The Lloyd Shaw Era

Mr. Shaw had been working on the theory that the Greeks were right about dancing being an essential part of the education of the child. Having started with international folk dancing under the tutelage of Elizabeth Burchenal, he was more than ready for the American dance. But he recognized that the Henry Ford book supplied only half of this dance, and that the other half lay almost under his own nose in the little towns and farm communities of his own West.

Lloyd Shaw era - 30's-40's (© CHD)
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It was not easy to dig out. Callers could only remember their calls when they stood up in front of the dancers with the music behind them. Dancers worked almost like puppets satisfied with a thin repertory. Tempos were deadly slow and everyone was a little suspicious of a city slicker who came to the dance with a notebook in his hand. Nevertheless, people did help - leads opened up - and pilgrims on the same quest opened their files and their hearts to each other. In 1939 Lloyd Shaw published "Cowboy Dances", a big book that filled in Henry Ford's gaps, containing a thorough discussion of the square dance as it was done from the Missouri River Valley to the Sierras, and from North Dakota to the Golf. Others came in quickly with their contributions, one of the most notable of whom was Herb Greggerson of El Paso, Texas, who took a fanatic's delight in dancing and putting down on paper the wonderful Texas dances, so true to their Country sources.

For years, Lloyd Shaw conducted summer classes, where he taught teachers how to present the "whole" American folk dance. He also trained teams of dancers in his Cheyenne Mountain School and took them around the country exhibiting and teaching. Other such institutes sprang up all over the country. The square dance began to pull into focus, as it never had before. Once more, and all over the country, thousands, and then millions, of people were dancing.

Of course, in those days, one did not ask if there would be rounds. It was taken for granted that one would do the Varsouvienne, a Schottische, the Black Hawk Waltz, and perhaps, Blue Pacific Waltz. There might be a cue word here and there for the new people, but no cuer. Dancers knew the dances, just as they knew the figures of many of the square dance calls such as Birdie In The Cage, Lady Round The Lady and Dive For the Oyster.

Sitting in the balcony and watching the vast floor full of dancers at the Chicago International Festival in 1951 - watching the unfolding of stars and circles, grills and boxes - the great sweeping joy of a dance like Arkansas Traveler, I heard a learned man who had never seen a large square dance before suddenly explode: "This is the most beautiful thing I ever saw! The most beautiful and the most significant." And it was. The great "American square dance", with all its ancestors looking over its shoulder, was having a party.