Julie LW sent on January 30 2020
Dancing in Lansing, Sat Feb 1
Hello – There is a contra and square dance in town is Saturday Feb 1. This Dance is hosted by the Ten Pound Fiddle and will feature the music of The Scarlet Runner String Band and the calling of Peter Baker, from Ann Arbor. The dance will be at Central United Methodist Church, 215 N Capitol Ave (CUMC). New Dancer intro at 6:30pm, Dance 7 -10. Usual prices- Gen Public $12, Members of Trad. Dance groups $10 and Students and first time dancers $6. ** HEY- it appears that parking in the lot to the north of church is once again OK. For now, it would be good if you stick to the spaces assigned to CUMC (not St. Paul’s or the other church or the catering Co.) The parking ramp/garage is a good option too.
The next dance in town is Saturday Feb 15 at CUMC. This dance will feature the music of Askin’ for Trouble with Julie Levy- Weston calling (that’s me!). New Dancer intro at 6:30pm, Dance 7 -10. Gen Public $12, Members of Trad. Dance groups $10 and Students and first time dancers $6.
Early notice for the March Ten Pound Fiddle Dance on Sat Mar 7. It is very close to Bob Stein’s 85th birthday, so he’s making it a dance party day. All this will be happening at CUMC.
There will be an afternoon of English Country dancing beginning a 2pm. Calling will be Gay Fifer- she is in demand for dance events all over the country- and the music will be provided by Big Fun (that’s Brad Battey, Myron Grant and Marty Somberg)
The English dance ends at 5pm and and 5:30 we’ll share a potluck. Bring a dish to share (with serving utensil) and place setting for yourself (though we will have paper and plastic if needed)
We can use the oven for heating up food, but no cooking, please. We’ll also be able to put cold food in the fridge.
The evening will bring the regular 1st Sat contra dance. Gaye will be calling and Big Fun will provide the hot dancing tunes. They like to explore lots of types of danceable music.
New Dancer intro at 6:30pm, Dance 7 -10.
Usual prices- Gen Public $12,
Members of Trad. Dance groups $10 and Students and first time dancers $6.
The meeting about how to keep dancing active and viable here in Lansing went well- about 15 people in attendance.
There will be two “sub-committee” meeting on Sunday Feb 16.
Operations- will meet at 2pm and John and Christy’s in East Lansing (email back for specifics)
The Advertising and PR group will also meet on Sunday - early afternoon, at Bob and Laura Stein’s (I’m almost positive)
We have set up a binder, that will be at each dance, that has an outline of all the tasks that need to be done for each dance, so we all can quickly find out where we can help.
More local dancing There is also English Country Dancing at MSU once a month through the college year. this semesters dates are Feb 13, Mar 12 and April 9 The dance goes from 7:00pm to 9:30pm Michigan State University RCAH Theater, room C20 (lower level) – Snyder-Phillips Hall 362 Bogue Street, East Lansing (free parking available near Snyder-Phillips after 6pm) Admission $6, students $4, free to MSU students More information at http://mathcs.albion.edu/~ram/lecd/
I happened to note that the Ann Arbor folks are having a mini dance weekend Feb 7 and 8. Caller will be Emily Abel, with Music by The Mean Lids and Dr. Shadow Contra dance Friday night at 7:30pm workshops and waltzing the afternoon on Sat “Traditional” contra 7:30pm on Sat, followed by a TECHNO CONTRA at 10pm on Sat night.
Techno is called dance and uses the moves we know, but the music is modern/techno (but still, usually, has the 64 counts we are used to). These events are accented with colorful lighting, moving lights and sometimes black lights. not sure what the plans are for Ann Arbor, lighting wise, but it sounds like fun! (go to YouTube and search for Techno Contra- lots to look at) And each event is pay what you can- suggested $10 for the contra sessions. the event take place at the Concourse Hall 4531 Concourse Dr. in Ann Arbor here’s a link to some additional info https://assets.aactmad.org/pdfs/nexgen.techno.contra.pdf
Spring Dance weekends Registration is open for Trillium Twirl, Michigan Dance Heritage Spring Weekend. the event is held at camp on a small lake in Dowling, MI. Dates this year are April 24 - 26. the music will be provided by Turnip the Beet with calling by Bob Isaacs more info at https://michigandanceheritage.org/trilliumtwirl/
Pigtown Fling- Mar 27-29 in Cincinnati. More info http://www.cincinnaticontradance.org/pigtown.htm Mad Robin Romp- Bloomington, IN - April 10-12 - http://bloomingtoncontra.org/mad-robin-romp/ Spring Thaw in Toronto, April 24-26. https://www.tcdance.org/thaw.php
Happy Dancing! Julie LW