The Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend began in 1988 to recognize the contributions that Ralph Page made to contra and New England folk dancing. Ralph Page (1903-1985) was known as “the dean of contra dance callers.” He almost single-handedly kept contra dancing alive in the United States when many had abandoned their local dances for that new invention, the television. Page was a dance organizer, band leader, caller, author, and recording artist as well as a leader of weekly dances and dance camps.
Page was one of the founders of the New England Folk Festival Association and served as its president from 1960-1963. The New Hampshire Library of Traditional Music and Dance is the site to which Ralph Page donated his archives.
The Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend presents traditional New England contra and square dancing as Page did it, along with modern dance styles as well.
