When was square dancing discovered?

Answer 1

The following article was found in the archives of MACA (Mid Atlantic Challenge Association). The square dance is an American institution. It began in New England when the first settlers and the immigrant groups that followed, brought with them their various national dances, which we now call folk dances, but which were the popular dances of the day in the countries of their origin - the schottische, the quadrille, the jigs and reels and the minuet, to name a few. After a week of toil in building new homes and carving homes out of virgin forest, the settlers would gather in the community center on Saturday evening and enjoy dancing their old-world favorites. As the communities grew and people of different backgrounds intermingled, so did their dances. As the repertoire increased, it became increasingly difficult for the average person to remember the various movements. In almost any group, however, there would be at least one extrovert, the hail-fellow-well-met, the life-of-the-party type, with a knack for remembering the dance figures. With typical Yankee ingenuity, the settlers let this person cue or prompt them in case they happened to forget what came next. In due course, the prompter (or figure caller, as he became known) acquired a repertoire of various colorful sayings or patter that he could intersperse with the cues. Quite often he would learn the dances of other communities and he would teach them to the group. Some of these men were quite ingenious and developed dances and routines of their own, including dances for groups of four couples. This is the manner in which square dancing and its director (or caller) developed. * http://www.dosado.com/articles/hist-maca.html

Answer 2

There are many versions of square dancing throught history, but the most common today is the Square Dancing Ballet for George Balanchine's 1957. No true date on the exact time it was invented.

Answer 3

Square dancing resulted from active country and western music lovers who wanted to get up on the dance floor and enjoy the music, not just sit and tap their toes.

People who had no formal dance training in their youth and those that could waltz, foxtrot etc. couldn't " slow dance style " or even " Polka " to twangy Guitars and fiddles.

Then the square dancing style developed into an art form. Early on, educators encouraged teaching square dancing as part of senior elementary school P.T. ( Physical Training ) to develop social skills between boys and girls, overcoming gender awkwardness.

County fairs began featuring square dancing competitions to draw more visitors to their events. That's when square dancing really took off.

The origins of square dancing go back to Europe (in particular France, England, Scotland and Germany) in the 16th Century, possibly earlier (this is currently being researched by the Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society). Early examples of square dances include Hunsdon House, Oranges & Lemons, Chelsea Reach and Hyde Park, all collected and published by John Playford in his books THE ENGLISH DANCING MASTER.

Modern square dancing is highly codified and taught to a standard syllabus set by Callerlab, the international callers' professional association (www.callerlab.org). The basic training leads to Mainstream level, at which point dancers can join in square dance events anywhere in the world (it's always called in English). The best website for information on all aspects of square dancing is www.dosado.com and in the UK the main website is www.uksquaredancing.com. Both list clubs and provide information on the syllabus as well as holidays, conventions and camp-outs.

Answer 4

The square dance originated in 17th century England and traveled to North America with the settlers. Today it is associated with Western culture, particularly cowboys.

Square dance is a folk dance with four couples (eight dancers) arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, beginning with Couple 1 facing away from the music and going counter-clockwise until getting to Couple 4. Couples 1 and 3 are known as the head couples, while Couples 2 and 4 are the side couples. Each dance begins and ends each sequence with "sets-in-order" in the square formation.

Answer 5

The oldest well known square dance is Hunsdon House (the house having been completed in 1580), published c. 1650 by Playford but the Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society are researching earlier dances that may be in a square formation and date to the 15th century.

Answer 6

Square dancing was actually invented in England as a classical exercise in 1651. It spread to Ireland and then to the United States becoming immensely popular in the 1940s.

Answer 7

the 1930's when the new england settlers and immigrants moved to america.