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

Browse Items (1933 total)

Sound

Swing Two Ladies - Ralph Page, 1955

Recorded at a dance in Fitchburg, MA, in 1955 by Harold Spaulding. Released on Dudley Laufman's CD compilation, "The Sound of Ralph Page." See also a video clip of Tony Parkes teaching this dance at… View item
Moving Image

Sandy Bradley 3 - Why'd you stop?

Sandy Bradley was a dynamic and exciting guitar player and caller who gave many northern dancers in the 1970s and early 1980s their first taste of fast-moving traditional western squares. She stopped… View item
Moving Image

Sandy Bradley 2 - Keeping it fun

"The thing that I thought was crippling people's attitude toward dance was rules. 'You have to do THIS, you have to swing like that, you have to get it right!'" It… View item
Moving Image

Sandy Bradley 1 - Getting started

Sandy Bradley interviewed by Bob Dalsemer. After a brief discussion of the fun of watching the room come together in a dance, Sandy discusses how she got started as a musician and then a square… View item
Sound

The Slow One - Dudley Laufman

Dance as called by Lin Cady, though Dudley said he's at a loss as to the title since it was always done at the same speed as every other square. He identifies the tune as Solomon Levi, though the… View item
Sound

Prisoner's Song - Dudley Laufman

Dudley Laufman says he never heard this dance called by anyone other than Linn Cady, and it was always done to the tune of "If I Had the Wings of an Angel." Dudley Laufman calls a program… View item
Sound

Doo Dar - Dudley Laufman

The dance is a singing square set to Camptown Races. This audio file begins with an introduction about Linn Cady, and then additional comments from Dudley Laufman, who was the Farm & Wilderness… View item
Document

Calling for Modern Square Dancing - Jim Mayo

Author Jim Mayo writes:"This book is, I believe, the first "Caller Text" that was written for modern (as different from traditional) square dance callers. The draft was written in 1961 & 62 which… View item
Document

MWSD - The First Ten Years

This article by Jim Mayo looks at the first ten years of what is usually called Modern Western Square Dancing. Jim traces the development of the activity in detail, citing specific callers and their… View item
Sound

Grand Square - Edson Cole

This dance starts with the Grand Square figure, along with other calls common to the 5th figure of the Lancers.Edson Cole was a fiddler and dancing master from Freedom, NH. He was documentedby Eloise… View item
Sound

Girl I Left Behind Me (clip) - Dudley Laufman

Live recording, Bernardston, Massachusetts, with Dudley Laufman calling. This was the third dance of the evening. At the end of Soldier's Joy, a contra, Dudley had groups of two couples circle left… View item
Sound

Crooked Stovepipe - Dudley Laufman -

Live recording, Bernardston, Massachusetts, with Dudley Laufman calling. He introduces this by noting, "First dance I ever called, when I was a kid." Music by the Fall Town String Band: Ed Phelps and… View item