Contents

there seem to be a myriad of English and contra dance weekends. But, FFDC is the one to not miss!  Watch for continued details next issue.  

I hope everyone had a great summer. It’s now Autumnal Equinox, Jewish New Year, Ganesh’s birthday (I made that up) – hey!  Let’s celebrate and dance like no one is watching!  Camp is coming!

– Terry

Nordic Fiddles and Feet at Camp Ogontz

by Judith Baizan

Meg Mabbs, director of Nordic Fiddles and Feet (NFF), always said that her Scandinavian dance event would not move from its long time home at Buffalo Gap in W. Virginia until it could go to a venue that was at least as good if not better. It has now met for the third year at Camp Ogontz, in New Hampshire, and I have to say that most of us have fallen in love with the place. Its special charm may be due in part to a few eccentricities like the dining hall shelves of assorted drink glasses, the crazy conglomeration of costumes available in the shed, the restroom doors latched on the outside to signal availability, the incredible every day variety from the bakery, or the fact you may see the camp owner filling in as a dishwasher.

True, getting there is more expensive now for most of us, as we have to rent cars to get ourselves from the Manchester airport to the camp a good two hours away.  Fortunately, NFF's ride coordinator does a good job of getting renters and riders together to save us all a little dough.

The camp consists of dozens of structures from the very small to the impossibly huge and mind-blowingly exotic grand palace of the arts that looms over the whole camp in its not-quite-finished glory. Accommodations are varied, but most are quaint "Adirondack cabins" that are roofed platforms with one wall, on which are what could be called miniature closets if they had any doors. Canvas flaps on the sides can be lowered to keep out the weather. Appropriate furniture to sleep four varies from rustic to rickety but the mattresses are in good condition and comfortable. Unlimited supplies of blankets and quilts are available. but you must rent sheets, and towels or bring your own.   Mosquito netting is recommended. Shower and toilet facilities are in a nearby wash house.

Since the new building was still unfinished, the dining hall doubled as dance hall for classes and parties again this summer. Its floor is excellent, but moving the heavy tables several times a day was onerous. At this camp, each of us is expected to be responsible for a certain chore every day. This year I was one of the breakfast preppers.  We arrived 30 minutes before the breakfast hour to prepare fruit and vegetables. It was really more fun than chore – until we were set to chopping onions!

Although the Swedish dance teachers, Thomas Johansson and Ingrid Stromvall were new to most of us, and the dances they taught were ones we had been taught many times before, they still were able to give us new insight into the subtleties of the partnering.  Their explanations were clear and precise, they answered our questions patiently, and they were readily available to dance with us in the evening parties.

The Norwegian Hallingspringar teacher, Ulf-Arne Johannessen had recently won the grand prize for his dance, so he was a formidable role model for the men to emulate. We knew his partner, Sissel Rudningen, from other teaching situations, and, as always, she was untiring, graceful, and eager to share her expertise with us.

The center piece teaching of the NFF week continues to be Roo Lester's Basics class. Assisted by her husband Larry Harding, and enlivened by their own brand of comic asides, Roo masterfully isolates, explains, and trains us in the specific movements that translate into successful Scandinavian dance technique. Her sessions are top priority not only for first timers, but also for us old timers, to reinforce ideas for our local teaching.

My comments are from a dancer's standpoint, but some attendees come to NFF just for the music.   There are usually two or three levels of instruction for regular fiddle and hardanger fiddle. Also, depending on teacher availability, there may be instruction in nyckelharpa, mouth harp, and singing.   Anyone can join in the camp Alspel band just by showing up for rehearsal with an instrument, any instrument, including voice. Camp Ogontz was envisioned as a camp for the arts and it seems to draw musicians in particular, with a lineup of Suzuki, choral, string ensemble, and other instrumental groups scheduled over the summer.  

Orlando International Folk Dance Club

by Pat Henderson

After a summer hiatus in July and August, Orlando danced once in September and then six of our members joined the Yves Moreau cruise from Boston to Montreal, so we canceled our dance the second week of September.  Read about the cruise in a separate article. 

On August 5, nine members of our group traveled to Melbourne to dance, in what has become a summer tradition for us.  We were happy to dance with them during our break.  They have ten new dancers, which makes a big difference in group dynamics. Thank you, Melbourne group for your great hospitality that night.

On August 10 and 17, Bobby was the guest teacher for the Sarasota Grapeviners.  He taught the same five dances both weeks and the group seemed to really enjoy them.  We also brought back two dances from them that we have now added to our repertoire.  Thank you, Judy Merkt, for being such a great hostess to us.  We also visited the Gainesville group one Friday and taught a dance there also.  Thank you, Jack and Linda Seltzer, for your hospitality.

