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

Browse Items (1938 total)

Sound

Red Bates, 1973 Patter

Our 1973 clip is from a dance at the Longmeadow, MA, square dance club a short distance from where Red lived at that time. He starts with a Scoot Back and Circulate combination and in the second half… View item
Sound

Red Bates, 1982 Pecos Promenade

The singing call, Pecos Promenade, was recorded by Beryl Main on Chaparral label #406. At 120 beats per minute (bpm) it is the first indication in this collection of a trend toward slower tempo that… View item
Sound

Red Bates 1968 Patter

The next clips we have are from another dance at Newton Pavilion seven years later. By then the calls Swing Thru and Spin the Top had been added to the call vocabulary and Red makes use of both in… View item
Sound

Red Bates 1961, Patter

By the time of our first clip from a 1961 dance at the Newton Pavilion in Newton, NH, Bates was a busy caller working dances throughout New England. The choreography is very representative of MWSD at… View item
Moving Image

Reach for the Stars - British callers

This singing call was made for promotional purposes by the British Association of American Square Dancing Clubs (BAASDC) in 2001. It features seven top British callers calling to two squares. The… View item
Still Image

Raymond Smith - photo

View item
Document

Ray Smith - Sally Goodin and a Do-Si-Do

Ray Smith was the "Caller of the Month" in Let's Dance magazine, published by the Folk Dance Federation of California, Northern Section. View item
Document

Ray Shaw biography

This article profiles caller Ray Shaw, brother of Lloyd Shaw. Ray started calling square dances in Los Angeles in 1939, and was featured as the guest on the first television show that Bob Osgood… View item
Website

Ralph Sweet's Personal Square Dance History

This is a 2005 presentation by Ralph Sweet to NECCA (New England Council of Callers Associations), a group of MWSD callers. Reviewing his own interest in this activity provided Ralph with an… View item
Moving Image

Ralph Sweet - When My Baby Smiles

Recorded at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, Durham, NH, January 15, 2000. Musicians are Swallowtail: Ron Grosslein, fiddle; David Cantieni, saxophone; George Marshall, bodhran; Timm Triplett,… View item
Moving Image

Ralph Sweet - Wagon Wheel

Recorded at the Greenfield, MA, Grange Hall on June 27, 2010. The event was sponsored by Country Dance and Song Society to celebrate the publication of "On the Beat with Ralph Sweet."… View item
Still Image

Ralph Sweet - photo

For a detailed personal history of his involvement in traditional and modern square dance, see Ralph's 2005 presentation to NECCA (New England Council of Callers Association). View item