Recent News

The Labor Day Weekend will bring two HJDS events to the forefront. First of all, on Saturday September 4th, the Contrathon Warm Up dance will take place at the Jonesborough Visitors Center at 7:30pm. The music will be provided by the Avant Gardeners from Virginia. The caller will be Atlanta's Robbin Marcus. Robin will have a class for beginners at 7:00pm. The dance will run from 7:30-10:30pm and as usual, the waltz & Klondike Bar break will be at 9:00pm.

On Sunday, Sept 5th is Contrathon VIII held at the Mountain Music Jamboree in Glendale Springs, NC. The bands are the Contrarians from Huntington, WV and the Avant Gardeners. The callers are Dean Snipes and Louie Cromartie. Cost for the day of dance is $30 for all day, $15 for either half day. Students can still pay $20 and $12 respectively.

Here is the schedule:

10:00-12:30pm Contrarians with Louie Cromartie
12:30-01:00pm Break
01:00-03:30pm Avant Gardeners with Dean Snipes
03:30-04:00pm Break
04:00-06:00pm Contrarians with Louie Cromartie
06:00-07:30pm Dinner Break & Couples Dancing
07:30-10:00pm Avant Gardeners with Dean Snipes
10:00 Clean Up & Goodbyes

The website and directions for the Mountain Music Jamboree is:

http://www.mountainmusicjamboree.com/contact-us/

Any questions about either event, contact event organizer, David Wiley at david@historicjonesboroughdancesociety.org or 423-534-8879.

Summer Harvest Potluck & Contra Dance in Jonesborough

The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society will present the Annual Summer Harvest Potluck Dinner & Contra Dance on Saturday August 21, 2010. The potluck dinner and contra dance will be held at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center at 117 Boone Street beginning at 6:00 pm. Class for beginning contra dancers will follow at 7:00 pm. The dance will run from 7:30-10:30 pm with a waltz and Klondike Bar break at 9:00pm. Coming to Jonesborough to perform for the first time will be the Dancing Bears from Asheville. Calling for the dance will be the ever popular Barbara Groh from Asheville.
During the dinner hour, guests can also waltz to recorded music.

The Summer Harvest Potluck Dinner will begin at 6:00pm. Nothing brings people together like a potluck, and nothing gets them talking together like the subject of food. Just watch as the buffet table fills up with salads, casseroles, pastas and desserts and you’ll see for yourself. “We are building a community through traditional music and dance. We hope to get our dancers chatting happily, exchanging recipes and telling the story behind each recipe,” adds Wiley. Food talk at a potluck can teach us a lot about each other and the world around us. Prizes will be given to the most creative and mouthwatering dishes. If you are not a home gardener, support your local Farmer’s Market including the Jonesborough Farmer’s Market held every Saturday from 8 am until noon in the parking area next to the Court House on Main Street.

The Dancing Bears consists of Lew Gelfond on fiddle, Mark Langner on guitar, John Culp mandolin and banjo, and Skip Metheny on bass. Lew Gelfond has been playing the fiddle since long before the cows came home. He is a solo performer of old time fiddle and banjo music and also plays swing, ragtime, Celtic, gypsy, country, Klezmer, tangos, and other traditional music. Lew performs at schools, concerts, workshops and festivals and has been a violin, viola and fiddle teacher for over 20 years. Mark Langner started playing keyboards and guitar in a garage rock band in high school. In college, he played coffeehouses as part of a duo which did an eclectic mix of music ranging from Merle Haggard to Grateful Dead to Frank Zappa. Mark’s current interest is in swing and jazz, which colors most things the Bears do. Mark is also a certified hypnotherapist and builds acoustic archtop quitars in an effort to add to the total amount of beauty in the
World. John Culp got his first real guitar on his 16th birthday and has been picking’ strings ever since. Since meeting his bride and favorite caller, Barbara Groh, and becoming submerged in the contra dance community, he has concentrated on mandolin and tenor banjo. If he’s not playing for a dance, you might spot John running the soundboard or even dancing. Skip Metheny began playing drums in his early teens with various R&R bands. He was a founding member of the show band “The Doomsday Refreshment Committee” which toured Vietnam entertaining US and allied military folks during the psychedelic era and later became the house band in a Bangkok nightclub. After moving to Asheville, Skip became an avid contra dancer. He has been playing bass and percussion for contra and swing music at various festivals, dance weekends and other events around the Southeast since 1997.

