GUILFORD — A family-friendly community dance featuring traditional New England dances (squares, contras, circles, waltzes, and polkas) will be held at the new Guilford Community Park Pavilion, 24 Church Drive (behind the Country Store, next to Guilford Community Church) on Sunday, Aug. 20, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
All dances will be taught; no partner needed. All are welcome and admission is by suggested donation of $10 per person with a family limit of $20 (but no one will be turned away).
Music for the dance will be provided by some of the best in the business, say organizers: Laurie Indenbaum on fiddle, Carol Compton on keyboard, and Fred Breunig, teaching and calling.
Indenbaum has been fiddling for dances in New England since 1976. She has played in numerous bands over the years drawing on Quebecois, New England, Scandinavian, and old-time style.
Compton grew up in a family steeped in music and dance from all over the world. Since college, she has played for contra, English country, Morris, and Colonial-era dancing traditions.
Breunig started calling while in college in the early 1970s, and says he still loves it best when he is introducing dancing to those who have never danced before. He is experienced teaching people of all ages and abilities. "His patience and good-natured manner are legendary," states the news release.
The dance is sponsored by Vermont Interfaith Action (VIA), a Vermont-based social justice organization run by volunteers and some paid staff, organizing Vermonters on the social issues of the day.
These issues include housing - especially, housing the unhoused - and racial justice, including work on Prop 2 (the Anti-Slavery Amendment to the Vermont Constitution) and the Declaration of Inclusion Campaign (which is now up to 110 towns across Vermont, who have publicly committed to be more welcoming and inclusive). VIA has also worked on immigrant issues, prison reform, and better community-police relations.
For more information about the dance or VIA, contact Mike Mrowicki, the Southeast Vermont Organizer for VIA, at [email protected].
This The Arts item was submitted to The Commons.