James W. Kimball has been on the music faculty at the State University of New York at Geneseo since 1976 as an ethnomusicologist and music historian. During this time he has documented, presented, and frequently written about old-time music and dance traditions in rural New York.
OId-time square dancing, as still practiced with considerable vigor in several communities of rural New York State, descends directly from dance and musical traditions that once entertained early pioneers in the area. The details have changed through the years: instrumentation and types of tunes may be newer, many of the older dance figures have been forgotten, new styles of calling have joined the old, dress and etiquette have become thoroughly twentieth century, and some of the refreshments (e.g., pizza, pop, and hot dogs) would have been unknown to those early settlers. The good times and physical energy of an evening of round and square dancing would still be recognized, however, as would at least some of the details.
The makeup of the population has changed as well. In the first half of the nineteenth century, English, Scots, Irish, and Germans became the dominant groups in western New York. Many of them moved west from New England or north out of Maryland and Pennsylvania; others came straight from the old countries. Significant minorities included Native Americans, who were at least partly resettled onto reservation lands, and African Americans, many of whom worked farms or carried on independent trades such as building, barbering, and playing music. By the early twentieth century, the area had welcomed large numbers of Italians and Poles along with local concentrations of Swedes, Danes, and Finns. While the majority of newer immigrants settled in urban areas such as Buffalo, Jamestown, Rochester, and Geneva, many did wind up on farms or in small towns. And many of these took to the local square dances with great enthusiasm as dancers, callers, and musicians. For all the changes over the years, old-time square dancing and round and square dance bands are still a lively part of the fabric of rural entertainment in western New York.
HISTORY
The roots of American country dancing, in all its forms (square, circle, and longways contra set) lie in the social dance traditions of the British Isles and France going back as far as the seventeenth century. Starting with John Playford's The English Dancing Master (London 1651) and continuing through the eighteenth century, we have a steady succession of popular dance methods and collections, many including tunes. American collections start to appear in the 1780s.
The pioneer generation in western New York clearly preferred the longways or contra formation, while more urban society in the east danced French-influenced squares or cotillons (or "cotillion," as Americans usually chose to write it). Another French term, quadrille, came into use in the early nineteenth century to describe some rather formal sets of squares that were published (both music and figures) and carefully taught and memorized in both Europe and America, where they became part of fashionable balls. The cotillions, on the other hand, were more flexible and were featured at more informal cotillion parties. By the 1820s, these parties often featured a caller, generally one of the musicians, who would lead everyone through the figures.
As the Erie Canal and new railroads brought waves of new settlers and goods into western New York, social trends began to change as well. By the mid-nineteenth century only a few of the old contra dances were still popular. Taking their place were the new squares from the east, a few dances in the big circle format, and a variety of couple or round dances of European origin (e.g., waltzes, polkas, and schottisches). The formal quadrilles, along with the similar "Lancers," continued to be part of urban, college, and resort events through most of the nineteenth century but were in time completely replaced by new couple dances as they came into vogue. Squares continued to be popular in the rural countryside, however, though there appears to have been little distinction between the terms cotillion and quadrille; the simple word "set" (or "sett") was often applied to any square dance, and it was always assumed there would be a caller.
Rural calling styles evolved over time, as did the instrumentation and playing styles of the musicians. Most early callers (often termed "prompters") shouted out the figures just before the dancers were to perform them. As early as the 1880s in rural New York and neighboring states, some had taken to singing some of the calls to the tune being played. This was perhaps a natural result of the fiddler-caller having to play and call at the same time. With the advent of microphones and public-address systems in the 1930s, the singing caller became the norm throughout the region, as did the widespread appropriation of popular or country songs and instrumentation for square dancing. Square dancing had been declining significantly as younger dancers, even in rural areas, came under the influence of the jazz era and Tin Pan Alley. But the new sound attached to the old dances caught on due to various factors, including Henry Ford's outspoken advocacy of old-time dancing, Floyd Woodhull's appearance at the New York World's Fair in 1940, the rise of numerous square dance clubs, demonstration groups and competitions, and the whole feeling in the World War II era that this was a very "American" type of activity. By the late 1940s round and square dances were a regular part of high-school and small-town social life throughout the region.
Although there has been some influence from formal clubs and recreation programs, for the most part the rural dances remain distinctly local. The details of figures and tune preferences are quite different in the Genesee Valley from those of Erie and Chautauqua counties to the west or the eastern Finger Lakes and the Catskills to the east. Whereas modern club dancing is completely standardized around the world (including a network of published figures and recorded music), the old-time rural round and square dance scene is still rooted firmly in local oral tradition.
