Great contra dancing with live music and calling, this Saturday, April 6th, at the Grange Hall. We'll start with a newcomers' instruction session at about 7:45, led by the dance caller for the evening, Don Veino. If you are new to this type of dancing, or just want a refresher, come at 7:30! We'll follow this with 3 hours of fun dancing starting at 8:00.
Don Veino, our caller for the evening, has lots of experience calling for dancers of all experience levels. He'll call a variety of dances, to give newcomers a wonderful first experience, and provide something different for experienced dancers.
The band for this dance is Anna Patton (clarinet), Ethan Hazzard-Watkins (fiddle) and Julie Vallimont (piano and accordion). These excellent musicians have played at the CDU series many times, and we're looking forward to hearing them again! They are all immersed in the folk traditions, but also weave in rhythms, harmonies and quotes from other genres, ranging from blues to swing to "Gypsy Jazz". Hot stuff!
Contra dances with great live callers and bands like these are presented on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturday evenings, at the Capital City Grange Hall in Berlin. The Hall is located 6612 Rt. 12 (aka Northfield St), Berlin VT 05602 (for GPS) just south of the I-89 overpass, a mile from downtown Montpelier. The Contra Dance Umbrella, the volunteer committee which puts on the dances, wants everyone to come and have a good time. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids and low-income. Or be a dance supporter and pay a bit more--all of the money goes to the caller, the band, and the sound person, plus rent to the Grange.
We suggest light, comfortable clothing, clean soft-soled shoes to protect the beautiful dance floor, and a water bottle to keep hydrated--you can fill it at the water fountain/bottle filler. Come by yourself and find partners at the dance, or bring your friends! Whoever you are, we invite you to share a warm evening of friendly, social, high-energy dancing! Questions? Call Tim Swartz at 802-225-8921 for more info, or see the Contra Dancing page on the Grange website: http://capitalcitygrange.org/dancing/contradancing