Ozarks Notebook: A Revived Home for a Centuries-Old Square Dance

A community hub in the rural Missouri Ozarks called the Taney Center has restarted a monthly square dance this summer, decades after the tradition faded from regular use there. The revival was started by two young musicians, and it comes after a longtime square dance teacher had told the reporter back in early 2020 that she believed the local tradition could not be revived.

The piece traces the practice back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, when neighbors traveled by wagon or horse to dances powered by a lone fiddler, through a mid-century TV exposure boost via the “Ozark Jubilee,” and into a long decline accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Longtime teachers Jane and Andy Elder, now in their 80s, and figures like fiddler Bob Holt and guitarist Alvie Dooms are credited with keeping the tradition alive through its leanest years.

New dances have since started in Willow Springs and Ava, Missouri, organized partly by younger residents who moved to the region and sought out the Elders' style of dance directly rather than through formal instruction.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.