We had our usual travelers this summer.  Nicki Wise and her husband traveled from Colorado to the Black Hills of South Dakota by way of Yellowstone National Park.  They had a wonderful time seeing some of the same sights that Bobby and I saw in May. Phyllis and Ed Dammer vacationed in North Carolina and enjoyed getting out of the Florida heat.  I guess that Bobby and I win the prize for most distance traveled since we went to Israel for three weeks in July.  See Dance is Alive and Well in Israel.  After the dance course and festival, we had a glorious nine-day tour of the country. One touching moment was seeing the memorial to 9/11 outside Jerusalem.  I sent one of my photos of the memorial to the Orlando Sentinel and they published it in the Travel section on Sunday, 9/11. 

Activities for the club in October include a birthday party for Bobby on October 5 and our annual Halloween party on October 26.  Also, check the FFDC calendar section for upcoming fall Greek Festivals.  We hope to see many of you in Melbourne for Fall Fling on October 29.

Brevard International Dancers

by Jean Murray

It has been a busy summer for Brevard International Dancers.  Early in the summer, the Brevard Theatrical Ensemble wanted to learn some Renaissance dances.  And – drumroll – they stayed through the summer!  So – the Melbourne group focused on easy dances, having fun, and bringing ten new dancers up to speed!  Some of them are still coming back, giving our little group a much needed membership boost.  In August, we invited Orlando over for a graduation party, so our new people got to meet more Florida dancers.  It was a mini-fling, with about 30 people, and great fun!  

To top off the summer, John and Jean went to week three of Mainewoods Dance Camp to experience Lee Otterholt (Balkan and Beyond), Hilde Otterholt (Hawaiian), George Fogg (English and Early American), John McIntire (Contra), and Roo Lester (Swedish and Norwegian).  We both got a Scandi refresher, and Lee taught some lovely new dances.  Who knows, maybe we will have a Hula ready for Fall Fling!

George Fogg is a board member of Mainewoods and it was great fun to dance his dances at the international parties and dance workshops. Melbourne has invited him to Florida for the weekend of January 6-8, 2012.  We are planning international dance parties Friday and Saturday night, with English/Early American workshops Saturday during the day, and more English/Early American dancing Sunday morning.   So – Please come to “English for International Dancers!”.  Signup will be available at Fall Fling, limited to 40 people, open first to FFDC members and other international dancers.

Memorial to 9/11 near Jerusalem

Photo by Pat Henderson

FALL FLING - OCTOBER 29

See Events

Halloween Costumes Welcome

Cruisin’ and Dancin’

by Jan Lathi and Judy Merkt

On September 10^th, several full and part time Floridians joined others from more than 20 states and three Canadian provinces for a fun-filled dance cruise from Boston to Montreal, on Holland America’s Maasdam. The Florida contingent included Judy Merkt and Lynda Harris from Sarasota, Kay Demos from Tarpon Springs in winter, Pat Henderson, Bobby Quibodeaux, and Ann Robinson from Orlando, Kelly Fagan from Deland, Betty Nehemias and Jan Lathi from Flagler Beach area, David Digby and Dorothy Archer from Atlanta, and Annette Brand from Canada, who dances in Orlando in the winter.

Every night on ship, we enjoyed dance sessions from 9 to 11 pm with five instructors: Yves Moreau and France Bourque-Moreau, Sonia Dion and Christian Florescu, and Ahmet Lϋleci. Five fantastic folk dance mavens on one ship!  We were taught (notice I didn't say "learned") a total of 16 dances from Bulgaria, Romania, French Canada, and Turkey by the end of the trip.

On September 9^th evening, we were bussed to a dance party outside of Boston in a church basement.  Live music by the Pinewoods Band (celebrating their 20^th anniversary) accompanied us through many of our favorite dances and many we didn’t know.  Our only complaint (get this) was there were too many dancers (maybe 200 or so!) on the floor and soon there was no place to dance!  What a concept!

Our cruise path took us to Bar Harbor, Maine; Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; and Quebec City and Montreal, Quebec. There were land excursions on most days.  We rented a car in Sydney and Bobby drove six of us and Peggy (the voice of Bobby's GPS) to the west side of Cape Breton Island to take in some fabulous scenes of the ocean and mountains.  One highlight of the trip was spending time in the Old Town in Quebec City and visiting the Hotel Frontenac.

While in Montreal, we were bussed to another Church outside of town where we mingled with 50 local folk dancers for a buffet/dance party honoring Sonia, Christian, and Ahmet, who turned fifty this year. There were live French-Canadian music, traditional Turkish music and songs, traditional Moldavian, Romanian, Gypsy, and Klezmer music, and presentations by the best French-Canadian folk performing group, “Les Eclusiers de Lachine”,

The Florida connection.  Front row: Betty Nehemias, Kay Demos, Judy Merkt, Ann Robinson; middle row: Pat Henderson, Jan Lathi, Lynda Harris, Annette Brand; top row: Bobby Quibodeaux, David Digby, Dorothy Archer, and Kelly Fagan

Photo by Bob Shapiro

The instructors. Christian Florescu, Sonia Dion, Ahmet Lϋleci, France Bourque-Moreau, and Yves Moreau

Photo by Judy Merkt

Crew members performing Tinikling.

