Way back in the distant past my parents went square dancing almost every Saturday night at the Rome Civic Center, a modest 1930’s rock building.
The box in the top photo is designed specifically for records, and it holds many hours worth of square dancing music.
One side of each record was music without calls, and the other side was the same music with calls.
Their dance club was the Western Promenaders. That club still meets, but in their own “barn” that we pass on the way to our veterinarian’s office. Actually, they meet in the third building on that site, the previous two having been damaged or destroyed, first by snow, then by fire.
Smithsonian Magazine calls square dancing a uniquely American form, influenced by various European styles of dance, but also by native American and African dances. A number of the calls derive from French, apparently because of anti-British sentiment immediately after the Revolutionary War.
I remember hearing callers say “allemand left” or “allemand right”, and thinking that it meant “all men”, but according to Merriam-Webster, allemande is “a 17th and 18th century court dance developed in France from a German folk dance,” among other things. Wikipedia says “do-si-do” is a corruption of the French dos-à-dos, which means back-to-back.
I vaguely remember watching my parents dance, but my brother and I spent most of the time running around inside and out with the other kids who had been brought by their parents. Neither group paid much attention to the other. The kids were too engrossed in their running and screaming, and the parents were way too busy trying to follow the dance calls. I don’t know whether there was a set of dance calls that repeated or if it was completely free-form, but when the caller said “allemande left” everyone had to “allemande left” or there would be a pileup on the floor.
The Western Promenaders were formed in 1956 and moved out of the Civic Center in 1960. I do not think my parents ever danced at the current location, so everything I remember had to have happened between those two dates. That means my parents no longer square danced after around 1960.
I have no idea how my parents ended up with the record box full of square dance music. There is a sticker on each record with the names of a couple who lived in a town about 20 miles south of Rome, but they died years ago. I could offer the records to the current Western Promenaders, but I doubt anyone in the club has a record player. I might consider playing a record or two, but we don’t have a record player either. I think at this point, their only value is as a curiosity.
I love knowing that your parents liked to square dance. It reminds me that when I was in junior high and high school, we used to have square dancing sessions as part of gym class. It was crazy. I had completely forgotten until I saw the words “allemande left/allemande right.” Wow. Thank you for sharing this part of your parents’ dancing fun.
I’ll be some local historical society would like that collection. Or maybe there is a dancing museum somewhere that would.
Robin — I can still picture my parents dancing. I can’t remember much of anything else, but I can see them across the floor.
Paul — I emailed the Western Promenaders, but haven’t heard back. I doubt that they will want the old records. I’ll check with our local history museum.