Talk:Traditional square dance

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Comments[edit]

Where are these communities in the U.S. and Canada that have traditional square dances? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.190.166.162 (talk) 16:34, 16 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Most of them don't have a Web presence. The dances tend to be in rural areas, frequented by locals who aren't necessarily looking for new dancers from outside the community (though they're likely to be polite to outsiders). I'm not sure a Wikipedia article is the right place for a detailed directory of local dances, but I'll look for some Web mentions of trad square dances and add links here if I find any good ones. Tparkes 18:05, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've added several links to sources of trad square dance information. I plan to expand this stub into a full-scale article as time permits. The main challenge is sourcing: I've read extensively on the subject (as well as talked with many practitioners over the years, and practitioned more than a bit myself), but Wikipedia requires statements to be sourced, and many of my key books and magazines are in dead storage. I know what I want to say, and I have backup for the statements that are most likely to be questioned, but I can't lay my hand on chapter and verse at the moment. I'm looking forward to working on this, as most of what's readily available in print and on the Web about square dance history is total fabrication (as any real folklorist will tell you). It's not necessarily false, but there's no proof that it's true. Tparkes 17:02, 2 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I just removed a link (added by an anonymous user) to an article that compares traditional and modern Western square dancing. The article is written from a blatantly modern Western POV and contains incomplete and misleading information on trad dancing. I was emboldened to remove it when I discovered that the same user (or someone at his/her IP address) had made a long series of edits to the modern Western square dance article that bordered on vandalism. Tparkes (talk) 19:14, 7 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actual Steps rather than Traditional Square Dance as a conceptual entity/movement????/[edit]

I'm amazed more than anything else that there is no discussion of the dance steps in this article other than to mention names and then link out to external resources.

If this is meant to be about the movement of Traditional Western Square Dance, then re-title the article to reflect that. In the interim I will be adding sections to this discussing the steps to individual dance forms within the broader church of Traditional Square Dance as time permits over the coming weeks. Bandcoach (talk) 11:39, 19 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Bandcoach. I welcome any help with this article; I've often thought I must be the only one who cared about it. The lack of specific information on dance styles is due to a lack of spare time on my part.

Judging from the spelling and usage on your band website, I presume you're in the UK or Europe. Are you familiar with the various regional traditions of American square dance? Your reference to "steps" rather than the more generally used "figures" or "movements" makes me wonder about the source(s) of your information. Also, I'm not sure why you single out Western squares; this article is intended (eventually) to cover any and all traditional styles. But have at it, as long as you can source your edits. Tparkes (talk) 22:02, 22 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify further, for Bandcoach and any other interested parties: One challenge for anyone attempting to discuss the specifics of traditional square dance is that its practitioners have never agreed on either (1) a list of terms or (2) definitions of those terms. Modern square dance has Callerlab, an organization that votes on which calls are to be used at dances worldwide. Modern urban contra dance has a fairly clear consensus among active callers as to which calls are part of that genre. But there is no single "right" way to teach, call, or dance traditional squares. There are a few movements, with associated call names, that are pretty widely accepted as part of multiple traditions; but anyone trying to describe "traditional square dance" would do well to exercise caution. Tparkes (talk) 16:29, 23 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Where should "History" go?[edit]

See my sections with the same title on the Talk pages of "Square dance" and "Modern Western square dance". Where do you think the history of square dancing belongs? Thanks for your help. Tparkes (talk) 15:03, 1 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]