Photo by David Digby

Sarasota Grapeviners

by Judy Merkt

Summertime is officially over now, and for the Grapeviners, this means that Andi Kapplin is back in town, Susan Barach is back in town, and we will see the return of our snowbird members over the next few months.  We truly enjoy the little reunions each week – it is an experience we all look forward to every year.  But before I move off of the subject of summer, I would like to thank again - this time in print - the people who helped with our teaching segments during the summer while Andi was in Vancouver.  Although I did some teaching, here are the "teaching stars" that taught and entertained our summer members this year: Susan Barach (before she left for Massachusetts), Caroline Lanker, Linda and Rich Nicoli, Delores Lustig, Varda Ruskin, Demetrius Babiak, Bobby Quibodeaux and Pat Henderson.  Great jobs, all of you – thank you!

Now on to special activities to be held at our shop up through January, 2012: a Special Workshop with Ira Weisburd will be Wednesday, November 2nd, and our Annual Snow Ball on Wednesday, January 25th.  All are welcome to join us as usual.  See the FFDC website calendar of events for more details or contact me directly.

In September, two of our members – Lynda Harris and I – had the good fortune to join the Yves Moreau cruise from Boston to Montreal (where Lynda and I attempted unsuccessfully to resurrect our high school French). (See Cruisin' and Dancin'.)

Lynda and I tried very hard to pay attention and not embarrass our "home court" of Sarasota.  I'm pretty sure we succeeded.  And of course, walking all day to see the sights, followed by dancing most of the night away meant that we could work off some of that terrible food the cruise directors force everyone to ingest!  As a result, we didn't gain any weight – there really is a God.

Lynda and I received a bonus while we were in the Boston area several days prior to the cruise.  Susan Barach, from our Sarasota group, and her husband Howie provided three full days of personal guidance through downtown Boston, Harvard at Cambridge,

as well as “Les Mutins de Longueuil”, from Longueuil, Quebec, dancing Romanian and Black Sea dances.

The entertainment on board the Maasdam was absolutely top notch.  You couldn’t partake of all that was available to do.  All I can say is, "Wow!"

Howie and Susan Barach, Lynda Harris, and Judy Merkt,  pre-cruise: On our way to the Barachs' sailboat for an afternoon sail in Marblehead Harbor, MA.

In Halifax: Sharon Brannon, Judy Merkt, Colleen Putt, and Lynda Harris

and Marblehead, where they lived for many years and now continue to summer. We were even treated to an afternoon sail on their lovely sailboat. 

Later, in Halifax, another of our snowbird Sarasota dancers – Sharon Brannon – and her friend Colleen Putt treated us to a full day of guidance around that lovely city.  Colleen is a professional guide and walked our legs off for 7 miles, with elevation changes, mind you!

In Montreal, Lynda and I used the Metro (subway) to get to the Biodome and Botanical Garden area. We were quite proud of ourselves.  What a wonderful and easy way to get around the dowtown area.

Altogether, it was an absolutely unforgettable experience, beautifully organized by Yves and France.

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Stockton Folk Dance Camp 2011

by Caroline Lanker

Gary and I attended the Stockton Folk Dance Camp again at the end of July, this year.  That being our third year, we pretty much knew the ropes, so to speak.  For example, we knew we needed to nap in the afternoon in order to make it through the week.  Since we only attended one week, not two as we did in 2010, it meant that we couldn’t take all the classes.

We got a preview of our Florida Presidents’ Weekend 2012 in Andy Taylor-Blenis’ Portuguese dance class. We also chose Jaap Leegwater, teaching Bulgarian, Fusae Senzaki-Carroll teaching Macedonian, some of Richard Powers classes, square dancing with Jerry Helt, and one of Bruce Hamilton’s English Country Dance sessions.

Richard Powers teaches vintage dance.  In one session, he did a history of line dancing, starting with the Madison, danced on American Bandstand in the late 1950’s. I was an American Bandstand fan back then, so that brought back memories. He ended the session wtih two dances he choreographed. One of them was Tokyo Polka, the same dance that Andi learned in Chicago (see My Summer Dancing).

The camp had contracted with Paul Mulders from Macedonia, to teach, and a Macedonian band to come over to play.  Unfortunately, when Paul arrived in the states he did not have the proper visa to work in the US and was sent home. The band was also unable to enter the country. We were very fortunate that the camp staff were able to find replacements. 

Fusae Senzaki-Carroll, who regularly attends camps as a teaching assistant to Atanas Kolarovski, taught some of Atanas’ Macedonian dances.  The dances have been around for a while, but only one of them was familiar to us. 

Andy Taylor-Blenis in Portuguese costume, at Stockton

Photo by Caroline Lanker

They also managed to find some marvelous folk musicians in the U.S. who could put together a band at the last minute.  We found out that Jaap plays the flute and sings, when he joined the band some of the time.

