At the time, he was studying science at South-Western Polytechnic, which was the base for Cecil Sharp's English Folk Dance Society (EFDS).
In the First World War Kennedy served with the 14th battalion London Scottish regiment, then with the Royal Defence Corps.
He introduced them to England at a summer school in 1938 and in 1939 published with his wife, Square Dances of America.
In the same year he and his wife, with Nan and Brian Fleming-Williams, formed the Square Dance Band.
[3] Resuming full directorship of the EFDSS at the end of the war, Kennedy scripted and presented the first regular folk-dance radio programme, which was broadcast on the BBC in 1946.