June 2006
CONTENTS
Event Reports and
Reviews
DANIEL SANDU WORKSHOP FLORIDA FOLK FESTIVAL 2006
Columns
PREZ SEZ FROM THE EDITOR ` TREASURER’S REPORT 2006
Club Reports
TAMPA TRIBUNAL NEWS
FROM NAPLES BABIAK DANCE ENSEMBLE
OF SARASOTA
FLAGLER BEACH INTERNATIONAL DANCERS
UF INTERNATIONAL
FOLK DANCERS (GAINESVILLE)
ORLANDO
INTERNATIONAL FOLK DANCE CLUB
Future
PREZ SEZ
by Terry Abrahams
Is life flying by or what? Can’t believe a month has passed. But we’re all dancing somewhere – the theme for this article. I’m sorry to have missed the Mayfair Ball, I didn’t get any information on it – having been invited at the last minute didn’t work for me. But I think their committee has learned their lesson and will announce the next one in OUR newsletter! I hope to make the Colin Hume workshop and see some of you there. English Country is not my favorite, but he is supposed to be amazing, and I think supporting different kinds of dance is important.
I went to a Hafla last month. One of our Israeli dancers is also a belly dancer, and it was quite fun. The afternoon before the party, I took a drumming lesson and loved it! I think I should be drumming instead of accordion-ing. Not that I’ve practiced since. But I loved the moment. Now I’m on my way to the Florida Folk Festival where I will teach Chassidic “stuff” for the Kleyzmer band that plays there every year.
Part of the joy of dancing is seeing good friends in other places, and again I will be meeting Pat and Bobby there, who helped me last year and will again this year. If you’ve never gone, think about it for next year. The FFDC used to perform there, but some way or another we are no longer invited. Their administration has changed as have their rules for entering. This year I also was asked to be a judge for a new concept they had – a Performance Project they called it. I’m anxious to see the group that won. I was the “dance specialist” – first time I’ve ever been invited to do something like that. We had to read and listen to 6 different entrants who had to combine different aspects of performing. Gonna catch a contra dance party first, then head up in the evening – certainly don’t want to miss any dance things!
The contra June Bug Bash is coming up at the end of June, with Seth Tepfer calling and he is always great! Week before Labor Day will find me in GA dancing Israeli with Ruthy and Dany. So – I’m doing my bit to be everywhere, dancing everything, and hope you are doing the same! Dance happens!
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DANIEL SANDU WORKSHOP
The
These photos from Margaret Tolbert’s friend, Jim, show some of the action.
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At
the regular
Way to go,
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FLORIDA
by Pat Henderson
The 54th annual Florida Folk Festival was held
over Memorial Weekend in White Springs at the
This year, Bobby and I enjoyed a Mexican band that played northern
Mexican music. The band consisted of two
stringed instruments and an accordion. We learned a few Mexican-style
steps. At times, I felt like I was listening to a German or Polish band
with polka-sounding music. However, the steps were in 1-2 to match the
guitar and not in 1-2-3 to match the accordion. We also enjoyed listening
to Cajun music of Gumbo Limbo, a Florida Cajun band. Basic Cajun dances
were taught.
The
It is nice to enjoy the festival as a spectator but I still remember all
the years when we performed. When Bobby and I went to our first festival,
we were guest performers with the Tallahassee International Group. The
(Obviously, Bobby and Pat enjoyed the food and drink at the festival, too – Ed)
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TAMPA
By Terry Abrahams
This month Judith and
Ernesto have the happiest news. Their
granddaughter, Cassandra, just got married in
Ursula is still
traveling, so we haven’t heard from her.
Andi is enjoying the
I’m working madly on my Chinese for my trip in July – I’m amazed at what (I think) I can say. I tried to start a meetup.com group and our first meet was last night, and no one came. Two are interested and we are going to try again. I was very disappointed, but will continue with my CDs. I always try to learn the language of the country I’m going to and don’t do too badly, but sadly, within a week of returning, it all disappears.
Our Israeli group did a
really good (well, if I don’t love myself, who will) performance at the Israel
Independence Day Festival May 7, we have a DVD to prove it – one of the
husbands did it for us. My choreography
worked pretty well! Except that we
danced in the sun at 12:20 and almost had sun stroke, it was a good day all
around and we even have a new member from it, and hoping for a couple of
more. Dan from
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NEWS FROM NAPLES
The following note came by e-mail from Jenneine Lambert <dancingarrow@ …>. Her full e-mail address will be in the FFDC membership list which is being mailed to members.
