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

Browse Items (1941 total)

Document

Cowboy Dance (1923 article)

This description of dances on the Texas frontier was included in a 1923 collection, Coffee in the Gourd, edited by J. Frank Dobie for the Texas Folk-Lore Society. The author paints a vivid picture of… View item
Moving Image

Couple Dances at a Square Dance in Southwestern Pennsylvania 1985 - 1987

Dance caller, musician, and videographer Larry Edelman writes: "While studying traditional square dance calling and music in the 1980's in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, I found that there were as… View item
Document

Country Dancing in Central and Western New York State

This overview of different forms of country dancing in upper New York State starts in the early 1800s. The author looks at quadrilles and squares, longways and round dances, "from rural house parties… View item
Document

Country Dance and Quadrille

In this poem, c. 1822, we see that it's the squires from the countryside of England who prefer the stately Miss Quadrille, while others are initially enamored of the charms of that newcomer from… View item
Website

Cotillon website

These detailed website pages are created by Moira Goff, a self-described "baroque dance specialist." They document her research into various dances of the period with a special look at thecotillon,… View item
Document

Cotillon / Cotillion / Contredanse Française

referring to a dance in our collection:The dance is a contredanse from de la Cuisse, published in 1762. It was not called a cotillion in France. Once de la Cuisse had published his collection, the… View item
Moving Image

Cotillon - Dezais

This performance shows one of fourcotillons described by Jaques Dezais in his 1725Premier livre de contre-dances. View item
Moving Image

Cotillon

French dancing masters in the early 18th century created a dance for two couples called the cotillon. This morphed into the cotillion and later became the quadrille. The opening minutes of this… View item

Corky Calkins - two programs

These are two programs of Massachusetts caller Corky Calkins, one from 1965 and the other from 1967. They were noted by Connecticut caller Ralph Sweet who for decades carried a small notebook with him… View item
Sound

Convention Time in Texas

Tis recording, S.I.O.-DAL 1954, was released by Sets in Order to celebrate the 3rd annual National Square Dance Convention, held in Dallas, TX, April 8–10, 1954. Set to the tune of Roundup Time in… View item
Moving Image

Contredanse française – La réverbère

Dance from the later 1700s, during the reign of Louis VXI (1754-1793), illustrating this dance form that emerged from the cotillon and led to the development of the quadrille. View item
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Contredanse française - pot-pourri of dances

This selection of dances from the period of the French Revolution begins with an introduction (in French). The actual dancing begins about 2:20. View item