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Spring Chickens Play Contra in Jonesborough!

The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society welcomes Asheville band “Spring Chickens” and caller Connie Carringer to the next contra
On Saturday, March 6, 2010 at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center, 117 Boone Street. There will be a class for beginners at 7:00pm followed by the dance from 7:30-10:30pm. There will be a waltz break at 9:00pm at which time Klondike Bars will be offered to all comers. Admission to the dance is $7, $5 for HJDS members and $4 for students.

The beginner’s workshop gives the experienced dancers and first timers
a chance to warm up together. The caller explains many of the calls
such as balance and swing, star left and star right, ladies chain across,
Do-si-do, courtesy turn, allemande and hey for four. Many of these
calls would be familiar to anyone who has square danced. The contra
dance employs a longwise set and allows couples to progress up
and down the line to dance with all other couples. It’s a group dance where everyone in the longwise set interacts with everyone else during the song which lasts anywhere from seven to ten minutes.

The Spring Chickens known mostly for their hard driving rhythmic old time repertoire will crossover to add contra dance tunes for our dance. The Spring Chickens are lead by regional potters Rob and Beth Mangum from Weaverville, NC. on fiddle and guitar. The remaining members of their group are McLean Bissell on bass, Art Schuster on mandolin and Ben Harvey on banjo.

Connie Carringer, a graduate student 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.

Event organizer, David Wiley, believes that our dance community, which is open to all comers, is growing both in size but more importantly in dance skill. “Our last dance had over 150 dancers, but the dancing was excellent.” adds Wiley. “We are getting dancers from all over the region because of our dance floor and because we are a very friendly and welcoming group”.

“We combine traditional live music and dances that anyone can
do” adds Wiley. The dances are held two times per month in the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center. All the dances are taught by
the caller. You don’t have to bring a partner. The dances are smoke and alcohol free.

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

All-Women Band plays Contra Dance in Jonesborough!

The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society will hold a contra dance on Saturday, February 20, 2010 at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center at 117 Boone Street. The dance begins at 7:30 PM with music by Asheville based “Fly By Night”. The caller, Barbara Groh, will conduct a class for beginners at 7:00 PM. No partner is necessary. All dance steps are taught by the caller. All events are smoke and alcohol free. Admission to the dance is $7, $5 for HJDS members and $4 for students.

The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society (HJDS) is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that was created to continue the tradition of America folk dance and music.
Anyone can become a member by paying a nominal annual fee which gives members a discount on each admission. “Admission fees,” says Wiley, “help us attract the best bands and callers and help promote our dance all over the region. Anyone wishing to join can print a membership form from our website and can mail it or bring to the next dance.” You do not have to be a member to participate in the dances which are open to all comers including children.

At the contra dance, you will be part of a living tradition passed on by the experienced dancers helping the newcomers. The dancers, the musicians, and caller aim for an evening of low-pressure, often energetic, camaraderie. Come alone or with others. We suggest changing partners every dance, although dates who attend together and significant others might dance with each other more than once. Sometimes you choose a partner and sometimes you get chosen. It's acceptable for women to ask men to dance.

Contra dancing is an evening of fun, featuring dancing in "sets" of about a dozen couples. You interact with your partner and everyone else in the set too as you dance with easy walking steps to energetic music. A caller, working with a group of live musicians, guides new and experienced dancers through a variety of dances.

The caller teaches each dance before it is actually done to the music. This walk through gives everyone an idea of what to expect so the movements can be easily executed. The caller calls the dances as they are being performed to the music, so dancers are able to execute each movement to the music. Once the dancers appear to have mastered a dance, the caller may stop calling, leaving the dancers to enjoy the movement with music alone.

“Our dancers are really getting the hang of it, and the skill level is getting amazingly better,” states event organizer David Wiley. “Our dance is for all ages. We are getting high school and college dancers along with families and children coming to learn contra dance. Also, you don’t have to have a partner.” The best way to learn contra dance is by asking a more experienced partner to dance. It’s perfectly acceptable for ladies to ask gentlemen to dance. “We just started our fifth year in existence, have the finest dance floor anywhere in the region and are booking some of the best bands and callers in the business. Our program has been a huge success” adds Wiley.

Fly By Night is led by Karen Gaughan on the piano. Karen is Asheville’s most in-demand contra dance key board player. Gaughan together with her by Fly Night Partners, Laura Lengnick on fiddle, Beth Magill on Flute and Julia Weatherford on Fiddle, provide a full sound, plenty of rhythm and a really good ride for the avid contra dancer or waltzer.