Lee Otterholt was at camp, as usual, since he is on the camp board. Although he was not there as a teacher, he taught a couple of dances in one of the more informal afternoon sessions.  I skipped my nap for that. 

A regular feature of Stockton camp is the talent show. As usual, the young college-age and 20-something dancers performed some outstanding dances, in costume. This time, Gary and I were enlisted by Jerry Helt to help demonstrate a vintage square dance called The Oxbow Loop. 

For those of you who might think about attending Stockton in 2012, the teachers will include Sonia Dion and Cristian Florescu (Romanian) and Miroslav Marcetic (Serbian). Argentine tango will also be featured. See the website at

www.folkdancecamp.org.

Diane Baker at Stockton (see next page, also)

Young campers in talent show

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From the Editor

It is gratifying to see how many summer activities have brought together dancers from different clubs around the state, from “the Cruise” (see Cruisin’ and Dancin’) to dancers visiting and teaching at each other’s clubs – see Sarasota, Orlando and Brevard (Melbourne) news.

Gary and I did a lot of traveling and dancing this summer, too.   I wrote about our June trip in the July-August Florida FolkDancer. Near the end of July, we returned to California and spent a week at Stockton Folk Dance Camp. (See Stockton Folk Dance Camp 2011.)  The rest of our trip we were up and down the west coast – north to Oregon, south to San Diego, and north again to Oregon.  Along the way we visited Gary’s family members in Corvallis, OR and Sacramento and San Diego, CA and some of my relatives in San Diego.  We finally returned to Florida in September.

On August 14, we went to the Scandinavian Festival in Junction City, Oregon.  They had three stages and a number of music and dance performing groups.  We saw some youth groups from Junction City perform and an adult group that had come from Norway for the festival.  

It was fun to see the youth groups; the members of the oldest of those groups were quite accomplished dancers. The Norwegian dancers were great.   It was a pleasure to see a large group of dancers in fine Norwegian costumes, all dancing in the unique style that we usually see only from the professional Norwegian teachers at camps.   With the weather cooler than Florida, it was almost possible to imagine we were in Norway.   One of the highlights of their performance was the Halling, which is a show-off dance.  The dancers perform acrobatic steps to warm up.  Then, the dance culminates in one or more dancers (one by one) leaping up and doing a sort of back flip to kick a hat off the end of a broomstick held above their heads.  The leap is usually done by a young man; in this case, two young men and a young woman dancer succeeded in kicking the hat. 

Naturally, we danced everywhere we could – Scandinavian dancing in Portland, OR and San Diego, CA and international dancing in Eugene, OR, near Sacramento, and in Laguna Beach and San Diego, CA.

The first time we danced at the Scandinavian group in Portland was a special occasion. A performing group of young people from Estonia was visiting. The Estonians gave a fun and highly energetic performance and then joined us for general dancing. 

It seemed that everywhere we went, someone would ask, “Do you know Bobby and Pat, in Orlando?”  The questioners were people who had either met Bobby and Pat at an NFO function or had been on a tour or cruise with them.  Who knew that we had such famous dancers in our midst? 

And we also saw a few west coast people who are known to Florida dancers. I hope some of you remember Diane Baker, from Laguna Beach, who attended Florida Presidents’ Weekend 2011, and our houseguests last April, Robert and Elizabeth Null, Barbara Bevan, and Hadi Babazadeh, who danced with us in Orlando and Melbourne (see “From the Editor” in the May-June Florida FolkDancer.)  We saw most of them at Stockton Folk Dance Camp and all of them later either in Laguna Beach or near Sacramento.  

– CL

Estonian dancers performing in Portland

Photos by Caroline Lanker

Left and above: Norwegian dancers performing the Halling at Junction City Scandinavian Festival

Dance is Alive and Well in Israel

by Pat Henderson

After yearning for years to go to Israel for the Karmiel Course and Dance Festival, Bobby and I cleared our dance calendar to attend this year.  Debbie Meitin, who leads our local Israeli group and one other member, Evelyne Gonszales, also made the trip.  The event is organized every year by Ruthy Slann of the U.S. and Dany Benshalom of Israel.  The course, running July 4-11, was for foreign teachers and dancers of Israeli dance so we had a truly international group of around 60 including ten from France, eight from Australia, four each from Argentina and Germany, three from Finland plus one each from several other European countries to add to the dancers from the United States. 

The course consisted of dance workshops during the day with many of Israel’s finest choreographers such as Dudu Barzilai, Avi Levi and Rafi Ziv.  The absolute exhilaration of doing a favorite dance with the creator of the dance was priceless. 

At night, we traveled to a nearby group to dance until midnight.  I learned that there are about 350 different Israeli dance sessions in Israel in a week so we had plenty of opportunities to select from.  Each time we arrived, we donned the t-shirt for the 10^th Anniversary of the Karmiel Course before we entered the dance hall.  One night, we danced on the beach close to Haifa. 

