June 10th – Delightful Dance

Join us this Saturday, June 10th, for a delightful community contra dance!  Maggie McRae will call (teach), starting the evening with easy dances accessible to novices and families with children.  The hall will fill with lively, engergetic dancers, new skils will be taught as needed, and by the end, we’ll have danced the old chestnut, “Chorus Jig”, to the traditional reel of the same name.  (Trust us, Chorus Jig is fun! That’s why people have been dancing it since 1820, at least.)  Come alone, or with friends.
Music will be provided by two masters of New England’s traditional dance music:  Laurie Indenbaum on fiddle, and Mary Cay Brass on keyboard.  Mary Cay has been a foundational performer and teacher in the traditional dance and music community for many years. In addition to teaching choral singing, she has supplied a vital pulse in various beloved dance bands, including “The Greenfield Dance Band” with David Kaynor, and “Airdance” with Rodney Miller.  Laurie Indenbaum has been fiddling for dances in Vermont and surrounding states since 1976, with many fine callers and bands, including “Applejack” and “The Full Catastrophe”.

Location: the Community Hall of the First Congregational Church. 906 Main Street, Williamstown, MA  
Time: 7:30 – 10 PM
Admission: pay-as-you-can.  $12 – $20 suggested.  Barter (especially help with cleanup) also welcome.
Covid Policy: we continue to require proof of vaccination and masking for this June 10th dance.  Please be prepared to show proof of vaccination at the door, if you have not previously registered at our dance.  (Pre-registration form here:  https://tinyurl.com/NorthBerkshireDancePreReg)  Having a spare mask to change into can be really helpful – just like shirts, masks get a bit dampish from dancing in warm weather, and a fresh, dry one is a pleasure.

Speaking of Covid policies, ours is potentially up for revision.  Would you contribute your thoughts, please, in this survey?  https://tinyurl.com/NBCDCovidSurvey2023  We had planned to launch this survey last month, but then one of our key organizers came down with Covid (he’s recovered now), and we had a bit of a scramble to put on the May dance without him.  He reports that Covid is distinctly unpleasant, even with Paxlovid.  Since he stayed home (model comportment) we didn’t have to worry he would spread Covid at the dance — but it was a good reminder that,  A. we miss people when they’re away and, B. Covid’s not gone and we do still need to think about how we want to manage it.

We hope to see you at this dance, and many more!  

January 14th Update

Good news: our Jan 14th dance is ON!
We’ve been keeping an anxious eye on Covid community transmission levels, which were worrisomely high in neighboring counties last week. Luckily, the map released yesterday shows Berkshire County, AND also our north-county neighbors, all at medium transmission levels.

Please come if you can! Remember, we dancers share responsiblity for our dance community’s health. Use your discretion; stay home if you’re not feeling well, test before you come out. You can review registration terms here: https://tinyurl.com/NorthBerkshireDancePreReg

1.12.2023 Covid Community Transmission Level Map from https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/