Ralph George Page (January 28, 1903 – February 21, 1985) was an American

contra dance Contra dance (also contradance, contra-dance and other variant spellings) is a form of folk dance, folk dancing made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in ...

caller. He was influential in spreading it from

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to the rest of the United States and other countries, and was recognized as an authority on American folk dance overall.

Early life and career

Page was born on January 28, 1903, in Munsonville, New Hampshire. He grew up in Nelson, New Hampshire, where his Scottish-Irish American family had lived for several generations as farmers. In 1934, he was elected selectman for Nelson by a five-vote margin over a more conservative incumbent, Harry Green.

Calling career

Page began calling (prompting)

s in 1930 accidentally, when he was scheduled to play for a dance in Stoddard but the caller developed

laryngitis Laryngitis is inflammation of the larynx (voice box). Symptoms often include a hoarse voice and may include fever, cough, pain in the front of the neck, and trouble swallowing. Typically, these last under 2 weeks. Causes Laryngitis is cat ...

. He took five days off per year from his work. Every Tuesday, he travelled to the Clarendon Street

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to call contra and

square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

dances. In 1944, Page was one of three founders of the New England Folk Festival Association. He was its president for several years. Beginning in the 1950s, Page led folk dance camps across the United States. In 1956, the U.S. State Department sponsored Page to tour Japan. During this trip, he called a dance for more than 4,000 people in a

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stadium; he used hand signals, as he did not speak Japanese. In 1966, Page toured England and led workshops with the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Page opposed the modern western square dance movement, and criticized its complexity in his writings.

Later life and death

Page died at age 82 on February 21, 1985, at the Cheshire County Hospital. He is buried in the Munsonville Cemetery.

Personal life

Page married Ada Novak in 1945. He had one daughter, Laura Susan Wilson, born 1946. He lived in Keene. Page was a

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

. He especially enjoyed history and mystery novels, and wrote an unpublished mystery novel himself. Page never learned to drive, instead commuting by train or bus. Page was active in local politics. He served as the president of the Cheshire County Historical Society for 15 years and as a selectman for Nelson from 1934 to 1938.

Recognition and legacy

As an early American contra dance caller, Page is credited with sustaining and spreading the tradition, keeping it alive until the 1960s, when it experienced a revival due to the countercultural revolution. In 1977, Page received the Granite State Award. In 1980, he was given Callerlab's Milestone Award. Page's papers are held in a collection at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

library. The Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, begun in 1988 and held annually in January at UNH, is named in his honor.

Publications

Page published ''Northern Junket'' magazine from 1949 to 1984. It contained calling instructions, folk tunes, and other folk culture, and an editorial. His other works include: * * * * *

References

External links

Ralph Page
at Vic and Debbie Ceder's Square Dance Resource Net
Ralph Page Manuscript Collection
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Ralph Contra dance callers 1903 births 1985 deaths People from Nelson, New Hampshire Square dance New Hampshire city council members American people of Scotch-Irish descent People from Keene, New Hampshire 20th-century American people