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

Browse Items (75 total)

  • Subject is exactly "Northeast - general"
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Forward Up Six - Adrian Hull

The author discusses regional variations of the common square dance formation of three facing three, with lone dancers at the heads. View item
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Chicago Syllabus - Ralph Page, 1959

This is the square dance portion of a syllabus prepared by Ralph Page for a 1959 institute in Chicago. It's smaller than similar syllabi prepared by Page since the opening section of the syllabus… View item
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Square Dance - panel discussion

The consultants for the Square Dance History Project look at different aspects of square dance history. Participants include David Millstone, Tony Parkes, Phil Jamison, Bob Dalsemer, Jim Mayo, Larry… View item
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A Callers' Association? - 1952 discussion

https://archive.org/details/northernjunket38page/page/16/mode/1upCALLERLAB, the association of modern western square dance callers, was established in 1974. However, discussions about creating caller… View item
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Square Dancing in the Park

Short article describing the start of Ed Durlacher's program of teaching square dancing in Riverside Park in New York City. The Additional File ("Youth and the Squares") will provide a… View item
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Duck for the Oyster - origins

This discussion of Duck for the Oyster was an e-mail from the author, Tony Parkes, to the coordinator of the Square Dance History Project. A search on this site for "oyster" will bring back numerous… View item
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Dancing in Westport Point, MA

This video documents a gathering of summer and year-round residents of Westport Point, MA. The community has hosted a summer dance series since the 1930s, originally led by Lyle Ring and then, in… View item
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Square Dance Festival, NH, 1951

This magazine article focuses on the 4-H club of Strafford County, New Hampshire. The photographs were taken at a square dance festival that illustrates one aspect of the group's activities. The… View item
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Today's Whirling Confuses Old-Time Square Dancers

This 1957 newspaper story from central Massachusetts describes a dance culture in transition, as traditional New England square dancing was meeting up with -- and in some cases being replaced by-- the… View item
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Do Squares Come from Quadrilles?

This item starts with a 1957 article by Rod LaFarge that takes a strong stand: "the assumption that our present day square dance is derived from the formal quadrille is completely false."… View item
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Vermont square dance festival - large groups

These are photographs of school groups participating in the big square dance festivals held in Vermont in the 1950s in Northfield and Montpelier. View item
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Vermont Country Dance Festival - 1953

Program from a 1953 Vermont dance festival, whose avowqed purpose was "To strengthen Vermont's heritage of square and contra dances and to bring together country dance enthusiasts from every… View item