Hello,
I live! finally on an e-connection.
DancingArrow
is my Indian name given to me in 1974 when I was already dancing international
for two years and found The Creek Indian tribe and danced with them. I
hosted a Summer solstice primitive camp one year (on
One little tidbit I can pass on to you is when they dance in a circle together it is a prayer – a meditation in unison on a pre-chosen topic (or random if stated). Also, the dance step: they hover the foot over the ground and then step down, almost as if asking permission before stepping and giving thanks for this earth we walk all at the same time.
I
found the dance troop here, met them at the Greek festival. They meet on
Thursdays 1-3 lead by Helen Marks. Of
course I work, so I can’t go except I had one Thursday off and attended their
LAST dance. I was so glad I caught them;
they have some great dancers, mostly 70 and older but GREAT. Most of them have danced in
Love you all, jenneine
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BABIAK DANCE ENSEMBLE OF SARASOTA
by Demetrius Babiak
Our troupe members who attended the FFDC
Camp had a great time, including Linda and Rick Nicoli, who are Slovak dancers
from
Our 2005-6 dance season was lots of fun:
weekly rehearsals and performances -- Oktoberfests, Italian shows, Slavic and
Latino, and two Irish shows for St. Patrick's day. Our major event is
We would like to encourage other dancers to
arrange to teach folk dancing at the public schools. For the past 3 years
the Sarasota Arts Council has arranged with several elementary schools for us
to teach classes. The schedules vary. For example, this year
we taught seven second grade classes at Taylor Ranch Elementary - over 140
students in all. We met with individual classes and their teachers
between 9 and 11 a.m. once a week and taught each class a different
dance. The teachers learned the dances and had their student rehearse, and
we noticed the improvement the 
next time we met with them. One "advanced" class with an
exceptional teacher learned The Virginia
Reel.
Each day we come dressed in a national
costume and use a large map or globe to locate the country we are
representing. They learn to say Hello and Good-by and a few polite
phrases in the language of the country.
After four meetings, we put on a show for the parents, who were amazed
to see their children ... conforming to a set pattern, speaking some words in
German and Spanish and actually holding hands with each other! (How to
Hold Hands is lesson #1.)
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FLAGLER BEACH
by Jan Lathi
Our Betty is off
to
Several of our
dancers are traveling or visiting relatives in the North over the summer so our
numbers have been clipped a bit but there were six of us last Thursday. Maureen is off to
UF INTERNATIONAL FOLK
DANCERS (GAINESVILLE
by Jack Seltzer, et al.
Arlene has been
off visiting with her son in
Toshi is still recovering from an injury to his Achilles tendon and resulting surgery on Feb. 1. The doctor said his leg will take six months to a year to heal. Joyce Dewsbury reports, “He is no longer using crutches but wears a boot-like device on the injured leg. Toshi said that he might try to come folk dancing soon. He will mainly watch but may join in on slow walking-type dances as Kortanc. I know we will all be delighted if he can visit.”
On June 2nd, we will celebrate our first year of dancing at 308 W University. Yes, June 1st of 2005 was our first night dancing on that floor. So we all decided to whoop it up extra that night.
(This report was
compiled from material on the UFIFD web site, http://grove.ufl.edu/~folkstep/. Visit it to see how they are promoting folk
dancing in
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ORLANDO
by Pat Henderson
The club started our May meetings with a
Cinco de Mayo celebration on May 3.
Remember that our group dances every Wednesday through June and then we are on hiatus until September 6. However, we had to cancel two Wednesdays last June since we had 20 inches of rain that month. Call or e-mail to make sure we are dancing if you want to visit.
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FROM THE EDITOR
A great big “Thank You!” to all our reporters this month. What with FFDC Camp and Spring Fling being in the past, and some groups winding down for the summer, I thought it would be hard to drum up material for the June Newsletter. Not so. I sent out the request for articles and the material came in.
We even got a cool e-mail from Jenneine (see NEWS FROM NAPLES), who had been out of touch (at least not on the Internet) for a while.
