Square dance street party; photo by Brad Reber on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / no derivative works).
Official State Folk Dance of Oklahoma
Oklahoma designated the square dance as the official state folk dance in 1988. All State Dances
Twenty-two states have passed legislation to declare the square dance as a state symbol, and more than 30 bills have been introduced at the federal level (beginning in 1965) proposing the square dance as the national (folk) dance of the United States. Folk customs give people a special sense of identity and belonging to a group. The square dance provided pioneers with recreation and social contact with neighbors - and is still doing that today!