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

Browse Items (404 total)

  • Temporal Coverage is exactly "1950s"
Sound

Bumps-A-Daisy

The figures of this dance mirror the basic pattern found in Solomon Levi, Nelly Bly, and others; each couple in turn stands back to back, dances around the outside of the set-- in this one, just… View item
Document

Community Squares - Ed Durlacher

Writing for Sets in Order, Ed Durlacher looks back at his successful program of outdoor dancing in New York City parks.===The first evening was more or less a nightmare. ... From the hundred or so the… View item
Document

The Good Old Days - Jack Powelson

Jack Powelson wrote: "This was to have been Chapter 1 of a History of American Folk Dancing, but the other chapters were never written."Larry Edelman writes: "I met Jack Powelson sometime in the fall… View item
Document

Asilomar Dance Camp

This large set of photos and text all relate to Asilomar, the location in southern California where many dance camps were held. Included in this item are photographs of campers, camp rosters, and… View item
Moving Image

Hillbilly Hare

In 1950, the same year that the Santa Monica square dance attracted 15,000 dancers, Warner Brothers released a new Bugs Bunny cartoon,Hillbilly Hare, testimony to the rising popularity of square dance… View item
Website

Les Gotcher recordings

Les Gotcher, the self-described Hashmaster, was a prominent figure in the development of modern square dance. (See various entries about him here on the Square Dance History Project or his entry in… View item
Document

Texas Whirlwind - detailed calls

This is the detailed transcription of calls for Rickey Holdlen's version of the Texas Whirlwind. It illustrates the fast-paced nature of traditional Texas squares, the caller keeping up a non-stop… View item
Document

The Square Dance Caller

This is one of the most successful efforts to describe in detail just what is involved in being a good square dance caller. (Tony Parkes, in his Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century,"… View item
Moving Image

Square Dance - George Balanchine ballet

This video documents the marriage of square dance with ballet. According to the George Balachine Trust's website: "InSquare Dance, Balanchine joined the traditions of American folk dance with… View item
Document

Keeler Calling

This four-disk set of 78rpm records features caller Elisha Keeler and the band with whom he recorded, Mac Ceppos and his Country Rhythm Boys: Mac Ceppos, violin Eddie Smith, accordion Bill Horan,… View item
Still Image

Frank Messina

Frank Messina and the Mavericks recorded hundreds of titles for the Mac Gregor label, providing music for Fenton "Jonesy" Jones, Bob Van Antwerp, Arnie Kronenberger, Jerry Helt, and more. View item
Document

The Li'l Abner Official Square Dance Handbook

This book clearly is riding the wave of square dance popularity at that time. Linking square dance with the popular comic strip figures, the book even more explicitly illustrates the way that the… View item