Contra dance is a folk dance made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th century. Sometimes described as New England folk dance or Appalachian folk dance, contra dances can be found around the world, but are most common in the United States, Canada, and other Anglophone countries.
A square dance is a dance for four couples arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances contain elements from numerous traditional dances and were first documented in 16th-century England, but they were also quite common in France and throughout Europe. Early square dances, particularly English country dances and French quadrilles, traveled to North America with the European settlers and developed significantly there.
Gay square dance is square dance as it is generally danced in the Gay and Lesbian community. The first gay and lesbian square dance clubs formed in the mid-to-late 1970s in the USA. There are currently about eighty gay square dance clubs worldwide.
Modern western square dance is one of two American types of square dancing, along with traditional square dance. As a dance form, modern western square dance grew out of traditional square dance in the American West. The term western square dance, for some, is synonymous with "cowboy dance" or traditional western square dance. Therefore, this article uses the term "modern western square dance" to describe the contemporary non-historical dance which grew out of the traditional dance. Modern western square dance was the official dance of the United States from 1982 to 1993.
Square dance clubs are the primary form for organization within the recreational activity of square dancing, and more specifically modern western square dance. This article's focus is the modern western square dance club, and it is understood in the context of this article that when the terms "square dance club" or "square dance" are used it refers to the form of square dance called "modern western square dance".
Guy Lewis Steele Jr. is an American computer scientist who has played an important role in designing and documenting several computer programming languages and technical standards.
The quickstep is a light-hearted dance of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal and informal events. Quickstep was developed in the 1920s in New York City and was first danced by Caribbean and African dancers. Its origins are in combination of slow foxtrot combined with the Charleston, a dance which was one of the precursors to what today is called swing dancing.
A caller is a person who prompts dance figures in such dances as line dance, square dance, and contra dance. The caller might be one of the participating dancers, though in modern country dance this is rare.
A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building.
Alliance of Round, Traditional and Square-Dance, Inc. (ARTS-Dance) is an association to promote round, square, line, and other forms of traditional and folk dance. It is a non-profit/charitable foundation under the U.S. Internal Revenue Service section 501 (c) (3) incorporated in North Carolina in 2003 with main address in San Diego, California. It used to be known as ARTS Alliance.
Lloyd Shaw (1890-1958), also known as Dr. Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw, was an educator, and is generally credited with bringing about the broad revival of square dancing in America. He was superintendent, principal, teacher, and coach for Cheyenne Mountain Schools in Colorado Springs, Colorado from 1916-1951, and taught folk dancing.
Do-si-do, dosado, or dos-à-dos is a basic dance step in such dance styles as square dance, contra dance, polka, various historical dances, and some reels.
Youth square dancing is square dancing among people up to their mid-twenties. In specific contexts, e.g., in qualification for some event, it may refer to dancers up to a particular age such as 18. It also may refer to a style of dancing that, while most popular among younger dancers, can be enjoyed by some older dancers.
Promenade is a basic dance move in a number of dances such as English Country Dance, contra dance, and square dance. The name comes from the French word for "walk", and is a good basic description of the dance action.
Right and left grand, also known as grand right and left, is a square dance move in which all eight dancers in the set, moving in a circular fashion, execute a series of four alternating hand pull-bys. Men travel counter-clockwise around the ring, and ladies travel clockwise. The result is that all dancers end up half way across the set facing the same person they started with.
Tech Squares is a square and round dance club at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1967 and is still holding dances today. Tech Squares dances high-energy modern Western squares in an "all position" style, with no dress code or couples requirement. It has many student members. The club dances the Plus program, but many members also dance advanced and challenge levels.
Challenge square dance, also known as Challenge dancing, is modern western square dance focused on the puzzle-solving aspects of square dancing at the most difficult or "challenging" levels.
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 that existed before around 1950, when modern Western style began to develop out of a blend of those regional styles, or (2) any style that has survived, or been revived, since around 1950.
A feature group, in North American telephone industry jargon, is most commonly used to designate various standard means of access by callers to competitive long-distance services. They defined switching arrangements from local exchange carriers central offices to interexchange carriers. These arrangements were described in an official tariff of the National Exchange Carrier Association, filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
CALLERLAB is the international association of modern western square dance callers, and is the largest square dance association in the United States. After some initial work started in 1971, it was officially established in 1974 by several members of the Square Dance Hall of Fame.
