Contra, square, grid square, and mixer dances composed by Rick Mohr.
A collection of square dances for seated dancers. Descriptions of the figures are here.
From Fred Wersan
Dance Figures Index: English Country Dances, 1650-1833
A guide to the basic figures in major English printed longways country dances in eighteenth and early nineteenth-century sources. This database only includes sources for dances with instruction for country dances, or dances that could be identified as such. It does not include other dance forms, such as Cotillions or Allemand or similar dances.
Compiled by Robert M. Keller
Contra and square dances composed by North Carolina caller Bob Dalsemer.
The Challenge Square Dancing Handbook
This handbook by Clark Baker includes terminology and concepts used in higher levels of modern Western square dance.
This online version of Bob Dalsemer’s book describes dance figures as done in five rural West Virginia communities in the 1970s and reports on their regular dance events, including programming, type of audience, price and method of admission, and the traditions of figure calling and musical performance.
English Dance & Song’s Contra and Longways Dances
An archive of the contra and longways dances published in English Dance and Song (EFFDS’s magazine)
From John Sweeney
The Old-Time Kentucky Running Set
This article by Stu Jamieson covers variations on the Southern Appalachian big circle/set formation, including descriptions of the dances, calls, and more.
Thanks to the Massachusetts Cultural Council for their generous support.