History and Heritage of
Modern American Square Dancing

A summary of the essays by Dorothy Shaw, Bob Osgood and Kenny Reese. The "Oldtime Songs" (Music of America's Past) can be displayed by courtesy of Wayne Erbsen, Native Ground Music. If you are interested in music of America's past you should visit Wayne's pages. Most of the pictures and other sound files have been kindly supplied by the California Heritage Dancers (CHD). Virginia Reel and Lady Round The Lady by Dick Meyers could be presented by courtesy of RTV Comm. Group.

Some short passages had to be translated from German into English, so take my apologize if they sound a little bit 'bumpy'.

Your feedback is more than welcome. If you have any corrections or suggestions concerning the history of square dancing, feel free and drop in an email.

Background Evolution The English heritage The Morris Dance The Country Dance The French heritage The Minuet The Quadrille The early Masters of Dancing Early American forms The Appalachians Mountain Dance The New England Dance The modern Square Dance The Henry Ford era The Lloyd Shaw era Changing in choreography New calls Callerlab Clothing Summary
If you like, you can download the whole "History and Heritage of American Square Dancing" as PDF-file (1627 KB; without audio clips, of course).