Square Dance

Square Dance, principal form of American folk dance. To traditional string band music and the prompting of a caller, four couples, arranged in a square, cooperate to execute various figures, moving with a smooth, somewhat shuffling step. The square dance developed about 1825-50 out of the then fashionable cotillion and quadrille, stately French dances in square formation. To simplified figures from these dances were added elements from the faster-moving contra dances of New England and “running sets” of Appalachia. Also came the introduction of the caller, who was free to improvise the order of the figures. The caller's prompting soon developed into rhythmic patter calls with a characteristic, wry vocabulary and, by the 1870s, into singing calls. Typical figures included the allemande (a quadrille term), dosido (French dos a dos,”back to back”), birdie in the cage (from the running set), and star (from contras, quadrilles, and running sets).

In the 1860s the fast swinging of partners in ballroom dance position added further interest. Square dances developed regional variations in figures and style of calling, and in Canada similar dances developed with French, Scottish, and Irish influences.

See also Country Dance; Reel.