jwg

On Christmas day instead of listening to classical music radio we play some of our own CDs and LPs.

CDs
Bach - Brandenburg Concertos 4, 5, and 6
Schubert — String Quartettes
Tallis — The Lamentations of Jeremiah
Britten — A Ceremony of Carols and other pieces
Bare Necessities — Nightcap (English Country Dance music)
Beethoven — string quartet: Rasumovsky
Voice of the Turtle: Full Circle (music of the Spanish Jews of Jerusalem)
KGB: Contra-intelligence (contra dance music)
Stravinsky — The Rite of Spring (orchestral and pianola version)

LPs
Mozart — Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra
Christmas in Anglia (early English music)
Nonesuch and other Folk Tunes
Miles Davis: Four & More
The Quadrivium: Long Time Ago (medieval, renaissance, and early American)

I was member of Quadrivium as were all the musicians in Voice of the Turtle)
I have danced with Bare Necessities and KGB as the band

Several our friends suggested that we try Contra Dancing and in January 1997 we went to the Gender Free Contra dance in Jamaica Plain (JP). We were hooked immediately. This dance was twice a month and we have hardly missed any since then (excluding the pandemic when it has been shut down of course). Unless there is an enticing concert or we are travelling we always go.

There we learned about the weekend gender free dance camps organized by Lavender Counntry & Folk Dancers (LCFD) - also gender free. We went to the first one in the fall of 1997. At these camp there iss lots of Contra Daning and some English Country Dancing and variouys other activities. They are twice a year until 2020 - and I haven't missed one - that's 45 + 1 virtual one. Robert missed one because he was ill. In 2008 the west coast group (people who were regulars in LCFD camps) started one - called Queer Dance Camp. We missed two of them - one because we were on an English Country Dance trip in Florence, and once because it conflicted with NEFFA - more about this later in the post.

And there is a gender free English Country Dance in Jamaica Plain - twice a month - and we are regular there. Robert and I are members of the organzer groups of both JP dance series and I am a board mmeber and treasurer of LCFD.

There is also a twice a month contra dance in Cambridge and we go there regularly as well. In Concord, MA at the Scout House there is a contra dance every monday and every thrusday night as well as one on the first friday of each month. We go to some of these. Other spinoffs of the JP dance are Village Contra in NYC and Rainbow Contra in Northampton and we go to some of these. And also to the occasional dance in Gloucester. And we did a litle contra dancing in Boston Pride - in the march, on Boston Common, and Boston City Hall plaza.

Every year the New England Fok Festival (NEFFA) is a weekend event near Boston with lots of all kinds of folk dancing including Contras and English. Our group has run a food booth there selling on-site made italian food, cookies, coffee, teas, etc. as a fund raising event for the gender free dance grouops - 3 days, about 30 volunteers and lots of fun. I always say I like my career as a food-service worker for one weekend a year with lots of nice customers.

At the JP dance we learned about a trip organizer, Ken McFarland (sadly deceased), who organized dance oriented and other trips. We went on 14 of them (sometimes several trips one right after another). Not all are dance trips - a contra dance trip on a boat in the Greek islands, English Country Dancing in Western Ireland, Florence, and a French Chateau. Many of the people on those trips are dancers and in some of the non-dance trips we did a bit of dancing: on Easter Island, in Tanzania, on a boat on the Amazon river in Peru, in Myanmar for example. Also we've been on George Marshall dance trips on St Croix and the Big Island of Hawaii. We went to a local contra dance in Paris and one in Melbourne - and English in Sydney; and several days in Merida, Mexico.

In a typical year we go dancing on about 90 days.

In traditional Contras or English the roles are labeled Ladies and Gents - in gender free Contra he current labels are Larks and Robins and people of any gender can dance in any role; in English positional terminology is used. Over time lots of other dances have been adopting gender free treminology.

Contra dances and English Country dances almost always have a small band - 3-5 musicians, occasionally 2. And a caller who teaches the dance and then calls for a few rounds. For English there is a direct relationship between tunes and dances. For Contras there are many tunes. Since in both cases the theme gets repeated many times and the musicians usually insert very interesting variations on the repeats so musically it is also interesting.

