Category Archives: History
The Jim Vickers-Willis Story
Jim Vickers-Willis played a big part in popularizing square dance in Australia in the 1950s. This website tells his story.
Here is a video with images from that era and audio of Jim calling.
Video: Comparing Grand Squares
From the video description:
These two dances share the grand square figure and yet there are 300 years and an ocean separating the dances. The Berea College Country Dancers juxtapose the two dances to show their similarities. The music and the two styles reflect the differences between the nobility in England in 1665 and the cowboys of the American west in 1940.
Pinterest Board: Square Dance History
Queen Elizabeth Square Dances!
Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh dance at a square dance in their honor in Ottawa, by Governor General Viscount Alexander. (October 17, 1951)
Careful, Ladies!
Don’t overdo it with the square dancing!
Video: Clovis’ Ernie Kinney is an 89-year-old Square Dance Caller
Caller: Ernie Kinney
Video: Dance to the Music and Listen to the Calls: The Square Dances and Calling of Jerry Goodwin
Description from YouTube:
Larry Edelman produced this video in 1987 while studying square dance calling with Jerry Goodwin. The apprenticeship was supported by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Recorded at the Prosperity Fire Hall in western Pennsylvania the video features Jerry Goodwin calling with the Mountain Express (Chuck Monticello, fiddle; Joe Frye, guitar; Bob Hill, piano; and Dodie Goodwin, bass).
Video: 10th Annual National Square Dance Convention in Detroit, MI.
This was filmed in 1961.
Video: Not Your Grandparents’ Square Dance
Short documentary on the revival of traditional square dancing in Portland.
Square Your Dance 