About The Lists

This database was designed around 1991 from data collected around 1988. It was ported to the web in 1996. It was last revised around 1998, except for the C3A and C3B lists, which were updated in 2003.

(Note that this means there are many C4 calls from the period 1991-present that won't appear in the database. I try to add some from time to time when doing other updates, but this happens only infrequently and incompletely.)

Regarding the C4 lists: Clark Baker used to be the "keeper of the lists" and his scheme was quite simple. His lists were based on whether a dance was hard, easy, or just a C4 star tip. His lists were last updated in 1988 and 1993, and I use the 1993 data.

In the early 1990s, Kathy Godfrey came out with several iterations of the Unified list, which used a different scheme. Kathy indicated which of the C4 callers would use any particular call, based on input from the callers. Her list was last updated in 1998 based on input from eight callers; but my database uses the 1996 data with input from only six callers. Specific data for Lynette Bellini and Ben Rubright appear on Lynette's web site, but that data doesn't appear to be any more up-to-date than Kathy's entries for them.

(Lars Erik Morell notes that "Lynette has updated her lists. They are now dated August 2000." I haven't investigated what differences appear between Lynette's 2000 lists and Kathy's 1996 compilation. In 2004, it may not make much difference. All these lists are out of date, or the changes are small, or other local resources compensate for the lack of a central database.)

Vic Ceder started publishing his C4 lists around 1996, and they use a scheme similar to Clark's old lists, where some calls are for easy dances, some are for hard dances, and some are not to be used at all. Vic also has lists where he puts calls he is trying out temporarily. The lists below are based on his data from around 1998, but the current data is on his web site.

(Vic's web site is probably the most up-to-date of all the resources available today.)

The "Ice Cold" list is my own construction. It consists of calls that are on the "do not use" lists of several callers. The "Grab Bag" list is just a list of calls I came across at one time or another, but which do not appear on any of the other lists.

Many of the diagrams came from Clark Baker's lisp database, which appears on Stephen Gildea's FTP site and Clark's web site (look for "Database of all Square Dance Calls"). I wrote a parser for Clark's notation in July-August 2003. Of 700 diagrams on the site, about 500 of them come from Clark's database. Thank you, Clark!

In August-September 2003, Vic Ceder provided a mechanism whereby we can link to the dictionary on his web site. The links are mostly C3A and C3B calls. Thank you, Vic!

Ben Rubright graciously granted his permission to reprint his C1 and C2 definitions here. In January 2005, I did so. The database now includes calls from C1 through C4.

Last updated Thursday 20 December 2007