Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics traces the origin and development of square dancing, couples’ dancing, clogging, and other folk dances in the Southern Appalachians—which Jamison defines as stretching roughly from the western edge of the Mason-Dixon line to central Alabama. The book is well-written and well-researched; replete with colorful quotations from travel diaries, newspapers, periodicals, fiction, and personal interviews; and it is illustrated by dozens of period etchings, drawings, and photographs old and new.
One major focus of Hoedowns is the roots of southern square dancing. Jamison describes how Southerners blended elements from Scotch reels, English country dancing, French cotillions and quadrilles, plus African and Native American dances, to form a uniquely regional dance style. Along the way, he looks at the origin and development of dance calling (far more African- American influence than is generally understood), offers numerous observations on the development of southern fiddling and fiddle music, and presents a very plausible theory on the origin of American “Minstrelsy” (Americans of European descent were inspired to take up the 5-string banjo through encounters with the African-American musicians who plied their art along the Ohio River).
Jamison also debunks many of the observations and conclusions regarding southern dance published around the time of the First World War by noted English folk-dance collector Cecil Sharp. Sharp was fixated on the notion that the inhabitants of Appalachia had retained a legacy of purely English folk arts and customs, and failed to realize that the dances and dance-routines he witnessed were actually amalgams of diverse cultural influences.
Sections of the book are devoted to other dances found in the South, including the Virginia Reel; couples’ dances such as the waltz, polka, and mazurka; and “mixer” dances such as the Paul Jones and Broom Dance. I was particularly taken the by author’s account of the evolution of the cakewalk, which became a dance craze late in the nineteenth century: “Here were upper class whites imitating black performers, who had patterned themselves after white minstrel performers in blackface, portraying African American slaves, who in turn were satirizing the white Southern aristocracy!” (127-28)
Jamison also looks at the origin and development of southern step-dancing, or “clogging,” which has British and Irish step- and hornpipe-dancing at its root, but also incorporates movements and rhythms from African-American and Native-American cultures (at different points during its history southern step-dancing has been referred to variously as “breakdowns,” “hoedowns,” and “buckdancing”). Step- and square-dancing traditions intersect when clogging steps are used to negotiate square dance routines – a style of performance that first appears in the late eighteenth century and still thrives today among the square dance “teams” who perform at contests or on stage. Speaking of which, the author is able to offer an important personal perspective to his description and analysis of contemporary developments in southern step-dancing: for many years he performed as a member of a highly innovative precision dancing team called the Green Grass Cloggers.
Studying folk dancing and folk music in Western culture often requires juggling information coming from formal and informal traditions, and learning how to distinguish long-standing practices from elements introduced during relatively recent revivals. In terms of southern square dancing and clogging, accounts coming from plantations and urban balls need to be considered separately from those describing back-country barn dances and fiddlers’ conventions. Because after the second quarter of the twentieth century community square dancing in the South was almost entirely superseded by variants adapted to competition and performance, it becomes extremely difficult for a contemporary observer to extrapolate back in time from his or her personal experiences. Phil Jamison has done an admirable job of balancing these various elements and has created a valuable project. Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics is highly informative and entertaining; it would be a worthy addition to the library of any folk dance—or folk music—scholar or enthusiast.
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[Review length: 641 words • Review posted on April 27, 2016]