May the long time sun shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure Light within you
Guide your way on
Guide your way on
It was a perfect closing prayer for our 10 weeks together.
Stacy Rose, Dance Instructor |
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On the last night of this semester's class, the dancers in my class spontaneously made a circle. Instead of holding hands, we held each other in our arms. And we sang:
May the long time sun shine upon you All love surround you And the pure Light within you Guide your way on Guide your way on It was a perfect closing prayer for our 10 weeks together.
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How many girls get to say, "I've got a Maypole!"? Well, thanks to a very nice man, I have one! And I'm lucky to know a group of dancers who are willing to tap into their child within and enjoy dancing around it! The Whirling Shillelaghs, accompanied by Sharon Rogers, performed the following dances at the South Coast Celtic Fest 2015: An Dro Retourne - Brittany Waves of Tory - Ireland Clawdd Offa - Wales Dashing White Sergeant - Scotland Everyone did a fabulous job. I couldn't have been more proud. As a dance instructor, I often ask people to try something outside of their comfort zone. My turn. On May 9, an international dance event will take place. People from around the world will raise the awareness of belly dancing while raising money for domestic violence programs. The local team leader approached me and asked me to participate in Shimmy Mob. I said yes. Our local belly dance group is comprised of women of various ages and levels of experience. Some I recognized from over 30 years ago from their performances at Knight of Cups, a beloved restaurant and cultural hub from years ago. Fortunately, to be in Shimmy Mob, you don't need any experience, just a willingness to learn a dance routine. I have that! Recently, I was invited to join the group for a dance demonstration at an assisted living community. Joann, the Shimmy Mob team leader, took good care of me, outfitting me in the costume pictured. (Coolest part of the costume are the shiny, teal-colored harem pants under the skirt!) The women in this dance troupe were spectacular! I was especially touched by a dance performed by a mother/daughter combo. Both were so poised and graceful. What a wonderful hobby to share! We did our Shimmy Mob dance, and now I'm excited about being part of the big event on May 9. We'll be at Mingus Park at 10:00 AM. I'll be doing something way outside my comfort zone. Every January, the Veselo Dancers in Eugene hold a multi-day folk dance festival. On Saturday, there are morning and afternoon workshops by a featured dance teacher - this year the workshops featured Bulgarian dancing with Yuliyan Yordanov. Later in the evening, there are demonstration dances. Once again this year, Heidi Vorst brought 21 of her costume-clad children from the Portland-based troupe Sussefusse International Dance Group. They are a shining star of the Veselo Festival to me. The best part is when each child introduces him or herself and states where their costume is from. This year the children performed dances from Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Malaysia, Japan and Albania. In addition to this group, another group of children performed dances from Hawaii; a woman from Eugene performed a classical Indian dance.
The room during the evening dance party was filled with dancers from around the state! Eugene-based Balkan band Kef played music for the four hours of the evening party. It was exhilarating. A highlight of the evening was being part of this large circle of dancers, and enjoying watching friends holding hands, smiling and talking with each other as they danced. There's really nothing like it. The Veselo Festival 2013 was the impetus for our South Coast Folk Dance Festival. I'm feeling like a 2016 South Coast Folk Dance Festival may be in our future. Ringing in the new year with dance - fun. Traveling to dance - also fun!
Last weekend, the Oregon Coast International Dancers hosted a regional get together. We had a handful of Coos Bay dancers, a handful of Eugene dancers and a few others converging on the group in Florence. Ellen put together a wonderful program. We took turns teaching new dances and enjoying familiar standards. We enjoyed dancing to a combination of recording and live music. Sharon brought her accordion; she and Eva sang. (And next time I'll remember to put the flute IN the case before schlepping it to a dance.) I hope this will be the first of many more dance parties in Florence! Last night was the last Tuesday night class for 2014. I wanted to do something special, and with the help of Sharon and Gail, recorded some holiday music that we could dance to. We danced to a recorded mashup of Tzadik Katamar and I Have a Little Dreidel. It was fun to alternate between major key and minor key versions of Dreidel. Then we danced to a vocal mashup of Ma Na'avu and Sivivon Sov Sov Sov. It was slow and beautiful. To liven things up, as couples we experimented with our Schottische basic step and variations set to the music of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Lastly, we did a contra dance to a mashup of Frosty the Snowman and Jingle Bells (audio track above). Those two traditional songs have the AABB format for a contra dance! I hope the dancers enjoyed dancing to all of these holiday tunes as much as we enjoyed recording them. Sharon opined that the amateur quality of our recordings confirmed their authenticity as folk music. Dancers signed the Ciuleandra-themed card pictures above and included a wonderful gift. I am touched and immensely grateful by the thoughtfulness and generosity of the dancers in my class. I love dancing, teaching, and the people who dance with me.