Barbara Groh, a resident of Asheville, NC, has been calling contra dances all over the Southeast since 1989. She has called such festivals as the Charleston Bug Stomp, Gotta Dance, the Summer Soiree, the Black Mountain Music Festival, Moon Dance, and the Gypsy Meltdown. Her smooth style, clear teaching and collection of interesting dances will help you achieve Contra Nirvana.

Barbara has been immersed in the traditional music and dance scene for three decades. She became an avid square dancer at age thirteen. In college she fell in love with contra dancing and learned to play old-time banjo. As a caller, her patience and ability to give precise dance instructions stem in part from her 15 years as a classroom teacher and private tutor. She currently works with children of all ages who have dyslexia.

Come as you are; wear soft flexible shoes for dancing. Come to dance, join the potluck dinner or just to listen. No partner is necessary. All dances are taught. As always, our dances are smoke and alcohol free. Admission to the dance is $7, $5 for HJDS members and $4 for students. Families with their own children are all admitted for only $15.

For further information call event organizer, David Wiley, at 423-913-3246 or visit www.historicjonesboroughdancesociety.org or Historic Jonesborough Dance Society on FACEBOOK.

Contra Dance in Jonesborough!

The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society will hold a contra dance on Saturday, July 17, 2010 at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center, 117 Boone Street. Admission to the dance is $7, $5 for HJDS members and $4 for students. A family package allows parents to bring all of their own children for a total of $15. All dances are smoke and alcohol free. No partner is necessary. Families and children are welcome! A half hour contra dance workshop will be offered at 7pm.

At the 8:30pm waltz break, again Klondike Ice Cream Bars, the official frozen treat of the Historic Jonesborough Dance Society, will be offered to all dancers courtesy of the Historic Jonesborough Dance Society.

Performing for this event will be the band Contraversial consisting of Cailen Campbell and David Brown from Asheville. The caller is Connie Carringer from Boone, NC. The dance time for the dance on Saturday July 17th will be from 7:30-10:30pm.

Cailen Campbell has been thrilling contra dancers all over the southeast and around the country for over a decade. His innovative, highly improvisational, lyrical fiddling has been heard in numerous acclaimed regional dance bands, including The Atomic City Rhythm Rascals, The String Beings, The Rocket Boys, The Gypsy Hicks, in addition to a dynamic duo with renowned Asheville area guitarist and banjo virtuoso David Brown. Campbell recently played with the Greasy Beans on behalf of the North Carolina Dance Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Connie Carringer, a recent master’s degree graduate at Appalachian State University in the Community Counseling/Expressive Arts Therapy program, is relatively new to contra dance calling but has shown great progress in her second career. Part of her training was the “Callers Week” at the John C. Campbell Folk School last summer. She also plays old time banjo, sings and writes songs.

Contra dancing is a traditional form of American folk dance that evolved from the long ways country dances popular in English society centuries ago. Contra dance communities now thrive all over the country. There are websites that can direct you to contra dances in most states. The modern contra dances provide dancers of all ages and experience levels with the opportunity to smile, move, connect, flirt and create an evening of dance nirvana with each other. No previous dance experience is necessary. No fancy footwork is required. If you can walk and count to eight, you can contra dance!

Contra dances are community events. At almost any contra you will find people of all ages and all dance skill levels, from young to old, beginner to expert. Contra dancers form a very open and welcoming group of people. You can come alone or with others since it is a tradition to dance with a variety of partners throughout the night. It is perfectly acceptable for either a man or a woman to ask someone to dance. It’s a great way to make friends with someone they haven’t met before. You will find contra dancing a great way to make new friends.