And one of these days dancing will restart again.

This weekend we went to the Flurry Festival in Saratoga Springs (our 5th time). It is a huge event with lots of Contra dancing, some English Country dancing, and lots of other folkie activities - I noticed in the schedudle that there were sometimes as many as 15 parallel sessions.

We did mostly Contra Dancing - just one session of English - partly because it was in another building almost a 1/2 mile away so between changing clothes/shoes, walking, etc. going there is time consuming and we'd miss at least one good Contra Dancing session - we went to essentially all of them. Didn't dance every dance - my feet need a bit of rest so I skipped a few. I did register 32,787 steps on Saturday, beating last year's record of 28,887.

In the main dance hall there are often at least 600 dancers dancing in a synchroized fashion and in one over-crowded session it is estimated there were over 1,000!

It is a pretty amazing experience - and I think a quite unique and interesting sociological situation. There is good music - quite a few different bands with various instrument combinations - playing familar tunes with lots of improvisation. Good exercise (physical and mental - coordinated) in a room full of smiling people all having a delightful time. A lot of dancing friends were there plus many recognizable people from other dances.

And where else can you be in a crowd of so many people of all genders and ages touching each other with no ulterior motives? And you get to ask conplete strangers to dance and have a nice time with them. For those who don't know: in Contra and English Country dancing for each ~12 minute dance you choose a partner, but interact and dance with them and with neighbors as you progress up or down the line.

In traditional Contra Dancing and English Country dancing there are two roles: Ladies and Gents. In our home dance in Jamaica Plain we haven't used that terminology for 30 years - but these days lots of other dances are beginning to convert and at the Flurry there were several sessions that used Larks and Robins. Many people were wearing I Dance BOTH Role buttons: And it is common at the beginning of each dance to ask your partner which role they wanted to dance and there were many same-gender couples or people dancing the opposite role - definitely more than last year.

18 nights at JP Gender Free Contra
19 nights at JP Gender Free English
15 nights at BIDA in Cambridge
1 night at BIDA Spark in the Dark in Somerville
6 nights at Thursday Night Scout House in Concord, MA
6 nights at Challenging Contra at Scout House
3 nights / day at Scout House Special events (incl New Years eve)
1 night at Cape Ann Contra in Gloucester
7 days at Tropical Dance Vacation in St Croix
3 days at Queer Dance Camp at Monte Toyon in Aptos, CA
1 day at Peterborough Snowball in Peterborough, NH
3 days at Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs, NY
3 days at NEFFA
3 days at LCFD Spring Dance Camp in Woodstock, CT
3 days at LCFD Fall dance Camp in Becket, MA
2 nights at Harvard Square English (I thought there were more but not in my calendar)
1 night at WAGLY (LGBTQ youth group who requested a dance) in Wellesley Hills

95 in total - a bit higher than usual

We danced on 95 days in 16 different places:

16 nights at JP Gender Free Contra Dance in Jamaica Plain
20 nights at JP Gender Free English in Jamaica Plain
18 nights at BIDA Contra Dance in Cambridge
1 night at BIDA Spark in the Dark in Somerville
9 nights at the Scout House in Concord
5 nights at Harvard Square English in Cambridge
1 day/night at the Peterborough Snow Ball in Peterborough NH
3 days/nights at the Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs, New York
3 days/nights at Queer Dance Camp in Aptos, CA
3 days/nights at NEFFA in Mansfield, MA
3 days/nights at LCFD Dance Camp in Woodstock, CT
3 days/nights at LCFD Dance Camp in Becket, MA
1 night at the Paris Contra Dance in France
6 nights of English at Chateau des Briottieres in the Loire Valley, France
1 night at Village Contra in New York City
1 night at Rainbow Contra in Montague, MA
1 night at CapeAnn Contra in Gloucester, MA

We had flown back from Stockholm on 9/10. We were jet lagged when we got up and turned on the radio as we usually do and heard a report of a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. I immediately thought of the time when I was istening to the rado with my parents on July 28, 1945 and heard a report of a plane crashing into the Empire State Building.