Every session had at least 100 people or more and there were two parts of the dance:  partner dances and non-partner dances.  Most sessions were thirty minutes of each type.  When the format changed, it

A stage show at the Karmiel Dance Festival

was interesting to see the migration of dancers on and off the floor. A lot of people only do one type.  Bobby and I do not learn the partner dances, since he is usually the only man at our Israeli dance group.  Apparently, Israelis line up their dance partners in advance and dance the entire set with the same person.  These dances lasted until 2 am – on a weeknight, no less!  Ruthy and Dany were very well organized and created a fantastic dance experience for us.

After a week of getting very little sleep and dancing a lot, the 24^th annual Karmiel Dance Festival started in Karmiel.  There was a stage show every night at the outdoor amphitheatre, with thousands of dancers performing and probably at least 5,000 in the audience.  We had reserved seats, but many sat on blankets on the ground up the hill behind us.  There was a full moon during the festival and it was really quite cool at night.  The shows were very well done with all the various dance groups in costume; most dancers were barefoot.  The first and last night had fireworks at the end of the show, around midnight. 

Then the dancing started on the tennis courts – four courts with four circles of dancers – and lasted until 6 am.  I made 3 am the last night, which was amazing for me.  There were probably about 600 to 800 dancers on the courts. 

The Karmiel Dance Festival includes more than Israeli dance.  Bobby and I bought tickets for Romanian and Georgian dance shows.  The Romanian show started at midnight!  We rushed out of the first night’s amphitheatre show so that we would not be late, only to find out that midnight is when they opened the door to let the audience in!

Rafi Ziv's Pre-Karmiel Marathon dance.

Photos by Pat Henderson

The Romanian show was mainly Transylvanian with couples dancing to Hungarian-style music.  The Georgian show was fantastic, with men jumping up and landing on their legs bent at the knee.  There were three young male dancers who were all equally good.

One of the big events of the festival is a dance competition for the best dance of the year.  About 15 new dances are selected to compete.  Dance groups perform the dances for the judges who decide the winners.  This year, several people from our group volunteered to do a dance of one of the choreographers that we saw during the course.  It did not win; it was a circle dance and the dances that won first through third place were all partner dances.

Other events that we attended were two memorial dances for choreographers who had died during the year. 

There were a number of food booths that stayed open until 6 am.  You could get a lot of Israeli and

Arabic foods along with other nationalities such as Thai.  We enjoyed everything that we tasted.  We even got used to having tomatoes and cucumbers for breakfast every day.  

At the end of the course, we said goodbye to our new dance friends and we were off for a nine day tour of Israel with Ruthy and her sister, Ronit Nachman, who was our tour guide.  There were nine of us on the tour: three Australians and six Americans.  Ronit took us from the Golan to the Negev Desert with stops in Tiberias and Jerusalem.  It was an amazing tour and we learned so much every day, from ancient to modern history.  We floated down the Jordan River, floated in the Dead Sea, and took the cable car up to Masada.  Several nights we danced; including the last night in Tel Aviv at a hotel right on the Mediterranean Sea. Everywhere we went, there was dance!  For more information or to sign up for next year, July 29-August 10, email Ruthy at kibbutz@slann.com

Opinca Shout

John Ward provided this copy of the shout for Opinca that Cristian Florescu showed us at FFDC “Un-Camp” in February 2008, plus John's pronunciation guide and alternate translation.  Maybe some of us can learn it, to add extra spice to a favorite dance in Florida. In one video from Cristian and Sonia, he uses the shout during the grapevine figure of the dance.

In Romanian:

Hăi cine joacă și nu strigă

Are-n gură mămăligă.

Cine strigă și nu joacă

Facăi – se gură seacă.

Mămăligă

Pronunciation:

High chee-nay jwah-kuh she new stree-guh

Are-en goo-ruh mum-uh-lee-guh.

Chee-nay stree-guh she new jwock-uh

Fah-kuh-ee sih goo-ruh sock-uh.

The j is pronounced as in French “Jean” or Portuguese “Rio de Janero.” The pronunciation I give is the way Cristian Florescu did it. My guide to 25 languages of Europe pronounces ă "er."

Translation:

Anyone who dances and doesn't shout

Has mamaliga in their mouth.

Anyone who shouts and doesn't dance

Will have a dry mouth.

Here's my translation to preserve the rhyme (almost) and meter:

Those who dance and do not shout

Have mamaliga in their mouth.

Those who shout but do not dance

Will get dry throats from shouting rants.

Note: Mămăligă is a thick porridge made out of yellow maize flour.  A traditional dish in Romania, it is similar to the Italian polenta.

HFAA at Folklore Village 2011

by Judith Baizan

After three years of meeting annually at St. Olaf College, the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America returned to Folklore Village, and then president Loretta Kelley heaved a sigh of relief. She had gone crazy having to make the same requests and explanations over and over again! At Folklore Village there's no need to explain anything, she said. They already know what we need, and they understand and support what HFAA is all about!

