Between CDSS and the Square Dance History Project, my life has been more than full of late. We've added some wonderful footage to the SDHP site, including two clips filmed in Kentucky in 1963, material for which I've been waiting more than two years to obtain permission. Here's a link to the four-couple square and a link to a big set.
Last night, we had the great fortune of watching the Alvin Ailey Dance Company in performance, an extraordinary group of dancers.
Earlier in the week, Sheila and I watched a wonderful film by Carlos Saura, Tango; here's a link to just one clip from it. Saura also directed the wonderful flamenco version of Carmen and that film in its entirety is available online.
Both were reminders of the great variety of dance forms that we can enjoy. Here are a few other clips that came my way recently:
Shag (a style of swing dance that originated in South Carolina), here danced by Kayla Henley and Jeremy Webb, two high school students who won a national competition
Documentary on the 2012 Vienna International Dance Festival (lots of dance footage plus interviews with dancers and teachers)
It's Fun To Hunt!
Written on .
Ralph Page gave this title to a regular
column in his Northern
Junket
magazine,
in which he shared information he had gleaned from looking through
old newspapers in New Hampshire and Vermont. For those of us
interested in dance history, he's absolutely right.
Late
last month, CDSS member Karen Mueller-Harder heard a wonderful
story on Vermont Public Radio.
In it, VPR reporter Steve Zind tells about John Stone, who in 1956
recorded a dance in Newfane, Vermont. Stone recently donated his tape
to the Vermont Folklife Center, which digitized the recording. (Dance
caller and CDSS youth intern Mary Wesley has worked at the VFC—small
world!) Zind's story describes how listening to the tape brought back
a flood of memories for Stone.
Karen sent a link to the story
to Steve Howe, at the CDSS office, who shared it with fellow staff
members. Pat MacPherson in turn passed on the link to me and to Bob
Dalsemer, one of my colleagues on the Square Dance History Project
(SDHP). It was, indeed, a lovely and evocative story.
The
VPR story included only a few snippets from the actual dance
recording—the focus is Stone's reactions to hearing the music once
again—but I was interested in hearing more of the source material.
I went to the website of the Vermont Folklife Center and spent a
frustrating time trying to locate the original, without success. I
turned to Google and easily located VFC 's posted file of the
recording, a beautifully preserved digital file. A few minutes later
I added a reference to this audio
clip of three singing squares
(the Dick Perry Orchestra and caller Ira Huntley) to our SDHP
website.
But wait! There's more! I wasn't familiar with all
three dances, and Bob quickly identified one as "Belle of the
Ball," which he knew from the calling of Otto Wood. Otto
(fiddle) and his wife Marguerite (piano) hailed from Michigan, but
were regulars on staff at Pinewoods and at the John C. Campbell Folk
School in Brasstown, NC, as they made their way to and from Florida
each winter. Bob's e-mail included a typescript of Otto's calls for
that dance and an an appreciation of the Woods on a website
celebrating Michigan fiddlers.
It
turned out that Belle of the Ball was just one page from a larger
collection of Otto's dances that had been prepared by storyteller and
occasional dance caller Donald Davis, working closely with Marguerite
some time after Otto's death. (Donald Davis has been a frequent staff
member at our CDSS
family camp
at Ogontz, and he will be on staff again this summer; "Otto and
Marguerite" is among his vast repertoire of stories.) After a
few more e-mail exchanges we had his permission to post the complete
set, so we've added Otto's
calls for 17 singing squares and Marguerite's music
to the SDHP website.
All in all, a very
enjoyable and productive few days. It's fun to hunt!
Square Dance History Project launches website!
Written on .
A project that has been a big part of my life took a giant step forward today: we launched the Square Dance History Project's digital library and website. This project, with financial support from organizations representing both traditional and modern square dancers, takes a broad look at square dancing in its many forms as well as the historical antecedents of today's squares.
The project's primary focus is to collect good examples of moving images--more than 400 videos so far--that document square dancing. This includes New England dosido and western docey-do, barn dances and hoedowns, stately quadrilles and rip-roarin' squares of the 1950s, as well as modern square dance programs from Mainstream to Challenge. The site also includes interviews, text, photographs, audio files, and much more.
Among the treats awaiting you:
Rare footage of the Lloyd Shaw's Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, plus a black and white silent film (1955) showing square dances in Central City, Colorado
A set of 100 high-definition videos filmed at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, with six nationally-known square dance callers
More than 150 items related to modern western square dance (MWSD), including an article by Jim Mayo looking at the early years of that style, illustrated with live recordings from the 1940s and 1950s
Silent footage of southern Appalachian mountain squares from the early 1930s
A curated assortment of more than 400 videos showing dancing from Newfoundland and Quebec to the American Southwest
Exhibits showcasing different aspects of the broad collection
The site is a work in progress, and additional material will be added
regularly to the collection. The home page offers a way to contribute
additional items; the organizers are especially interested in locating
home movie footage from decades past.
Please visit the site and settle back for hours of viewing and listening and reading. Browse the Items, explore the Exhibits and Collections, read the Blog and take the survey, and spread the word to others.
Dare To Be Square!
Middle School Dances!
Written on .
Two middle school
dances within a week, no band, just me and my iPod at the Hulbert
Outdoor Center, which hosts groups throughout the year. I'm a regular
on the program for several of these schools, and it's fun to return
to the same venue with some of the same adults—teachers or HOC
staff—and a bunch of kids who are always full of energy.
The programs
didn't vary a lot. Both times, I had 75 minutes, and in that time we
did nine dances. The trick is to keep things moving. Once you have
kids up and dancing, keep the momentum going. In recent years, I've
started adding in one line dance with no instruction in the middle of
the program. This serves as a breather for kids and adults who want
to take and lets others have fun with a dance they already know
Middle School Dance Program Traffic Jam
Galopede
The Sweets of May
The Snowball
Cupid Shuffle or
Cotton Eye Joe
Polka Contry
Simple Square
the Fan Dance
Un, Deux, Trois,
Poussez or Sasha
Old Timers Talk
Written on .
Folks interested in the history of contra dancing in New England and upstate New York in the post-World War II era may enjoy watching a series of six videos from this year's Dance Flurry.
I was the moderator, and I started out by commenting on how strange it felt to be part of a panel billed as "Old Timers Talk." Panelists included Dudley Laufman and Bob McQuillen, New Hampshire artists well known in the traditional dance community and each a recipient of the CDSS Lifetime Contribution Award; Ralph Sweet, longtime Connecticut dance caller and leader of a singing squares workshop this summer at Timber Ridge; and Bill and Andy Spence, musician (hammered dulcimer, Fennig's All Stars) and organizer (Andy's Front Hall, and founder of the Old Songs Festival). Lots of good stories!