For more information, contact event organizer, David Wiley, at 423-913-3246 or visit www.historicjonesboroughdancesociety.org and the Historic Jonesborough Dance Society on FACEBOOK

Jonesborough “Days of Dance”

The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society will present three days of dance during the annual Jonesborough Days Celebration on July 2ndt- 4th at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center, 117 Boone Street. This year’s event will be sponsored by Mountain States Health Alliance. Admission to the dance can be attained by purchasing a $5 wristband each day allowing dancers to come and go during the day and enjoy the many activities associated with the festival. There will be a variety of dances and workshops offered during the event which will include family dance, square, contra, waltz and swing dance.

The callers will be Beth Molaro, Charley Harvey and Laurie Fisher.

Event organizer, David Wiley states “Being a part of Jonesborough Days gives us a chance to showcase our dance program to everyone in the region. Our dancers come to enjoy the traditional music and dance, get some exercise and to be a part of a dance community that is intergenerational and family oriented. We are very fortunate this year to be sponsored by Mountain States Health Alliance.” Ed Herbert, vice-president of marketing for MSHA states “Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA) offers comprehensive wellness programs to many businesses which help them lower their healthcare costs while improving the quality of lives for their employees. The Town of Jonesborough employees are one of the success stories in the MSHA wellness program. We also offer a wellness program to our own 9,000 Team Members. Why are we so committed to this wellness initiative? Our region is too obese, suffering from type 2 diabetes and many times the answer is simple; we need to get more active and eat healthier! Through contra dancing, the Dance Society offers an alcohol free, tobacco free and family-friendly event which inspires people to be active through the dance. Come experience contra dancing. MSHA invites the region, but especially our Team Members, to come out and enjoy (name of event). Get moving, get health and have a lot fun in the process.”

The kickoff dance will be Friday night July 2nd at 7:30pm with Toss the Possum playing contra dance and waltz tunes called by Asheville’s Beth Molaro. Toss the Possum is mostly a family band from Radford, VA. The band has written and published, under the direction of Mother Possum, Laura Zisette, a book of 42 original waltzes, jigs and reels. Their book called Possum Tunes will be available at the dance.

The remainder of the Possum band is made up of oldest son Chas on bass. Chas will attend Radford University in January. Rob graduated from Radford High School, plays fiddle and will attend Virginia Tech in fall to major in physics. Sam Athanas is the Possum percussionists. Joining Toss the Possum for the first time will be National Flat-picking Champion guitarist Scott Fore also from Radford, Virginia. Of course, Laura Zisette, band director, is the featured on keyboards.

Cat Fight members are very well known in this area. The band is made up of fiddler/caller Laurie Fisher, Karen Gaughan on Keyboard, Nic Coker on rhythm guitar and Jono Altizer on mandolin.

Rounding out the music lineup will be the Artnoc String Band from Florida. They are actually the same band called Jubal’s Kin who will be performing at the Jonesborough Days main stage at 4pm on Sunday. This manifestation includes 2009 Tennessee Fiddle champion, Gailanne Amundsen, brother Roger Amundsen on guitar, Ninian Bell on banjo and Scarlett Amundsen on bass. Their contra dance set will be on Sunday from 12:00-2:00pm.


Here is the schedule:

Friday July 2
07:30pm-10:30pm Contras & Squares w/Beth Molaro & Toss the Possum

Saturday July 3
09:00am-10:00am Waltz Workshop w/Charley Harvey
10:00am-11:00am Open Waltz w/Toss the Possum
11:15am-12:45pm Advanced Contra w/Charley Harvey & TTPoss
12:45pm-02:15pm Lunch Break
01:00pm-02:00pm Family Dance at Children’s Stage
02:15pm-03:45pm Contra Dance w/Charley Harvey & Cat Fight
04:00pm-04:45pm Swing Dance Workshop
04:45pm-06:00pm Swing Dance w/Screechowl Serenade
06:00pm-07:00pm Dinner Break
07:00pm-07:30pm Beginners Contra Dance Workshop
07:30pm-10:30pm Contra Dance w/Charley Harvey & Cat Fight

Sunday July 4
10:00am-11:30am Open Waltz w/Toss the Possum
12:00pm-2:00pm Contra Dance w/Laurie Fisher & Artnoc String
02:30pm-5:30pm Contra Dance w/Charley Harvey & Cat Fight
05:30pm-07:00pm Dinner Break
07:00pm-9:30pm Contra Dance w/Toss the Cat (both) & Charley
10:00pm Fireworks

Contra Dance in Jonesborough!