I love dancing at Liberty Pub. There's something about the combination of good food & drink, the fine company of friendly dancers, and dancing to lively music that fills my heart with so much joy.
This week, dancers in my class teamed up with two dancers from the Florence international folk dance group and the local band Cultural Ecology to present a demonstration of dances from around the world. We presented the following dances: Hora Mare Bucovineana - Romania Tzadik Katamar - Israel Dashing White Sergeants - Scotland Godecki Cacek - Bulgaria Miserlou - Greek American Chilili - Bolivia Then we invited people from the audience to join us. I didn't know the dance floor at Liberty Pub could accommodate up to 20 dancers! We had LOTS of audience members come up and learn these beginning level dances: Savila Se Bela Losa - Serbia Zemer Atik - Israel Sasha - Russia Hora pe Gheata La Bastringue - French Canadian Waves - Hong Kong The audience members were great sports! They were willing to step out of their comfort zone and try a new kind of dancing. The dancers in my class were fabulous - they introduced the demonstration dances, they welcomed the audience members and really took great care of them. The evening was a fund raiser for South Coast Folk Week, a week-long celebration of traditional music, song and dance set for October 4-10, 2015 in Coos Bay. I don't think I can move my class to the pub on a regular basis, but I can't wait until the next time we dance in the pub! The end of the first day at Stockton Folk Dance Camp. Repeated advice that has been given to me as a first-time camper is: PACE yourself. Today I attended a Salsa Rueda class -- just tons of fun. Way to kick off the whole thing by learning a new style of dance complete with a whole new language. Totally fun. Cesar Garfiaz is the instructor. Then I went to Roberto Bagnoli's international folk dance class. We learned Sej Bob (not to be confused with Sej Sej Bob, which is a totally different dance), and Te Joci Cu Focul. Fabulous dance! Loved it! Literal translation: to play with fire. This dance is totally on fire. I skipped the third class in the spirit of pacing. I attended two sing-alongs: Erik Hoffman's standard folk song repertoire sing-along (We Shall Overcome Some-daaaaaaay) and Rumen Shopov's Balkan singing workshop. Fun! In the afternoon, I chose Ercument Kilic's Turkish dance class - new favorite dance Hey Gidi Hey.Then I attended Erik Hoffman's contra dance workshop. He plays fiddle for the workshop while calling. Erik was the first caller for the Coos Bay contra dance series. Between him and Dick Oakes, I've had some celebratory sightings. I had a great chat with some students from BYU about how to get young folks interested in dancing. I had an interesting chat with Jitka Bonusova, a dance teacher from the Czech Republic - she teaches couple dances, but her dance partner sprained his ankle 6 days ago, so she is here alone. She calls contra dances in the Czech Republic - she said they are very popular... most calls are in English (balance and swing; do-si-do; long lines forward and back; right and left through), but other calls are in Czech (circles and stars), I danced much of the evening program, but didn't stay for the after party. I hope 30,000 steps is pacing myself appropriately. Sometimes the dancers outnumber the audience. Then it's like having a rehearsal in public. I like when dancers in my class are willing to come out on a night when we don't regularly dance, and participate in a special event. Tonight, we helped the local library celebrate their 100th birthday as a city department. Coincidentally, this week also commemorated being in their current beautiful building for 25 years. Two special birthdays! As part of a week-long series of special events, the library extended an invitation for dancing. And so we did. It never ceases to impress me when dancers are not only willing to come out on a non-dance night and participate, but also willing to assume a level of responsibility for the event by agreeing to introduce a dance. I love hearing the dancers share about their own dance experiences! Some have been dancing for 30 years. I was shocked to hear Estella say she only started dancing in class last September. Is it really possible she has only danced for 9 months?? I watched Lynn dancing Tino Mori. When did she gain such confidence in her steps? When we invited the audience to join us for some beginning level dances, one gentleman chose not to get up and join us. But when we did the couple mixer Sasha, that didn't stop Kay from going over to him and engaging him in doing the movements - even if he wanted to stay seated. The dancers do Internet research about the dance they will introduce. Some will type up what they want to share so they say it - and pronounce it - just right. I always learn something new listening to what they have found. Many of them drove a long way from home to participate in tonight's event - Coquille and Myrtle Point are 30-45 minutes out of town. And Sunday is Paul's only day of the week off from work! What a dedicated group! What a love for dancing! For me, one of the best parts of tonight was seeing the beautiful smiles on people's faces as I looked around the circle. |
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