Of course, that's because of what Folklore Village is all about. Founded by folklorist icon Jane Farwell at home on the Wisconsin family farm, it has been "enriching lives through time-honored traditions" since 1968.  The year-round programs reflect a huge variety of activities including, always, celebrations of ethnicity with singing, dancing, sharing food, teaching, making music, handicrafting, and having fun doing it. HFAA is privileged to be included in this roster.

HFAA was founded as an organization of players of the hardanger fiddle, a Norwegian folk instrument that resembles a violin with a set of extra vibrating strings below the familiar ones.   Hundreds of tunes for it exist, most of them for dancing, so it wasn't long before the HFAA directors came to the realization that musicians playing dance music need dancers, and the present format for the annual event was adopted.  

Learning and playing the hardanger fiddle is still foremost, with loaner instruments available, and instruction at every level offered from accomplished American musicians or the featured Norwegian master teacher.  This year's HFAA Music and Dance Workshop, the largest ever with over 100 participants, featured the dance Valdresspringar, with master fiddler Hakon Asheim and master dancer Knut Arne Jacobesen partnered by Mary Hegge.  (Our own home grown American Mary, now part time Norwegian and experienced Valdres teacher.)

Although the workshop runs Thursday through Sunday, it is unique in that attendees may sign up to come for just part of it and start any time.   Because of that, Knut Arne and Mary had us work hard on technique in every session before progressing fairly quickly through the basics of the figures. That way anyone coming in for one day, or even one session, could go away with a reasonable impression of the dance. 

That would be all, however, just an impression.  To learn how to dance Valdresspringar impressively takes more than one workshop. Some of us have been working on it for years.

The outside world doesn't often intrude, but it did this year, as people received texts on their phones, and the word spread about the bombing and horrific gunning down of young people at summer camp in Norway. At the staff concert, Knut Arne, in recognition of the shock and sadness at home, sang us a song of loss, mourning, and “Why must the best be taken?” The words that most touched our hearts were, "Today grief walks through our valley with a message for every door.”

2012 Olga Princi Memorial

Scholarship Auction

by Judith Baizan

The Olga Princi Scholarship Auction is our golden opportunity to fund the scholarships we hope will keep international folk dancing alive and well far into the future. That aim is very important to us.  We are already convinced that it deserves our support, so all we need is the right opportunity. The Auction has been re-envisioned to be that opportunity. Some of us will donate items, some of us will bid on those items, and a lot of us will do both. The Auction will be our traditional FFDC Saturday after-dinner entertainment at Presidents’ Weekend 2012.

First of all let's give a thought to what each of us might donate. Do we live at a comfortable driving distance from some popular destination? What about offering a "bed and breakfast weekend for 2 to 4 people"? We're a rather senior group, but we have lots of grandchildren in young families, and such a weekend could be a serious gift. Maybe you are downsizing and have a charming "folksy" piece that needs a new home. If you have beehives you can donate a jar of home-grown honey. Or a box of chocolates you just brought back from Italy. Or a weird hat that offers comic possibilities. Remember, the Auction must entertain!

Tampa Trivia

by Terry Abrahams 

The biggest news for us is – Andi Kapplin is a grandmother!  An adorable (so she says and we believe her) little girl named Sam Rachel, who’s birth Andi was present for in Chicago.  She brought some great new dances from Vancouver again and we hope she will present at least one of them at the Fall Fling.  Vicki Kulifay, (who ostensibly belongs to our group, but has a Friday night conflict) attended Mountain Playshop again this year, seeing Daniela Ivanova, eating Bulgarian food and dancing with old friends.  We hope to see Vicki at the Fall Fling, too. 

Judith went to Scandia camp in Mendocino in early June, to Nordic Fiddles and Feet in late June, and to the Hardanger Fiddle Ass’n of America at Folklore Village, WI in mid July.  Both Judith and Ernesto were in CA attending the wedding of one of their grandchildren and Judith had cataract surgery and can see better now.  She’s hoping Ernesto will want to come to the Fall Fling.  

I never give details about what Bill Schwarz is up to – he is heavily into other kinds of dancing – but here are details for a change: He did three days of Couple Country and Western Dancing (two step, west coast swing, waltz, cha-cha, hustle, night club) in mid-June in Orlando (called Orange Blossom).   There were various competitions at various levels (including professional), a 1½ hour show by various professionals, and 20 lessons.  Over 300 people attended.  Follow that with two days and nights of West Coast Swing in Sand Key (Clearwater) at the end of August, which included about 14 lessons (including hustle, night club, waltz, and cha-cha).  Again there were competitions at various levels and a 1½ hour show with about 275-300 people attending. And he’ll come to the Fall Fling too!   

Ursula had to pass up her trip to Mongolia (boo) in order to work on various parts of her body, but hopes to be dancing at the Fall Fling. Andy is helping people with their websites and other computer problems, but will take time out to come to the Fall Fling.

