Ralph Page

He was influential in spreading it from New Hampshire to the rest of the United States and other countries, and was recognized as an authority on American folk dance overall.

[4] Every Tuesday, he travelled to the Clarendon Street YMCA in Boston to call contra and square dances.

[6] In 1966, Page toured England and led workshops with the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

[4] Page opposed the modern western square dance movement, and criticized its complexity in his writings.

[3] 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.

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

Ralph Page, c. 1940s