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 dancing made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th ...

caller. He was influential in spreading it from

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

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 Nelson is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 629 at the 2020 census, down from 729 at the 2010 census. Nelson includes the village of Munsonville. History Originally named " Monadnock No. 6", the tow ...

, where his

Scottish-Irish American Scotch-Irish (or Scots-Irish) Americans are American descendants of Ulster Protestants who emigrated from Ulster in northern Ireland to America during the 18th and 19th centuries, whose ancestors had originally migrated to Ireland mainly from t ...

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)

contra dances 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 ...

in 1930 accidentally, when he was scheduled to play for a dance in Stoddard but the caller developed laryngitis. He took five days off per year from his work. Every Tuesday, he travelled to the Clarendon Street

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

to call contra and

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

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

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

stadium; he used hand signals, as he did not speak

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. In 1966, Page toured England and led workshops with the

English Folk Dance and Song Society The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss') is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dan ...

. Page opposed the

modern western square dance Modern western square dance (also called western square dance, contemporary western square dance, modern American square dance or modern square dance) is one of two American types of square dancing, along with traditional square dance. As a danc ...

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 Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books. Profile The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often ama ...

. 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 CALLERLAB is the international association of modern western square dance callers, and is the largest square dance association in the United States. After some initial work started in 1971, it was officially established in 1974 by several members ...

'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 land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, m ...

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