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

Browse Items (1942 total)

Website

"I'll Swing Yours, You Swing Mine" - A Tribute to Rufus Fisher's Orchestra and Wilson's Westernaires

This is a recorded Zoom talk about two dance bands in the Chateauguay Valley, an English-speaking region of Quebec that has not been well documented previously.This program, hosted by Glenn Patterson,… View item
Sound

Gloria Rios Roth - patter

Gloria Rios Roth calling the patter half of a tip at a dance in New England in 1960. View item
Sound

Maria - Gloria Rios Roth

Gloria Rios Roth calling a singing call at a dance in New England in 1960. View item
Moving Image

Ozarks - Taney Center Square #1

Footage recorded in Forsyth, Missouri, by Gordon McCann and shared with the Square Dance History Project. The fiddler is Bob Holt, recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship in 1999. The tempo is… View item
Moving Image

Ozarks - Taney Center Square #2

Footage recorded in Forsyth, Missouri, by Gordon McCann and shared with the Square Dance History Project. The fiddler is Bob Holt, recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship in 1999. The tempo here… View item
Moving Image

Ozarks - Cooper's Barn Square #5

Cabool, Missouri: Ozark square dance footage recorded by Gordon McCann and shared with the Square Dance History Project. The fiddler is Bob Holt, recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship in 1999.… View item
Moving Image

Ozarks - Cooper's Barn Square #4

Cabool, Missouri: Ozark square dance footage recorded by Gordon McCann and shared with the Square Dance History Project. The fiddler is Bob Holt, recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship in 1999.… View item
Document

Cowboy Songs and Dances

This is an excerpt-- the dance part; a later song section is omitted-- from an article that includes the author's experiences at a cowboy dance in 1903. The author includes typical patter heard… View item
Sound

Cindy - Graham Rigby

Graham Rigby, author of "My Life's a Dance," was an Australian caller. Here he does a traditional American square dance figure. View item
Still Image

West Newbury, VT - square dance competition

This is a newspaper account (and acccompanying poem) describing the 1941 success of a team from West Newbury, Vermont, in a dance competition. We often think of square dance contests in Texas, but… View item
Website

Grand Chain - Grande Chaîne

Note: The link will take you to the home page featuring a documentary by Guy Bouchard about "Traditional music and dances from the tip of the Gaspé peninsula." Interested viewers can stream the… View item
Website

Musical and Mathematical Design of Square Dance Singing Calls

These videos record a lengthy and detailed talk by caller Guy Steele. He's not addressing a square dance audience, so it's an interesting presentation of technical aspects of how a singing… View item