at the 3rd National Square Dance Convention in Dallas , Texas. The choreography is the goal post pattern that was very common at that time. View item
Document

Feature Square Dancer - Nebraska, 1956

These are excerpts from two early issues (Vol. 1, #1 and #4, both 1956) of the Feature Square Dancer, a newspaper published by Bill Shilling, brother of Colorado caller Marvin Shilling. To see similar… View item
Sound

Patter Calling - Bill Peters

This is a short clip of Bill Peters calling patter at a dance in Adelaide, Australia in 1986. View item
Moving Image

Four in Line - Bill O'Brien

Fall dance of the Canadian Olde Tyme Square Dance Callers' Association, a group formed in 1954 to preserve and promote Canadian square dancing. Recorded November 17, 2001, Etobicoke (near Toronto),… View item
Sound

El Paso Star - Bill McGrath

Bill McGrath was one of the leading callers in Australia, a self-taught patter caller based in Melbourne. View item
Document

A Few Square Dance Calls from Bill McAdoo

Editor Larry Edelman writes: "I collected these figures in the mid-1980’s at the Independence Grange Hall Dance in Independence, Washington County in southwestern Pennsylvania. During my visits,… View item
Sound

Bill McAdoo – Independence, PA – 1979

These are recordings of caller Bill McAdoo at the Independence, PA dance in 1979. Bob Dalsemer writes, "Most are from 4/21/1979 and a few from 9/8/1979. I always thought Bill was one of the best of… View item
Website

A Look at Southern Squares

Bill Martin writes: "These many pages represent all the information I could find about Southern mountain square dancing. Over the years I continue to find errors and clueless guesswork here and there.… View item