I attended Ruthy and Dany’s Karmiel USA Israeli dance weekend in Highlands, NC over Labor Day Weekend. The new venue is a beautiful retreat center in NC on top of a mountain.  Even if one doesn’t dance, it takes your breath away.  But dance I did, and, as usual, ate well and saw good friends, especially Charlene, whom you all remember dancing with us at Israeli in Tampa. I may present one silly line dance at the Fall Fling.  

Our new person, Kathy, spent the summer with her husband (they live in different cities until he finds a job in Tampa) and it is good to have her back with us.  Maybe she’ll make the Fall Fling. A bunch of us are going to the German-American Oktoberfest – if it’s as much fun as last year, we’ll be happy.  I turned 75 in September, Ursula turned 76 the next day – she always keeps one year ahead of me!  Ken Kwo’s is the same day as mine, but he’s much younger!  Andi’s is six days later (also trailing Ursula and me in years). September is big in Tampa.   So!  See you at….wait for it….the Fall Fling!

My Summer Dancing

by Andi Kapplin

As most of you already know, Steve and I spend our summers in Vancouver, BC.  We arrived there early enough this year for me to dance with the Burnaby International Dancers for five weeks before they closed for the summer. I taught Avre Tu and Izrouchanka to them. I also danced with the Aberthau International Dancers in May and June until they closed and taught Nabrala Je, Avre Tu, Made in Romania and Zimushka.  After Aberthau stopped, I started going to a second Israeli group, as I’d already been dancing with the one at the Jewish Community Center. The Israeli groups run throughout the summer.  I was part of the teaching team for the nine week outdoor dancing in Stanley Park and taught a lot of dances there, including Above the Rainbow, Cumbia Semana, Ini Vitui, Zemjo Makedonska, Kharpertsi Halay and Davorike Dajke. I also learned some dances that I plan to teach in Tampa and Sarasota.

After we left Vancouver, we headed to Chicago to await the birth of our granddaughter.   She was born on September 6 and, since our daughter and son-in-law wanted the hospital time to themselves, I was able to attend one of the international dance groups – got to see the Chicago Sarasota “snowbirds” too.   Erica Karp had the “birds” and us over for appetizers.  Her husband, Wiley Crawford, was on a gig in Ohio playing the carillon, so wasn’t able to join us.  Sanna and Mars Longden made it to Erica’s but, due to a prior commitment, were not able to go with the rest of us to dinner and dancing.   I picked up a fun line dance, Tokyo Polka, at the Chicago session. I have now taught it in Sarasota and I hope to teach it at Fall Fling.  All in all, a great summer of dancing!  

The Times They are A-changin’ in Gainesville

by Jack Seltzer

Gainesville Friday night folkdancing is going to make some changes in the near term, at least.  We'd like to get our attendance up, but to do that, we may be trying to meet too often. To try to drum up a larger desire for dancing, we're going to consolidate the dance nights to two times per month for a while.  We’ll dance on the first and third Fridays in November and December.

The photo below is from the Greek dinner at the Women's Club last week.  We were enjoying the Greek student dance group and the fine sounds of the band Embros.  You should see the acrobatics and get the styling of these young dancers, who are led by each other. One of them is a freshman who danced in his Greek high school.  Thanks, Margaret, for getting us going to this event.

Greek dancers with Embros band

Photo by Jack Seltzer

October 21 – 23 Sharpes Assembly English Country Dance

Caller David Millstone; band Full Circle

Place: Kenilworth Lodge, 1610 SE Lakeview Drive, Sebring, Florida

Contact: Catie Geist, 321-427-3587, catiegeist@att.net

Information: dancefl.us/ecd/ecdspec.php

Events

October 29 Fall Fling

Hosted by South Brevard International Dancers

Place: Melbourne Village Community House, Melbourne Village, FL

Time: 11:00 am – 10:00 pm

Pot luck lunch and supper

Halloween costumes welcome

Price: $5

Contact: John Daly, 321-482-6818, john@dalypreservation.com

Directions: I-95 or U.S. 1 to Melbourne; New Haven Ave (US 192) to Dayton Blvd (near the Home Depot). North on Dayton to Hall Road, which is marked with a sign "Historic Site Community House". East on Hall Road to the white building that looks like an old barracks.