Their repertoire starts with upbeat traditional New England contra dance tunes chosen with care to fit the dance at danceable tempos kept rock solid with Gaughan’s thumping bass hand. The band weaves in lilting Celtic melodies and makes them fly with Beth Magill’s achingly beautiful flute woven through with fiddle harmony. The girls let their hair down with funky, rockin originals. They’ll pull out the percussion toys, and dig deep in to some of their own tunes as well as others to keep the dancers flying. The driving force of the southern fiddle tunes is Laura and Julia who create a small tornado in the room when sawing it down with their twin harmony.

Barbara Groh has spent most of her life in the traditional music and dance scene, starting with square dancing at age 13 and contra dancing at age 18. She also played old-time banjo since college. In 1989, Barbara became Caller Coordinator for the Triangle Country Dancers in Chapel Hill, NC. She learned to call while filling in when there was no one available to call a dance. She became very passionate about calling dances and sharing the joy of contra dancing in venues all over the East coast from Florida to New Hampshire. Her calling experience ranged from small community dances to large dance festivals. She now lives in Asheville, NC, home of one of the most thriving dance communities in the known universe.

For more information, please contact event organizer, David Wiley, at 423-913-3246 or visit www.historicjonesboroughdancesociety.org or HJDS on FACEBOOK.

All-Woman Band plays Contra Dance in Jonesborough!

The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society will hold a contra dance on Saturday, February 20, 2010 at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center at 117 Boone Street. The dance begins at 7:30 PM with music by Asheville based “Fly By Night”. The caller, Barbara Groh, will conduct a class for beginners at 7:00 PM. No partner is necessary. All dance steps are taught by the caller. All events are smoke and alcohol free. Admission to the dance is $7, $5 for HJDS members and $4 for students.

Fly By Night is led by Karen Gaughan on the piano. Karen is Asheville’s most in-demand contra dance key board player. Gaughan together with her by Fly Night Partners, Laura Lengnick on fiddle, Beth Magill on Flute and Julia Weatherford on Fiddle, provide a full sound, plenty of rhythm and a really good ride for the avid contra dancer or waltzer.

Their repertoire starts with upbeat traditional New England contra dance tunes chosen with care to fit the dance at danceable tempos kept rock solid with Gaughan’s thumping bass hand. The band weaves in lilting Celtic melodies and makes them fly with Beth Magill’s achingly beautiful flute woven through with fiddle harmony. The girls let their hair down with funky, rockin originals. They’ll pull out the percussion toys, and dig deep in to some of their own tunes as well as others to keep the dancers flying. The driving force of the southern fiddle tunes is Laura and Julia who create a small tornado in the room when sawing it down with their twin harmony.

Barbara Groh spent most of her life in the traditional music and dance scene, starting with square dancing at age 13 and contra dancing at age 18. She also played old-time banjo since college. In 1989, Barbara became Caller Coordinator for the Triangle Country Dancers in Chapel Hill, NC. She learned to call while filling in when there was no one available to call a dance. She became very passionate about calling dances and sharing the joy of contra dancing in venues all over the East coast from Florida to New Hampshire. Her calling experience ranged from small community dances to large dance festivals. She now lives in Asheville, NC, home of one of the most thriving dance communitites in the known universe.

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

Doubleheader Contra Dance in Jonesborough!

The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society will hold a doubleheader contra dance on Saturday and Sunday, February 6-7, 2010 at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center, 117 Boone Street. Admission to the dances is $7, $5 for HJDS members and $4 for students. All dances are smoke and alcohol free. No partner is necessary. Families and children are welcome.
Performing for the Saturday event will be Cailen Campbell and David Brown from Asheville. The callers will HJDS members Warren & Terry Doyle from Mountain City, TN. They will also teach a full hour waltz workshop from 6-7pm.
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. Calien and David will be bringing their unique blend of contra grooves to Jonesborough.
Super Bowl Sunday brings the second event of the doubleheader. It’s the Second Annual Foot Ball. While the fans of the sport of NFL Football are gearing up for the championship game of the season, contra dancers will gather at the Jonesborough Visitors Center to share potluck lunch starting at noon, waltzing from 12:45 to 2:00pm and contra dance from 2:30-5:30pm. “We did this event last year and surprisingly had over 130 dancers come for the afternoon dance” states event organizer David Wiley, President of the Historic Jonesborough Dance Society. The waltz music will be provided by local duo “Feverish” made up of 16 year old pianist Courtnie Magamoll joined by Flutist Cricket Hull.
The afternoon contra dance will feature the band Hot Sonata with Karen Gaughan on keyboard, Mark Mueller on fiddle and Art Shuster on mandolin. Ever popular caller, Beth Molaro from Asheville, will do the dance calling. There will be no beginner workshop for this dance. The dance will conclude at 5:30pm in plenty of time for dancers to change back over to football fans as the Super Bowl Game kicks off at 6:25pm.
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 an the Historic Jonesborough Dance Society on FACEBOOK.

Our dance for Friday night January 29th has been CANCELLED due to inclement weather in the forecast.

Thanks!