THE DANCES
Square dancing and related forms of country dancing (e.g., contra and circle dances) developed primarily for the purpose of social recreation and entertainment, and this is still true in rural New York. One gets to socialize with friends, meet new people, and benefit from good exercise, all while enjoying the music and being guided through interesting and sometimes amusing figures by a caller. Some individuals also find these dances an outlet for personal expression as they indulge in a bit of showy footwork, extra turns, small pranks, and the like. For the musicians and callers, who generally come from the same rural background, these dances are a fun social time as well as a chance to earn a little part-time income. Dances may also serve as fund-raisers or benefits for a variety of organizations, clubs, or local causes, though the emphasis is still on having a good time. In contrast to modern or western club square dancers, rural dancers seldom "perform" for demonstration or show purposes.
Old-time dances in rural New York generally last about four hours and are billed as "Round and Square Dances." The music is always played by a live band, generally four or five musicians, one of whom may serve as the caller. A few bands have separate nonplaying callers. Bands with younger members usually have more of a commercial country sound and will feature electric guitars, electric bass, drum set, and sometimes fiddle, steel guitar, mandolin, or five-string. The older generation's less country-oriented bands may include piano accordion, stand-up bass, saxophone, tenor banjo, and piano or electric keyboard.
The round dances are standard couple dances (e.g., fox-trots, waltzes, polkas, schottisches, jitterbugs, and so on) and are generally played in sets of three or more, mixing slower and quicker tempos. Two fox-trots or slower country tunes, for example, might be followed by a polka or a jitterbug number. Most of the tunes come from an older popular or country repertoire. The vast majority are in major key and in steady 4/4, 2/4, or 3/4 meter. As is characteristic of much American popular music, many are in AABA or similar forms.
After a few round dances, the caller or a band member will call or signal (e.g., by ringing a cowbell or playing a fast fiddle tune) for dancers to form four-couple square sets. When they have formed as many sets as they can, the caller and band simply start the first of what are usually three separate square figures, each to a different tune. There is usually no teaching or walk-through and only occasionally any spoken introduction—a quick joke or greeting to someone on the floor. Only if there is a major breakdown in one or more of the sets will the caller stop the band and explain a figure. The individual square dance figures or calls all fit into two, four, eight, or sixteen bars of 2/4 or 6/8 music. A "do-si-do," for example usually takes up four bars or eight steps. "Grand right and left" takes up sixteen bars, while "two ladies chain and back" takes eight. Some figures have a slower or quicker version: "allemande left" can take two bars or four, depending on the context within the particular dance. "Right and left through and right and left back" can take eight bars or four, and local dancers have developed their own techniques for smoothly rushing these figures. About a dozen figures is all a rural dancer would need to know, and each will be repeated in various combinations through the evening.
The tunes played for these dances must also be based on eight- or sixteen-bar phrases. Some of the most successful are in fact only eight bars long (e.g., "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More" or "Pistol Packin' Mamma") and easily fit any figure or variations that a caller might come up with. Longer tunes, especially song tunes with distinctive chorus sections, require more care so as to match a sequence of figures to the music. In a singing square dance adaptation of "The Beer Barrel Polka," for example, the musicians have to listen carefully for the "allemande left" call as a cue to go to the chorus ("Roll out the barrel. &"), which the dancers all sing as they do a grand right and left.
Callers will often program their squares so as to end each set of three with an especially energetic or favorite figure, one which often involves a good deal of swinging and everyone moving at the same time. Some of the old-timers still call this the "jig figure" and expect lively music, a fast fiddle piece, or something with a novelty or fast swing character. The square set ends with a "promenade away" call, and all the dancers retire to the sides of the floor, either for refreshments or to wait for the upcoming round dances. A typical evening of round and square dancing will include four to seven sets of square dances (three figures in each) interspersed with round dances. A few bands and callers will add in a novelty dance or two such as the "Hokey Pokey" or the "Chicken Dance" and possibly, among older dancers, a Virginia Reel.
Although sheet music or folio editions are easily available for most of the round dance tunes and many of those used for squares, it is unusual to actually see any music at a rural square dance. Many of the musicians cannot read music and very few ever read music while playing a dance. They have learned the tunes by listening to others. Bands that feature mostly commercial country songs for the round dances, however, may have a notebook with song lyrics for a vocalist. There have also been many printed collections of square dance figures and calls, though it is hard to find a rural caller who has ever used one. The market for these published sources has been chiefly more urban or school recreation programs and the network of modern square dance clubs. Printed music and calls also figure prominently in the modern contra dance movement.
Rural callers, on the other hand, have learned their calls from hearing other callers, either live (usually while dancing) or on recordings. Similarly, most rural dancers have learned to dance by watching others and just being pulled into a dance. The most significant recorded sources in central and western New York were the two collections of music and calls performed by Woodhull's Old Tyme Masters, with Floyd Woodhull of Elmira, New York, calling. These were released by RCA in the 1940s and early 1950s. Many of today's callers will say they still have the old Woodhull collections at home and at least some of Woodhull's calls can be heard at any old-time dance in the area. There are no published newsletters or magazines that inform or unify dancers, callers, or musicians in the rural dance scene, only the small ads and occasional commentary in small-town newspapers and pennysavers.
