Ni hao! I’m off for China/Tibet on the 16th (July) and of course all of a sudden I need to do a million things. So this is a truly short note. I am just back from Atlanta, where once again I made the US fencing team - but this year just in foil; the other two I goofed and didn’t make it. Oh well, less equipment to carry to England in September. But first I’ll go to Ruthy’s camp in GA, hoping to see many of you there. It’s quite a low key, but wonderful Israeli Dance Camp and I highly recommend it.
They changed the dates of my China trip, and so I’m going to miss Orlando’s anniversary party, but will be there in spirit. Also hope to see some of you at the performance we are doing for MENSA’s World Gathering. Pat and Bobby keep coming up with exciting things to do.
I saw many of you at the Colin Hume English Country dance on June 10. He was absolutely terrific, with a wonderful sense of humor and such knowledge of the dances that were done SO long ago, but his own choreographies were super also! The band, Full Circle, was terrific too – their leader was my roomy at Mechol Miami last year – it was good to see her again – cross pollination in the dance world. It’s as much fun to dress in the evening for the English Country dances as for our camp (well, almost), and people were in their finest regalia. I’m glad I went.
I have secured one teacher for camp. I was going to use Julius’ Hungarian friend, but he had a major car accident and won’t be able to, so I’m working in another direction. The first is a WOMAN! A Bulgarian, coming with her own accordionist. Details next issue - too soon now. But I wanted to put something in this article!
Hope you are all having a wonderful summer! Tsai Jian!
The Greek Kefi Hellenic Dancers of Daytona Beach performed at the Greek Landing Day celebration in Saint Augustine on Saturday, June 24th. The festivities were held in a courtyard behind the St. Photios Shrine on St. George Street. The dancers were Steve and Barbara Photiades, Lisa Millet and Claudia Terrence. We did a program of seven dances, including Kapatanisa, Pendozali and ‘Zorba’.
Greek Landing Day commemorates the arrival of the first Greek settlers in Florida in 1768. They landed at Saint Augustine and then headed south to found the colony of New Smyrna Beach. The St. Photios Shrine is worth a visit if you are ever in Saint Augustine. They have beautiful artwork and a very interesting historical display describing the hardships these colonists faced.
The Greek Kefi Hellenic Dancers, founded by Steve and Barbara Photiades, enjoy performing and sharing our love of Greek dances. We usually practice on Friday nights at the Castaways Resort in Daytona Beach. Contact Steve or Barbara at (386) 788-2749 for more information.
We hope that you can join our club as we celebrate 35 years of dancing on Sunday, August 6. See details in Events and Tours.
We had two fantastic dance nights in June. On June 21, we welcomed several out of town guests: Kathy Dudek from North Carolina, Kay Demos from New Jersey, Jan Lathi from Plam Coast, Arleen Kaufmann from Gainesville/Flagler Beach, and Ruth Ann Fay and Claudia Terrence of Deland.
On Wednesday, June 28, we had an early 4th of July cookout before dancing. The dancers brought side dishes to share. Between dinner and dance, we had the heaviest rainstorm of the summer, so the dance was delayed awhile until we could get from house to the dance studio behind the house.
Traveling this month saw Palmira Mora-Valls going to Puerto Rico for a few weeks to celebrate a big birthday and Ann Robinson spending two weeks in North Carolina at a ceramics workshop.
Our group resumes regular dancing on Wednesday, September 6.
Gary and I have just returned from two weeks in California, the first week in the San Diego area, where there is lots of folk dancing. Before going, we contacted Kevin Johnson and Suzanne Papp, former Floridians who danced in Orlando and the Tampa Bay area and attended FFDC camp several times. Kevin came up with quite a list of times and places to dance in the city.
We attended one event with them - a Scandinavian dance party. It was sponsored by the San Diego Folk Dance Center at Dancing Unlimited, a venue which is devoted to folk and related dancing.
There were close to 20 people there, many good dancers, and a surplus of men! The music was provided by two fiddlers, who stood in the center of the room while we danced around them. Gary and I were warmly welcomed and danced with many of the regulars there. Judith Baizan’s Scandinavian dance classes paid off, as we knew many of the dances. And many of the dancers knew Judith from Scandi camps at Mendocino and Julian.