The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society will hold a contra dance on Saturday, June 19, 2010,at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center, 117 Boone Street. Admission to the dance is $7, $5 for HJDS members and $4 for students. A family package allows parents to bring all of their own children for a total of $15. All dances are smoke and alcohol free. No partner is necessary. Families and children are welcome! Open waltzing to recorded music will again be offered from 6-7pm.

At the 9:00pm waltz break, we will have the first “Berry Cookoff”. We are asking all comers to bring their favorite fresh berry recipe using seasonal berries such as blueberry and strawberry. Prizes will be awarded to the best dishes.
Performing for this event will be the Hungry Monks from Charleston, SC. The caller will be Tim Klein from Knoxville. Tim will conduct a class for beginners at 7:00pm where beginners and experienced dancers alike will learn the basic steps, formations and flow of contra dance.

The Hungry Monks are an acoustic group whose instrumentation includes voice, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, bass, and percussion. Based around thr creative talents of Hazel Ketchum and John Holenko, The Hungry Monks have played concerts, clubs, festivals, and private events. The Monks play a variety of traditional musics as well as their own original songs (Hazel's) and instrumentals (John's). As a band and as individuals, we have played rock, folk, Celtic, bluegrass, jazz, Renaissance and Medieval music. Somehow, all of that makes its way into our sets. We have been working with John Kennedy on bass for many years now and he shares our love for everything from Machaut to Jerry Garcia. The Monks wear out fiddle players pretty quickly. The latest in our long line of fiddlers is Bob Culver, who also plays guitar and mandolin and sings (mostly, highly inappropriate material). The Hungry Monks have recorded 2 CD's. Our first CD is called "Organic Tangerines" and features traditional Irish and original music. We also have a Celtic Christmas CD called "All Through The Night". The Hungry Monks fearlessly perform at any venue that will have them, including Charleston's Music Farm, The Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Charleston First Night, The St. Joseph International Guitar Festival, The Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center, and Tommy Condon's Irish Pub. Our recordings have been heard on radio stations throughout the US and we have appeared on TV at morning times when no self-respecting musician would be found awake (unless they had not yet actually gone to bed).

Tim Klein will be coming to the Tri-Cities to call for the first time. Tim has been calling contra dances for community events, parties, and hard-core dance groups in East Tennessee for more than 15 years. He is known for selecting a mix of easy and challenging dances and presenting them with clear directions and enthusiasm.

Contra dancing is a traditional form of American folk dance that evolved from the long ways country dances popular in English society centuries ago. Contra dance communities now thrive all over the country. There are websites that can direct you to contra dances in most states. The modern contra dances provide dancers of all ages and experience levels with the opportunity to smile, move, connect, flirt and create an evening of dance nirvana with each other. No previous dance experience is necessary. No fancy footwork is required. If you can walk and count to eight, you can contra dance!
Contra dances are community events. At almost any contra you will find people of all ages and all dance skill levels, from young to old, beginner to expert. Contra dancers form a very open and welcoming group of people. You can come alone or with others since it is a tradition to dance with a variety of partners throughout the night. It is perfectly acceptable for either a man or a woman to ask someone to dance. It’s a great way to make friends with someone they haven’t met before. You will find contra dancing a great way to make new friends.
For more information, contact event organizer, David Wiley, at 423-913-3246 or visit www.historicjonesboroughdancesociety.org and Historic Jonesborough Dance Society on FACEBOOK.