As we're gearing up for the 2014 South Coast Celtic fest, tonight my dance class let me to use them as guinea pigs to prepare for the Maypole dance workshop I'm planning to present at the festival. The most surprising part -- IT WORKED! 
The Maypole itself was a labor of love. Tom spent hours and hours on this project. He picked out the tree, felled it, bucked it, peeled off the bark, let it season for awhile, sanded and varnished it, attached the hardware, cut and attached the piece at the top for the ribbons, and made a clever base for it.  
There are 16 ribbons - 8 green and 8 yellow. We did four dances tonight. They fashioned a barber pole, a single plait, a double plait, and a spidery web sort of thing. The designs were BEAUTIFUL! Sharon played the piano. It was a fun, new experience. Gail M. let me wear a floral crown she had made 20+ years ago for a folk dance demonstration. Happy May Day! 

Sharon, Tom and Gail played music tonight for a family event at a local elementary school. I taught the dances - they provided the music. The event was one in a week-long series of activities celebrating Screen-Free Week. Community dancing -- what a marvelous alternative to sitting around watching television! 

I've been advised by my dance teaching mentors - more than one of 'em - that it is better to use canned music than to use less-than-stellar live music. I've been advised that part of the children's experience of dancing to ethnic music should be hearing the music played on traditional instruments from the country of the dance - like on the recordings. 

Our tremendous trio of musicians have played together less than one year. They schlep their instruments and equipment, tonight in the rain. Musically, I hear improvement from how they sounded a year ago. They have such heart for making an enjoyable experience for the kids. You can see it in their smiles. They've helped with classroom management. At a break, they'll introduce their instruments to the kids, and demonstrate what they each sound like alone. 

These musicians have dedication to bringing live music into the school. As we wind down the Dance Around the World program, I'm thoroughly convinced that music played with dedication, heart and practice is superior to recorded music.    

This weekend, Seattle-based photographer Doug Plummer came to our community's monthly contra dance at Greenacres Grange. He took phenomenal pictures for the South Coast Folk Society to use in promoting the monthly contra dance. This picture is one of Doug's photographs.
  
At its very essence, a contra dance is a gathering of community members - men, women, boys and girls... all ages... all backgrounds... with differing political beliefs, coming from various economic levels. High school students joining hands with postal workers, health providers, farmers, military contractors, retired environmentalists... church-goers holding hands with devout pagans... hunters holding hands with members of Society for Creative Anachronism. 

In one picture, Doug shows the impact of contra dancing - a time when people can look beyond their differences and join hands to enjoy an evening of live music. It's one of the few places where people from varying generations and walks of life get together for something so small, yet so powerful as joining hands.   

I started teaching my Tuesday night class in terms of semesters. It was originally a Community Ed class offered through the local community college. College semesters run 10 weeks, and I'm used to preparing for a 10-week semester. Now that I've parted ways with the college, we're dancing YEAR ROUND! At some point, I may change the format, but haven't yet. It's time for a new 10-week session to start this week. 
Some people have taken my class for the past four years. In preparing for class, I want to include dances for them that are fresh and challenging. There are new dancers, and since it is after all a BEGINNING folk dance class, I want to keep it accessible for them. I need to balance aerobic dances with slow dances. And I want to include dances from around the world. 
Spring 2014 is ready to roll out this week. I always think each semester is going to be the BEST YET. Two traditions I intend to keep are - having a periodic international potluck in conjunction with a dance party, and providing each dancer with materials, including a step sheet of all the dances and a CD of all the music. We'll see if spring 2014 turns out to be the best yet.

The second installment of Dance Around the World in Coos County began this week - this time at Madison Elementary! The musicians and I set up the sound equipment and before we knew it, more than thirty K-3 students were seated along the wall of the gymnasium. Silent. Watching. Waiting. I didn't even hear them come in! 
We started with Carnavalito, a line dance from Bolivia. Too few teachers and parents were among the dancers, but the kids caught right on! We learned Sasha next - and I see that we'll need to review the whole process of "how" to find the next partner in this couple mixer dance. From there, we learned Hashual, a circle dance from Israel. The kids had fun taking turns being the fox in the middle of the cirlce and choosing the next fox to take their place. Lastly, we learned Le Brandy, a longways French Canadian set dance. Our hour together flew by! 

And WHAT a party it was! There was dancing! There was singing! There was playing music! And there was fabulous food. I know I'm not supposed to have favorite dancers, but I think it's okay to have favorite dishes. Here are a few. 
Estella made Assyrian potato chop... with elk meat. It was like a scrumptious potato latke. I'm SO glad we learned Sheikhani this semester! 

Representing Charleston, Oregon, US, Kay made a rice and green salad. 

Susan made a tray of Borekas - best new thing ever, in honor of learning Hashual and Turkish Kiss! 

An Dro Retourne - the lemon tarts of your people! Thank you, Judy! (And the smoked salmon was fantastic.) 

I shared a spectacular meal with dancers and musicians tonight. How could I not be blissed out?