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

Browse Items (1934 total)

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Square High-Lights  (Ohio)

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Square Dancing in the Mountains of Eastern Kentucky

NOTE: To read the actual booklet, choose the links above. Numbers 1 & 3 are large files and, depending on your internet speed, might take a while to load. This 1971 collection begins with a… View item
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Square Dances of the Southwest

This 1951 booklet, by caller Butch Nelson, is a useful collection of calls from that region. You can hear Nelson calling Oklahoma Cyclone here.The Related Items provide audio or video clips, called by… View item
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Square Dance Workbooks 1, 2, and 3 - Don Armstrong

These are three books of square dance calls published by Don Armstrong, starting in 1956. As such, they give a good sense of the repertoire at that time. View item
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Square Dance News (Iowa)

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Square Dance ~ Where?

A comprehensive, large (72 pp.) booklet describing square dance activities in northern California in the mid-1950s, attesting to the popularity of the activity at that time and place. Note:… View item
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Southern Missouri Jig Dancing

This 28 page booklet was Volume One of a projected series on Traditional Dance in Missouri. It is based on extensive fieldwork by the authors in two southern Missouri counties, Wayne and Douglas. The… View item
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Southern Dancer (Memphis)

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Song of the HIGH-LEVEL Dancer - poem

The push for "high level dancing" appeared in the 1950s as square dancing took off. Some dancers wanted ever-more-challenging programs and they were often reluctant to dance with less-skilled dancers.… View item
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Some Practical Considerations

This short essay was part of Square and Round Dance, Calls and Explanations, a bookled created by MacGregor Records and distributed along with some of the albums of square dance recordings. We've been… View item
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Social Dance in the Mormon West

Detailed look at the role that social dance played (and still plays) in Mormon society. The publication includes a lengthy essay by Larry Shumway looking at dance throughout Mormon history, including… View item
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Smoky Mountain Square Dances

NOTE: This is a large file and might take a while to load.To read the actual booklet, choose the DOWNLOAD link or select the source file located by scrolling to Additional Files.This collection,… View item