October 31 Ira Weisburd Workshop - G'ville

Israeli and international dance

Place: B'nai Israel, 3830 NW 16 Blvd., Gainesville, FL

Time: 7 – 9 pm

Information: gainesvilledance.com

October 27-30 Greek Festival Lecanto

Place: Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church, 4705 W. Gulf-to-Lake Hwy (S.R. 44 West), Lecanto

Time: 11am - 8pm Thursday - Saturday; 11am - 3pm Sunday

Contact: 352-527-0766

Information: www.stmichaelgoc.org/festival.html

November 02 Ira Weisburd Workshop

sponsored by Sarasota Grapeviners

Place: John Chidsey Bayfront Community Center, 801 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL

Time: 7 – 10 pm

Contact: Judy Merkt, 941-379-6302, jamerkt@comcast.net

Information: www.ifdsarasota.webs.com

October 26 Ira Weisburd Workshop

Israeli dances

Place: Congregation B'nai Torah,700 Mt. Vernon Rd., Atlanta, GA

Time: 7 - 10 pm

Contact: macholatlanta@gmail.com

Information: rikudatlanta.com/index.asp?page=UpcomingEvents

International Folk Dance Tours

Please note: The Florida FolkDancer prints information on folk dance tours, camps and other events that may be of interest to our readers. This does not imply an endorsement or recommendation of any tour or camp (except our own FFDC events!)

February 17 – 20 FFDC Presidents' Weekend

Place: Holiday Inn Main Gate East, 5711 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy (US192), Kissimmee, FL

Time: 4:00 pm Friday to noon Monday

Contact: Terry Abrahams, 813-234-1231, tabrahams@tampabay.rr.com

Information: 

www.folkdance.org/Camp2012/Camp2012Main.html

December 10 - Flagler Beach/Palm Coast Holiday Party

Time: 11 am to ???

Details to be announced.

July 16-30 Tour to Croatia and Slovenia

Led by Jim Gold

Ljubljana, Zagreb Folk Festival, Split, Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

Contact for all Jim Gold tours: 201-836-0362, jimgold@jimgold.com

Information: www.jimgold.com

June 30 – July 10 Dance on the Water Cruise of the Lower Danube

Led by Mel Mann and Lee Otterholt

Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania

Contact: 510-526-4033, meldancing@aol.com

Information: www.folkdanceonthewater.org

January 6 - 8 English for International Dancers

with George Fogg

Place: Melbourne Village Community House, Melbourne Village, FL

See Brevard International Dancers on p. 3

January 27-29  Florida Snow Ball

Contra dance weekend

Sponsor: Tampa Friends of Old-Time Dance

Place: Gulfport Casino, Gulfport, FL

Time: Fri. 6 pm – Sun. 1:45pm

Information: www.floridasnowball.com

December 26 – January 1 Berea College Christmas Country Dance School

Contra, English Country, clogging, Danish dance, Morris dance, etc.

Place: Berea College, Berea, KY

Contact: 859-985-3431, ccds@berea.edu

Information: www.berea.edu/peh/dance/ccds/

November 24-27 Texas Folk Dance Camp

Teachers: Sonia Dion and Cristian Florescu

Place: Greene Family Camp, Bruceville, Texas

Contact: campchairs10@tifd.org

Information www.tifd.org

November 4-6 Greek Festival, Maitland

Place: Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 1217 Trinity Woods Lane, Maitland

Times: Fri. 4-11pm; Sat. 11am-11pm, Sun 11 am-6pm

Contact: 407-331-4687

Information: www.orlandogreekfest.com

December 26 – January 1 Winter Dance Week

Roo Lester (Scandinavian); contra, English, etc.

Place: John C. Campbell Folk School, One Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC

Contact: 828-837-2775

Information: www.folkschool.org

January 25 Sarasota Snow Ball

Place: Bayfront Community Center, 801 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

Time: 7 – 9:30 PM

Contact: Judy Merkt, 941-379-6302, jamerkt@comcast.net

Return Address:

Florida FolkDancer

1963 S. Lake Reedy Blvd.

Frostproof, FL 33843

USA

FIRST CLASS

FLORIDA FOLK DANCER

Florida Folk Dancer is published six to eight times a year by the Florida Folk Dance Council, Inc., a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to further knowledge, performance, and recreational enjoyment of International Folk Dance.

2011 FFDC OFFICERS:

President: Terry Abrahams

813-234-1231,

president@folkdance.org

VP: Judy Merkt

 941-379-6302 
jamerkt@comcast.net 

Secretary/Treasurer: John Daly

P.O. Box 500856, Malabar, FL 32950

321-482-6818

treasurer@folkdance.org

Corresponding Secretary: Pat Henderson

407-275-6247, henderp@bellsouth.net

Historian: Dan Lampert

dan300@dlc2.com

Newsletter Editor: Caroline Lanker

1963 S. Lake Reedy Blvd.

Frostproof, FL 33843

863-635-9366

editor@folkdance.org

Submissions: Send event notices for the calendar or the newsletter to Pat Henderson. Send all other newsletter submissions to the Editor.

Copyright: Articles in the Florida Folk Dancer are copyright by the Florida Folk Dance Council, Inc., or by their individual authors.

Subscriptions for printed and mailed copies are $15 per year per person ($20 per family) and include membership in the Florida Folk Dance Council. Membership without printed newsletters is $10 per person or $15 per family. The membership year runs from one annual Florida Folk Dance Camp (usually February) to the next. The newsletter is posted on the FFDC website and members with e-mail addresses are notified of its availability.

FFDC Website: www.folkdance.org