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Ralph George Page (January 28, 1903 – February 21, 1985) was an American contra dance caller. He was influential in spreading it from New Hampshire to the rest of the United States and other countries, and was recognized as an authority on American folk dance overall.
Page began calling (prompting) in 1930 accidentally, when he was scheduled to play for a dance in Stoddard but the caller developed laryngitis. He took five days off per year from his work. Every Tuesday, he travelled to the Clarendon Street YMCA in Boston to call contra and Square dance dances. In 1944, Page was one of three founders of the New England Folk Festival Association. He was its president for several years. Beginning in the 1950s, Page led folk dance camps across the United States. In 1956, the U.S. State Department sponsored Page to tour Japan. During this trip, he called a dance for more than 4,000 people in a Tokyo stadium; he used hand signals, as he did not speak Japanese. In 1966, Page toured England and led workshops with the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
Page opposed the modern western square dance movement, and criticized its complexity in his writings. (2026). 9780917024306, Country Dance and Song Society. ISBN 9780917024306
Page died at age 82 on February 21, 1985, at the Cheshire County Hospital. He is buried in the Munsonville Cemetery.
Page was a bibliophile. He especially enjoyed history and mystery novels, and wrote an unpublished mystery novel himself. Page never learned to drive, instead commuting by train or bus. Page was active in local politics. He served as the president of the Cheshire County Historical Society for 15 years and as a selectman for Nelson from 1934 to 1938.
Page's papers are held in a collection at the University of New Hampshire library.
The Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, begun in 1988 and held annually in January at UNH, is named in his honor.
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