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Radiolab

Birdie in the Cage

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

Science, Natural Sciences, History, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.643.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Can you fit the identity of a whole nation into a dance? Of course not. But we tried anyway. People have been doing the square dance since before the Declaration of Independence. But does that mean it should be THE American folk dance? That question took us on a journey from Appalachian front porches, to dance classes across our nation, to the halls of Congress, and finally a Kansas City convention center. And along the way, we uncovered a secret history of square dancing that made us see how much of our national identity we could stuff into that square, and what it means for a dance to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. We have some exciting news! In this “Zoozve” episode, Radiolab named its first-ever quasi-moon, and now it's your turn! Radiolab has teamed up with The International Astronomical Union to launch a global naming contest for one of Earth’s quasi-moons. This is your chance to make your mark on the heavens. Submit your name ideas now through September, or vote on your favorites starting in November: https://radiolab.org/moon Special thanks to Jim Mayo, Claude Fowler, Paul Gifford, Jim Maczko, Jim Davis, Paul Moore, Jack Pladdys, Mary Jane Wegener, Kinsey Brooke and Connie Keener.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Yeah, wait, you're listening.

0:02.0

Okay.

0:04.0

Okay.

0:05.0

All right.

0:07.0

You're listening to Radio Lab.

0:10.0

Radio, From WNYS.

0:12.0

Y. See? Yeah. Radio. I'm Lula Miller. So around this time of year in the states anyway the days are getting longer, the nights are getting warmer.

0:28.0

So everybody just find a partner. It's dancing weather.

0:30.0

And if you don't know them, that's fine. You can just walk up to somebody and say,

0:36.2

hi, I'm so and so. Will you dance with me?

0:39.6

You know, time for weddings and hodowns and of course the great American tradition

0:44.8

Square Dancing. But whose American tradition is it? As we come up on July 4th

0:51.0

a time to ponder our Americanness. We are rerunning a piece from the

0:55.4

archives and that gets into the surprising roots of Square Dancing. It comes

0:59.6

from the wonderful producer and reporter Tracy Hunt.

1:03.1

Tracy, we love you, we miss you, in conversation with Jad.

1:07.9

And it actually begins.

1:09.1

If anybody needs a partner, just raise your hand

1:12.0

and then look around for other hands that are up.

1:14.5

With the two of them hosting an actual square dance.

1:18.4

So here we go.

1:21.2

Join hands and circle left.

...

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