THE MUSIC
Most of the tunes, along with accompanying harmonies, are learned orally from other players or from recordings, although today's players can often remember one or another musician who relied on written notation in the past. An evening of round and square dancing is likely to include a wide variety of tunes, depending largely on the taste, skill, and generation of both the band and the dancers. An older band tends to attract or be hired by older dancers. A younger group will follow a younger band. The older group will generally have a larger repertoire of the older dance forms: fox-trots, waltzes, schottisches, and more of the older square dance favorites. Younger bands rely on more contemporary country or rock music and usually have a smaller repertoire of squares.
The squares themselves come in two main categories: singing and nonsinging. The first of these requires easy song tunes to which the caller sings the calls. This style has been common in parts of New York since the late nineteenth century, and at least a few of the old favorites may still be heard. One good example is the call "First Two Ladies Cross Over," sung to an adaptation of the 1830s Henry Russell song, "A Life on the Ocean Wave." In its original form the song takes up thirty-two bars in 6/8 time, AA'BA, plus a coda section at the end. All that survives in the square dance setting are the first two A parts followed by a contrasting eight-bar B section for a promen ade. The sung and played A sections are immediately recognizable by the experienced square dance crowd; the instrumental B part, on the other hand, varies from player to player, who may even freely quote some other tune. Younger and less experienced bands will sometimes just play another A part.
Most of the newer singing call tunes—those that became popular from the 1930s into the 1950s—use familiar old standards, folk or popular, or country songs newly popularized in that period. In addition to tunes already named, these include "Little Brown Jug," "Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," "Alabama Jubilee," "Walking the Floor Over You," and dozens more of similar character. There was little new in the actual square dance figures, but they were being danced to newer tunes.
Nonsinging calls clearly represent an older and more widespread tradition in New York. Almost any old fiddle tune will do, as long as it is quick and in 2/4 or 6/8 time, though individual callers and musicians will have a few favorites that tend to dominate this part of their repertoire. A few are nameless tunes passed on from earlier players (e.g., "Sanger's Tune" and "C and F," indicating the keys of the two sections). Most are fairly well known fiddle tunes from the Scots-Irish or Anglo-American traditions: "Soldier's Joy," "Arkansas Traveler," "Redwing," "Ragtime Annie," and so on. Musicians may repeat sections or not, AABB, AB or AAAB, depending on the needs of the dance or their own preferences. Three-section tunes are usually reduced to just two, sometimes even one, as less experienced musicians avoid key changes or just don't bother with the whole tune. More complex fiddle patterns become simplified as electric guitars take over the fiddle role.
Rural square dancers demand primarily that the musicians give them familiar tunes played with a steady danceable beat. They appreciate some variety, but don't necessarily make a distinction as to age or source of the music played. Callers need to impart humor and variety into the evening and be able to time the calls with the music. Conversely, the music needs to fit the dance and the call, including being in a comfortable key for the caller's voice and at a suitable tempo for the dancers. Other than this it is a social time. If the company, the hall, the refreshments and, where applicable, the cause is good, the dancers and the musicians will enjoy themselves.
DANCE SPONSORS
Any one of a number of organizations might sponsor round and square dances. Among the best known for many years across rural New York have been the Granges, which have long supported education, political advocacy, and entertainment in farming communities. Granges are on the decline, however, and only a few still put on regular dances. Other sponsors in recent years have included rural businesses and arts councils, volunteer fire companies, church and community groups, political parties, schools, and campgrounds. Some dances are held to raise money for individuals who need help relating to illness or fire loss.
The specific nature of the sponsor will determine in part who comes, and many nondancers may attend out of allegiance to the sponsor or the cause. Some of these may be pulled into square dances as extra couples are needed; others will just watch or participate only in the round dances. There is no specific dress code for these events; dancers tend to wear whatever their generation is comfortable with, from jeans and sneakers for the youngest to jackets and ties or dresses for the oldest. A number of experienced square dancers will show up at nearly any advertised dance as they follow favorite bands and callers or groups of friends, sometimes driving an hour or more to get to an event. Most have in common a rural background and a love of square dancing that makes this a Saturday-night priority, especially through the winter months. Many are members of a generation that experienced a wave of popular high school round and square dances in the late 1940s and 1950s.
DOCUMENTARY RECORDINGS AND FILMS
There is very little commercially available documentation of the traditional round and square dance in rural New York State. One recording that includes a few examples of older-style local square dance tunes, some with calls, is Mark Hamilton: Songs and Tunes from Wolf Run (1995). Mark is an old-time caller and fiddler who bridges the older generation from the early twentieth century to the 1940s and 1950s.
