The February 6 square dance with Allison Williams and Chance McCoy is STILL ON. Beat your cabin fever and come out dancing!

Blacksburg Southern Mountain Square Dance

Founded in 1981, the Old-Time Music and Dance Group (OTM&DG) is a group of old-time music and dance enthusiasts from Blacksburg, Virginia and neighboring towns. The primary purpose of the group is organizing the Southern Mountain Square Dance. This dance, one of the most unique and longest-running dances to be found, features the finest old-time string bands and square dance callers in our region.

The OTM&DG is a non-profit community service group. All proceeds from dances go to pay for the hall and janitor, the caller and the musicians, and to maintain and upgrade the sound system.

Dances are held on the first Saturday of the month from Feb thru May and Oct thru Dec. Dance times are 8:00-11:00pm. Admission is $8 .00. Under 12 free.

Mountain Square Dances

The region surrounding the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina is home to a rural Appalachian culture that has as one of it's defining characteristics an abundance of tradional music and dancing.

Once popular in nearly every state of the USA, traditional square dances are now confined to isolated areas where rural cultures still thrive. Community square dances have been displaced by Western Square Dancing, popular culture, and more recently New England Contra Dances.

The mountain square dance in the Blue Ridge Mountains has several features, which are also found at the Blacksburg Traditional Mountain Square Dance. The typical square dance consists of square dances, flatfooting, and two-steps.

The square dance is usually a big circle dance with two-couple figures. Between square dances, the band will play a faster number for flatfooting and clogging. And the band will also play the slower "two-step" and waltzes which allow couples to dance together for an entire tune. Callers are usually members of the local community.

The callers at the Blacksburg Square Dance will call many 4-couple western style figures, with the degree of difficulty and challenge increasing as the night goes on. The Blacksburg Square Dance puts more emphasis on the 4-couple square dance than the most other square dances in our region, and less on gig circles, flatfooting and two-steps.

Every dance ends with the traditional "last waltz".