Traditional square dance is a generic American term for any style of American square dance other than modern Western. The term can mean (1) any of the American regional styles (broadly, Northeastern, Southeastern, and Western) that existed before around 1950, when modern Western style began to develop out of a blend of those regional styles, or (2) any style (other than modern Western) that has survived, or been revived, since around 1950. The term Traditional Square Dance is also used in England to refer to dances collected from villages in the first half of the 20th century.
Traditional square dance can be distinguished from modern western square dance by the following characteristics:
A limited number of basic movements, or “calls,” enabling the average dancer to join the group by assimilation rather than by taking a series of lessons.
Dance figures (sequences of basic movements) that are called in a set order and repeated, rather than improvised by the caller. (In Southeastern style the caller chooses figures from a repertoire of a dozen or two and can call them in any order, but the order of movements within each figure does not change.)
The use of live music as the norm.
In addition, because there is no governing body to set standards for traditional square dancing, each caller decides which basic movements and dance figures he or she will use. There are regional variations in how dancers execute the basic movements, usually having to do with hand or arm position. The same dance figure may have different names in different regions; the same name may refer to different dance figures, or even (in the case of "do-si-do") different basic movements. This lack of standardization does not present a problem to the dancers, because at least one of two conditions is always true: either the caller walks the dancers through the figures before calling them to music, or the event is attended almost entirely by local people familiar with that caller's repertoire.
and 21 Related for: Traditional square dance information
the square. Squaredances are part of a broad spectrum of dances known by various names: country dances, traditionaldances, folk dances, barn dances, ceilidh...
types of squaredancing, along with traditionalsquaredance. As a dance form, modern western squaredance grew out of traditionalsquaredance in the American...
Ukrainian dance Verbuňk Nordic polska danceSquaredance Sword dance Weapon dance Sword dances include long sword dances and rapper dancing. Some choreographed...
A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditionaldancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more...
most common setting for Irish dance music is the seisiún, which very often features no dancing at all. Traditionaldance music includes reels (2 2 or 4...
clubs for other dance forms, both squaredance and non-squaredance forms, including "traditional" and exhibition-style squaredancing. The primary differences...
instead of accompaniment for dancing. Recital lilting is currently one of the multiple events performed at the annual traditional Irish musical festival, Fleadh...
(that is, a dance in which an important element is the pattern of group movement about the dance floor) like squaredancing. Some Highland dances do derive...
Dance in China is a highly varied art form, consisting of many modern and traditionaldance genres. The dances cover a wide range, from folk dances to...
Irish dance refers to the traditionaldance forms that originate in Ireland, including both solo and group dance forms, for social, competitive, and performance...
significance. Folk dance music is music accompanying traditionaldance and may be contrasted with historical/classical, and popular/commercial dance music. An...
dance, a social dance, a group dance such as a line, circle, chain or squaredance, or a partner dance, such as in Western ballroom dancing, is undertaken...
and festivals helped prop up traditional music. Two of the most successful groups of the 1980s that emerged from this dance band circuit were Runrig and...
The Sword dance is one of the best known of all Highland dances, an ancient dance of war. Performance of sword dances in the folklore of Scotland is recorded...
tradition. In Russian dances woman and girls often carry a pocket square with them. Girls and women often wear the traditional Russian headdress kokoshnik...
popularity only to the reel in traditional Irish dance; it is popular but somewhat less common in Scottish country dance music. It is transcribed in compound...
Youth squaredancing is squaredancing among people up to their mid-twenties. In specific contexts, e.g., in qualification for some event, it may refer...
Lion dance (traditional Chinese: 舞獅; simplified Chinese: 舞狮; pinyin: wǔshī) is a form of traditionaldance in Chinese culture and other Asian countries...
Sparling, Heather (2023-11-22). "Squaring Off: The Forgotten Caller in Cape Breton SquareDancing". Yearbook for Traditional Music. 50: 165–186. doi:10.5921/yeartradmusi...
The hornpipe is any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere from the 16th century until the present day. The earliest...