The Origin of “Hoedown”
It Probably Isn’t What You Think
In my Minnesota gym class in elementary school, we had a two-week segment on square dancing. I was probably seven at the time and had no preconceived notions. I remember the teacher calling out, “Swing your partner, do-si-do.” I remember it as being fun, though I can offer no judgment as to our skill level.
I’ve watched “Oklahoma!,” a 1943 musical based on a 1931 play depicting life in the Oklahoma territory in 1906. Technically, the musical was more about square dancing than being a hoedown. In modern western square dance, a hoedown is a piece of music used for a patter call. In the 1940s and early 1950s, the term “hoedown” was sometimes used to mean a call made up of parts of other calls. “Hoedown” was, and occasionally still is, also used to mean a dance party jointly sponsored by several dance clubs or by a federation of clubs.
The most famous “Hoedown” comes from the Aaron Copeland ballet, “Rodeo.” His version has been conducted by orchestras and used in television commercials, notably promoting the beef industry. Hoedown has become a slice of Americana and with the exception of Miley Cyrus’s “Hoedown Throwdown” from “Hanna Montana: The Movie,” there are few examples of Black people but as an occasional extra.