I’d love to hear from more of you. Don’t know what to write? What do you like to read about? Letters to the editor are welcome, too.
I concur with Terry (in PREZ SEZ), “We’re all dancing somewhere”. Many international folk dancers do other types of dancing, as well, with more specialized groups. Where are you dancing and what kind of dancing are you doing?
- Caroline Lanker
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TREASURER’S REPORT 2006
The bank balance on May 1, 2005 was $5,483.98. The following report lists all the expenses
and income since that time. The ending
balance on May 1, 2006 was $5,020.20. After Camp 2005, we opened up a six month
CD and the interest made was $28.09.
This may look like the Council had a loss during the previous year. That is not the case since we made a $600
deposit for next 
year’s
camp, so the net income for the year
is $136.22.
Respectfully submitted, Pat Henderson, Treasurer, FFDC
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EVENTS
AND TOURS
Saturday, June10,
2006 Colin Hume – English Dance
Time:
Dance sessions 1-5:15 PM and 8-10:30 PM
Place:
Cost: $25 if post-marked on or before May 30th.
Live
music- with
Colin is a fantastic English dance choreographer and teacher; he will be in the States for only a limited time so don't miss this event. Registration is now open - registration form may be found at a link on: http://www.danceflorida.com/
PS Although all
dances will be taught and called as needed, knowledge of the basic patterns,
steps and formations of English dance will be assumed.
June 17th - June 29th Vasilescu
2006 Romanian Tour
“We have been on three similar tours, and they are very good.” -Jim Osborn.
Place: Begins June
17th at
Cost: $1500 per
person, not including airfare to/from
Highlights: Stay two days
each in four towns; attend dance performances, go sightseeing, learn regional
dances and visit local villages. Meet, dance and dine with rural
villagers. Last three days in
Contact: Ping Chun,
July
15 – 16 Raks Adunya! Global
Dance Fest 2006
Oriental Dance Workshop and Performance
Place: Indian Cultural and
Events: Saturday, July 15 – morning and
afternoon workshops
8 pm performance: Raks
Adunya! Global Dance Fest 2006
starring Raffa with Shari
Sunday, July 16 – morning and afternoon
workshops
Price (register by July 1):
$145 for the whole weekend
$12 to attend the evening performance ($15 at
the door)
Performers must
prepay registration by 7/1/06.
Raffa will teach three choreographies, which will be performed as part of his
“Egyptian Suite” of dances in the show.
He has studied a variety of dance techniques including Latin
American folkloric dance and Oriental dance as well as dance teaching
technique, choreography and musical theater. He currently teaches belly
dance at the “Aziz School of Danse
Orientale” in
July
25 - August 16 Czech Pleasure in the Heart of
Highlights: Choose
parts you want from: a tour of the
August 10 Dancing for Mensa World Gathering
Place: Disney’s
Colorado Springs Resort, Orlando
Time: 10:30 –
11:30 AM, Thursday August 10
David Digby and
Pat Henderson are organizing a folk dancing event for the World Gathering. They have been recruiting
participants. If you are
interested, it isn’t too late to sign up.
The event will
include a short dance performance and then teaching dances to volunteers from
the audience. We will need one
rehearsal, either just before the first event on August 10 or the night before
at the dance studio behind our house.
A list of possible
dances and more information were published in the April 2006 Florida Folk
Dancer, available in the archives on the website, www.folkdance.org. Contact Pat at henderp@bellsouth.net for current
information.
August 11-13 Mountain Playshop 2006
“It's a very cool camp - I've been there!” – Terry Abrahams
Place:
4-H Camp,
This camp is a
casual weekend party/workshop just outside of
More information and registration form on web site: www.mountainplayshop.org. The final registration form will be there toward the end of May. New campers get a discount - contact Beth Zweigoron at zcat@ix.netcom.com.
August
11-19: Folklore and Heritage Tour in
Slovak dance classes,
meetings with village groups, museums, historical sites.
Organizers: 3ART, Inc.,
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Florida Folk Dancer is a monthly publication of the Florida Folk Dance
Council, Inc., a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to further knowledge,
performance, and recreational enjoyment of International Folk Dance.
2006 FFDC OFFICERS:
President:
Terry Abrahams
813-234-1231
VP:
John Daly
321-951-9623
Treasurer: Pat Henderson