The main room of the building, about 30 ft. x 50 ft., has a wood floor built for dancing. One of the group proudly showed us a picture board showing how it was built - over a concrete slab, but with four criss-crossed layers of sleepers to give it bounce. It was great to dance on.
Later in the week, Suzanne joined us at the San Diego Zoo (photo at left), where we were treated to a rare sight of the mother and baby pandas active in the daytime.
If you ever plan to visit San Diego, be sure to check into the dancing there. The San Diego Folk Dance Center July schedule of dancing included four International sessions per week, Israeli, Greek and a Macedonian workshop. Dancing Unlimited hosts other groups, including belly dancing, and there are other places to folk dance, including in Balboa Park, where the zoo is (but not in the zoo as far as I know).
Gary, Caroline and Suzanne
Colin Hume and Musicians at English Dance June 10 in St. Cloud
The Grapeviners are dancing away every Wednesday night and very fortunate to have 15-21 out. I have been reviving some of my old favorites and going over some of the camp dances again. We have several new dancers and you will meet one of them at the camp this year. Her name is Judy and she is already planning on joining the Florida Council and going to camp. I like her spirit and she is a good dancer, too.
Ann Kessler pops in frequently between court cases. I couldn’t dance last week so Eva Stunkel, assisted by Delores Lustig, planned the evening’s program and will do so again when I journey to New Mexico in July. Andi sent me a copy on dance etiquette from Vancouver which I thought made good sense. Haven’t seen Ursula this Summer. Alberto did damage to her roof and she has been tending to that. Happy Summer Dancing wherever you may be!
Besides enjoying the cool weather and beautiful city, I have been very active in the folk dance world. The regular International session ended the last Monday in June. I was able to teach them Kos and Cobankat which were well received. For the rest of the summer, there is International dancing one night a week in Stanley Park: a gorgeous outdoor setting but a concrete “floor”. I’m going two nights a week to two different Israeli groups.
There was an Israeli workshop in June with Shmulik Gov Ari. Hopefully I’ll be able to bring some International and Israeli dances back to the Tampa and Sarasota groups.
- Andi Kapplin
We are down to small numbers these days due to travel plans of our members. Betty is in Maryland (probably washed out by now with all the flooding!), Anita went North to visit relatives, and Jan is going to Destin, FL, for son Steven’s 40th birthday.
Arleen Kaufmann and I went to Orlando last Wednesday (June 21st) and were happy to see a great crowd, including Kay Demos, who was in town for business. We enjoyed the evening.
I want to thank all of you who have been saving commemorative and foreign stamps for me. It is greatly appreciated. Please keep them coming!
Enjoy your summers!
In every issue, we have reports from our groups about dancers travelling near and far, and in this issue, especially - not surprisingly for Florida in the summertime. Even we year round Floridians like to get out of the heat for a while.
When you travel, do you include dancing in your plans? Many dancers do - the popularity of folk dance tours attests to that. Gary and I found it rewarding to include folk dancing in a trip planned for other reasons. Andi told us about folk dancing in her summer home, Vancouver.
Whatever your reasons for travelling, if you include folk dancing in your itinerary, tell us about it. And send pictures!
- Caroline Lanker
We are all traveling here and there, cancelling some of our Friday nights for lack of enough of us being in town at the same time. Dance camps, summer homes, summer camps, world travelers - guess it could be worse! See you all in the fall.
When I retired over 2 1/2 years ago, I decided that my first project would be to convert all my dance videos to DVD. After converting the 2000-2004 FFDC Camps to DVD on my computer with Pinnacle, I developed computer problems and have now purchased a VHS-DVD combo unit. I am happy to report that this is working well and I am finally back on track to convert the rest of the workshop videos.
Each dance is accessible from a main menu and I can record two hours on one DVD +R. The added advantage is that you have one touch copying if you want to copy a whole video without the programmed stops. The unit that I bought is the Panasonic model ES35V in case any of you out there want to save your tapes. The bonus of this unit is that you can also record TV shows on either tape or DVD.
Caroline -
Thank you for the welcome. I am enjoying the newsletters [in the website archives] and hope to become a more active member as time goes on --- right now I have my hands full trying to recuperate from my husband’s recent death. That’s how I found the International Folk Dancers in Sarasota - looking for some new positive, uplifting activities outside of my work.
