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

Browse Items (158 total)

  • Temporal Coverage is exactly "1960s"
Document

Les Gotcher's Text Book for Square Dance Callers

One of the leading callers in promoting the use of sight calling, Les Gotcher went his own way as modern square dance developed. Frequently described as "The Hash Master," Gotcher went his own way in… View item
Document

Round Robin correspondence

Long before the internet, a group of a dozen or so square dance callers around the country exchanged ideas through a series of Round Robin letters. (Note: the Square Dance History Project would dearly… View item
Still Image

Don Durlacher - Jones Beach photo

Photograph of dancing at Jones Beach during the Don Durlacher era. A related interview with Glenn Durlacher (son of Don, grandson of Ed) looks at the Durlachers' involvement with the Jones Beach… View item
Website

Primo Fiore

Primo Fiore was born in Brooklyn on September 6, 1930 but raised his family in Deer Park, New York, while working as a physical education instructor in West Islip. His gifted speaking voice, combined… View item
Sound

Square Dance With Soul

Two audio excerpts from the album Square Dancing With Soul by Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, originally released on the Folkways label in 1969. The comments are from the booklet released with the… View item
Sound

Mal Hayden - Seacoast Demonstration, 1960

This is Mal Hayden, a New Hampshire caller who straddled the space between traditional and early modern square dance calling. Information about him can be found at the Related Item.Drawing on various… View item
Document

Red Henderson

This appreciation of Red Henderson describes his role in promoting square dance in Spokane, and the creation of the Silver Spurs demonstration team. View item
Document

Fun, Vitality, Life: Square Dancing in Central City, Colorado

This article provides a historical overview of the dance performances in Central City, Colorado. The program began with Lloyd Shaw and one group of dancers in 1936, and expanded over the years. This… View item
Document

Square Dance—Houston Style

This article, from Houston History magazine, offers a popular overview of square dance history in that region from the 1940s into the 21st century. The author was , with her husband, president of the… View item
Website

Square Dance - live recordings

In cooperation with the Square Dance Foundation of New England, SDHP has created a page on the Internet Archive with live recordings of some 300 evenings of modern square dancing.Although most files… View item
Still Image

Paul and Pauline Kermiet

View item
Document

Progressive Squares - introduction

This article from the Experimental Lab of Sets in Order magazine documents the introduction of progressive squares by Ed Gilmore. The article explains that he "developed an unusual collection of calls… View item