All About Square Dance: A Brief History of Square Dance

A square dance is an American folk dance form that involves four couples in a square formation dancing to a specific sequence or series of steps announced or cued by a caller. Square dancing is derived from various traditional European dances, including the Morris Dance from England and a French dance form called the quadrille, first documented in the seventeenth century. In North America, square dancing is regarded as a social dance, closely associated with the country’s southern and western regions. It is the official state dance of Colorado, Massachusetts, and over 20 other states.

The term “square dance” may refer to several different dance traditions in America, including the event itself, which generally occurs at a square dance club or dance hall, or other social dance traditions, such as a barn dance. The term is less frequently used in English, Irish, or Scottish dance circles, largely because their events involve line and round dances as well as square dances.

There are two primary types of square dance in America:

• Traditional square dance: Also known as old-time square dancing or quadrilles, this traditional dance has distinct regional varieties from New England, the Southeast and Appalachian part of the country, and a Western-style.
• Modern western square dance: Also known as modern American square dance, this type of square dance evolved from the traditional Western form in the 1970s. Within those two types of square dance are numerous regional variations regarding calls and choreography.

Square dancing traces back to Europe during the seventeenth century. Here is a brief overview of its evolution:

• Beginnings of the dance form. In John Playford’s 1651 book The English Dancing Master, the bookseller and publisher wrote about four-couple dances in square and circle formations in England, Ireland, and Scotland. This form of dance, referred to as an English country dance, Irish set dance, or Scottish country dance, was a primary influence on square dancing, as were two eighteenth-century French dances: the cotillion and the quadrille, which both involved couples in square formation and combinations of dance steps, such as the ladies’ chain, in which female dancers passed each other on the right while giving their left hand to their male partners. Many of the dance moves notated in Playford’s book remain a part of North American square dance, which earned its name to differentiate it from the contra dance, a popular line dance.
• Square dance reaches America. Europeans brought their dance moves to America, where the quadrille enjoyed considerable popularity after the American Revolution. In the nineteenth century, it became common practice for slave owners to force enslaved Black Americans to serve as musicians at square dances. They would eventually revolutionize the dance form by inventing “calling,” or announcing the steps and formation of the dances to dancers, which helped organize the dance floor. Calling would go on to become a defining characteristic of the form, though it was met with backlash by white critics at the time.
  
• Shaw integrates the dance into high school programs. Square evolved from a regional folk dance to an American art form largely through the efforts of educator Lloyd Shaw. He solicited dance instructions from callers across the country to integrate into a national physical education program for high schools after World War II. American square dancing received additional support from the folk revival movement in New York during the 1950s, spurring interest in many different forms of traditional entertainment.
• Square dancing in contemporary society. American square dance remained popular throughout the mid-to-late twentieth century and was named the national dance in 1982. By that time, square dancing had declined in popularity and was not attracting new square dancers, so many schools eliminated it from their curriculums. Attempts were made to connect with young or gay populations in the 1970s and 1980s, but the following remained modest in size. However, square dancing remains popular at the regional level in the US and United Kingdom.

Several distinct characteristics define square dance, including:

1. 1. Caller: In traditional and modern Western square dances, the square dance caller, or the person who announces the dance figures, determines which moves dancers perform on the dance floor. In traditional square dancing, the caller’s role is limited to announcing a set of basic dance steps, called in a predetermined order and repeated throughout the dance. In modern square dancing, the caller’s role is expanded significantly to that of an entertainer. They may improvise their calls, create challenging steps for the dancers, and provide a steady stream of rhyming words and phrases, called patter, which are either spoken or sung.
2. 2. Calls: Both traditional and modern square dancing feature several “calls,” or dance moves. The best-known of these calls is the “do-si-do,” also known as the dosado or dos-á-dos, in which two dancers face each other and pass right shoulders, move behind each other, and then pass left shoulders to face each other again. The “Promenade” features two dancers, with their right and left hips touching, and in some cases, with clasped hands, who walk counterclockwise around the dance floor. The “Allemande left” has two facing dancers who link their left hands, turn halfway to the left, and then release hands and step forward.
3. 3. Music: Music in traditional square dancing hasn’t changed much since the nineteenth century. It’s invariably old-time music based on jigs and reels, or hoedowns, and played on traditional acoustic instruments like banjos and guitars, with a fiddler leading the tune. Modern square dancing features a recorded variety of music, including pop, country, and techno.

There are several different square dance styles in both traditional and modern Western square dancing, including:

1. 1. Appalachian: Also known as old-time mountain style or Southeastern square dance, the Appalachian style is often done as a round dance with many couples. Dancers move in time to the beat, but the musical phrase itself is not synchronized to the dancing. The caller starts and ends the dance and draws on a known repertoire of select calls. They may instruct the dancers to execute the same move when they meet or opposite moves.
2. 2. Northeastern: Popular in New England, New York, the Mid-Atlantic states, and Canada, the Northeastern style is a synchronized dance that draws upon the quadrille and cotillion for its dance moves, including such venerable elements as the ladies’ chain. Couples face each other in pairs and may know the calls well enough to perform them without the help of a caller.
3. 3. Singing squares: A relatively modern form of square dancing, singing squares combine elements of the quadrille, Appalachian, and traditional square dancing. The caller directs the four-couple square groups in dances through singing, and the dances sync to the musical phrase. Music can vary from traditional square dancing songs to modern tracks.
4. 4. Western: Both traditional and modern western square dancing involve four-couple square sets and a caller who directs the dancers. However, modern western square features greater involvement by the caller, who creates a figure, or full dance, from a group of individual square dances. In some cases, these calls are improvised. Dancers may join square dance clubs to learn the specific steps of the calls.

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