I sure did find it with this group here in Sarasota - what a marvelous bunch of people. They’ve got me busy and happy learning all the new dance steps I can stand, the names of the dances, and a little history of them when they know it, etc. Many of the dancers sing or hum along with the music of the dances - it is a wonderful weekly experience for everyone
- Judy Merkt
Place: Whirl & Twirl Square Dance Club, 6949 Venture Circle in Orlando (map at left)
Time: 1 pm to 9 pm
Featuring: A potluck supper - please bring a dish to share.
Special Guest: David Digby, OIFDC founding father
Pat Henderson is working on t-shirts to commemorate the event. If you need more information or a place to stay, call 407-275-6247 (on August 6: 407-492-3006) or e-mail henderp@bellsouth.net.
Place: Disney’s Colorado Springs Resort, Orlando
Time: 10:30 – 11:30 AM and evening
David Digby and Pat Henderson are organizing folk dancing events for the World Gathering. The event will include a short dance performance and then teaching dances to volunteers from the audience in the morning and performing during or immediately after the dinner in the evening. Plans for rehearsal are to be determined. 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.
“It’s a very cool camp - I’ve been there!” – Terry Abrahams
Place: 4-H Camp, Swannanoa, NC
This camp is a casual weekend party/workshop just outside of Asheville at an ‘outdoorsy’ 4-H camp with nice wooden floors, a refreshing pool, big wide porch and mountain breezes. Local teachers will present Scandinavian, Israeli, and Balkan dances and Balkan singing. Several sets of live music at evening parties.
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
Slovak dance classes, meetings with village groups, museums, historical sites.
Organizers: 3ART, Inc., Pavol Pitonak, Slovakia. Information and registration form: www.folkloretrip.com E-mail: 3art@folkloretrip.com. U.S.A. contact: Vonnie R. Brown, 1717 Applewood Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70808 225 / 766-8750, E-mail vrbfolk@cox.net
Place: the Community House in Melbourne Village
This is a fun, two day opportunity for Florida folk dancers to get together , share what and how they are dancing and dance old favorites that aren’t done regularly in local groups. More details will be posted on the web site as the date approaches.
Place:Kenilworth Lodge, Sebring, Florida
Price: $105 to $195 including lodging
Features workshops with Bruce Hamilton, president of Country Dance and Song Society, balls on Friday and Saturday evenings; music by Full Circle; and a wooden dance floor.
For more information and registration see the FFDC website, www.folkdance.org, or contact: John Daly, jdaly@palmnet.net, 321-693-2006 or Catie Geist, catiegeist@att.net, 321-427-3587.
(English Country Dance graphics in this issue by Willa Davidsohn and Fannie Christoph-Salerno)
Folklore, Culture, History, Art, Music, Folk Dance, Adventure!
with Jim Gold & Lee Otterholt
Santorini extension: October 26-29
Depart from JFK Airport in NYC on Saturday, October 14; October 15-16 explore Athens; October 17-22 Classical Greek tour, October 23-27, Greek Island Cruise and dancing with local folk groups. Return October 27 or optional Santorini extension: October 26-28 stay in Santorini, October 29 return.
For more information and a registration form, visit Jim’s website, www.jimgold.com or write Jim Gold International, Inc., 497 Cumberland Avenue, Teaneck, NJ 07666 U.S.A. (201) 836-0362, e-mail: jimgold@jimgold.com.
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
407-275-6247
Secretary: Jean Murray
321-952-7025
Historian: Dan Lampert
Newsletter Editor: Caroline Lanker
1963
863-635-9366
Submissions: Send all newsletter submissions to the Editor during the last week of the month, to be published the first week of the next month. Electronic submissions are preferred.
Copyright: Articles in the Florida Folk Dancer are copyright by the Florida Folk Dance Council, Inc., or by their individual authors.
Subscriptions are $15 per year and include membership in the Florida Folk Dance Council. The membership year runs from one Annual Camp (usually February) to the next. The newsletter is posted on the FFDC website and members with e-mail addresses are notified of its availability. Subscribers/members can also request printed copies to be mailed to them.
FFDC Website: www.folkdance.org