The coming weekend was to be the Lavender Country & Folk Dancers dance camp. So the next several days involved figuring out if we could have it. We did and it was so wonderful to be out in a rural setting in Western Massachusetts with about 100 friends and acquaitenances. A couple of people couldn't come because they were flying from far away.

My count of days I went Contra Dancing or English Country Dancing in 2016 was 92 - only 90 for Robert rsc who didn't come on my 2 reunion trips to NYC.

At Regular Dance Series
---------------------------------

17: Gender Free Contra Dance in Jamaica Plain
23: Gender Free English Country Dance in Jamaica Plain
19: BIDA Contra dance in Cambridge
8: Scout House in Concord, MA
4: Harvard Square English
1: Cape Ann Contra dance
1: Brooklyn Contra
1: Village Contra in NYC

At Dance Weekends and other trips
______________________
3: in Mérida, Mexico at the Mérida Festival
3: Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs, NY
3: NEFFA - New England Folk Festival in Mansfield, MA
3: SFBQC: Queer Contra Dance Camp in Aptos, CA
3: LCFD Spring Dance Camp in Woodstock, CT
3: LCFD Fall Dance Camp in Becket, MA

As of now in addition to the US, we have danced in Greece, Italy, Ireland, Egypt, Tanzania, (don't remember if we danced in Kenya), Chile, Peru, Myanmar, Australia, and Mexico. (The dance we would have gone to in New Zealand was cancelled as was the trip to Denmark).

This weekend was the annual New England Folk Festival (NEFFA). It takes place on the campus of a Middle and High School in Mansfield, MA. The two gyms are gigantic dance halls, various classrooms are used for other activities, Morris and sword dancing outside, and the cafeteria has a number of groups cooking and serving food (ours is one of those groups).

I don't know what the total attendance is but is probably a few thousand. It's fun to see lots of people I know from dances and dance camps and got to dance (English Country Dancing and Contra Dancing) with lots of them and some people I've never seen before. It is essentially an all volunteer event; musicians, callers, and others donate their time to have a wonderful weekend.

And if that isn't enough dancing - there is English on Tuesday and dance camp this coming weekend!

Our group (Lavender Country & Folk Dancers) runs a food booth. A few people are there all the time and there are about 30 volunteers who donate ~3-12 hours serving food, collecting money, and doing odd jobs. We serve pasta with meatballs (meat or veggie) with marinara or pesto sauce, meatball subs, hot dogs, salad, fruit cup, yogurt, scones, cookies, muffins, croissants (stuffed or plain) tea and coffee, iced tea or lemonade, frittatas and popovers for breakfast. The profits (we don't know how much yet - but it ranges between $4,500 and $7,000) go to the various dance groups to supplement their gate; volunteers get to designate which of several groups get their share.


NEFFA food booth 2013 - looked about the same this year.

rsc is the volunteer coordinator which usually causes him a bit of panic about a week before when there aren't quite enough volunteers but it get resolved and people also just show up at the booth and help out so there were always plenty of people.

There are also a few people from the distant past that I get to see -- including one person who was a programmer on a Fortran Compiler project for which I was the project leader - about 50 years ago! Also some people who were in the Quadrivium, and early music performing group that I was in over thirty years ago.

We do lots of contra dancing and English Country dancing. This isn't an exact count but…

22 afternoons and evenings of gender free contra dance in JP, MA
22 evenings of gender free English Country Dance in JP, MA
Weekend Queer Dance Camp in Monte Toyon, CA (English and Contra)
Weekend gender free dance camp in Woodstock, CT (English and Contra)
Weekend gender free dance camp in Becket, MA (English and Contra)
Multiple sessions of Contra dancing and English Country dancing at NEFFA in Mansfield, MA
20 evening of BIDA contra dance in Cambridge, MA
1 evening of English Country Dance in Cambridge, MA
2 evenings of contra dance in Gloucester, MA
1 guerrilla contra in Davis Square, Somerville, MA
Contra dancing in the Pride March, Boston, MA
English Country Dancing in Mandalay Hills, Myanmar
English Country Dancing at Inle Lake, Myanmar
15 evenings of contra dance at the Scout House in Concord, MA

That's dancing on 98 days.