House parties: O'Leary environs
Transcript
File: leckyharry06_withrcook-oh-weddings_dances_M.mp3
Speakers:
HL – Harry Lecky
RC – Roland Cook
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
HL: Yhe weddings, at our church it'd be in the morning, and generally a party that night
KP: What was the party like? Would it be at a person's home?
HL: It was all square dancin' that I remember. In our house there was the hallway and they'd be dancin' down in the room and in the kitchen, it'd be four or six couples on the floor in each place. It was a real party the whole evenin'. I think it was the same all over, wasn't it, back then?
RL: Yeah.
KP: Roland, where did you grow up?
RC: I come from out here at the shore, they call it Howard's Cove where I fished nearly 50 years. Years ago some of my friends had guitars; I was the only one around with an accordion but I used to love playin' house parties. Sometimes, we'd take over from a dance, the fiddler would get tired; he'd finish up at twelve o'clock and we'd play for another hour. Things like that.
KP: Do you remember the kinds of square dances they did in this area?
RC: The ones we're familiar with, actually they named it the Lot 7 Square Dance. Cause it was down here in Lot 7 where it was held. Then there was the Lancer in West Point.
HL: It was different, anyway.
RC: That's the names we used here. There was not a lot of difference in it. The first part was different; the second pretty was about the same. Pretty well every dance around in this area years ago was a little different. We called the ones down in St. Marks the Lot 7 Dance. Other little localites s around as far as West Devon I think they had that dance. And even O'Leary at the Legion, that was more the Lancer type.
HL: Probably they swang all around. They call it the promenade.
RC: Yeah; but you ended up swingin' with everybody. At the Lot 7, you didn't do that.
KP: So the Lot 7 didn't have the Swing All 'Round?
RC: Not all around.
KP: But what was called Lancers in this area had the Swing All 'Round?
RC: Yeah. So them are the main ones. Then there was -- Round Dance we called it, Waltzes.
HL: Fox Trots
RC: And fox trots, yeah.