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President’s Letter
Reaction to the possibility of moving our Florida Camp from Camp Crystal Lake to the Kenilworth Lodge has been mixed. A number of people have thought it would be good to try the hotel venue for a couple years. Many others would prefer the camp environment, sometimes very strongly. I thank those who have written to give me their views, and especially those who would prefer the camp but have nonetheless said they will support whatever decision we make. I’m glad we have such a good group of people.
I have decided to go with the Kenilworth Lodge for 2008 and possibly 2009. Next month I'll discuss more of the reasons pro and con. For us it seemed that it would be a lot less work and a lot more comfort, at the expense of a slightly higher fee.
Kenilworth Lodge is an historic hotel in Sebring, Florida. The hotel has two nice, wooden dance floors. They are used to hosting dance events, and I have every confidence that the staff will work with us to make the transition as easy as possible. I’ll have more detail in coming months.
On to Fall Fling. Once again Fall Fling will be on the wooden floor at the Community House in Melbourne Village. The date will be October 20th. I didn’t think I’d get that date, but it came available and I grabbed it. Hopefully this date will allow some of our members who spend their summers elsewhere to join us. The format will be the usual, request dancing from 11:00 until whenever, pot luck lunch and leftovers for dinner. I’ve reserved the room for Sunday morning, as well, for those who want to stay over, have breakfast, get in a little dancing, and help to clean up.
I spent a wonderful week at Nordic Fiddles and Feet in Capon Bridge, WV. The weather was beautiful, and the dancing was superb. As usual there was a mix of Swedish and Norwegian dances. These are people who put an enormous amount of work into bringing off a dance workshop. All music is live. About half the participants are primarily dancers, the other half primarily musicians. Many enjoy dancing and making music. So there’s a lot of shifting around as people get on stage to play, then back to the dance floor for some dancing. I’m envious of the ease with which the musicians can listen to a tune for a few bars and then slide right into playing it.
- John Daly
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Dancing at the Lankers - Manuel Mora, Pat Henderson and Caroline Lanker
Photo by Gary Lanker
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From the Editor
In spite of the summer doldrums, this summer has been good for dancing in central Florida. There was the July 4th barbecue and dance at Pat and Bobby’s house in Orlando, reported in the last issue of the Florida Folk Dancer. On July 21, Gary and I hosted a party at our house, which Terry and Pat have written about in their Tampa and Orlando articles. See photo on front page. On August 3, Melbourne hosted a gathering that John Daly dubbed the “Summer Fling”, reported by Pat. In between these things, Gary and I went to Judith Baizan’s Scandinavian dance class on Wednesday nights in Tampa two or three times. So, with a little driving, we are managing to keep dancing! -CL
So, I'm off to dance! After all - nothing hurts while you're dancing!!! -Terry
Terry’s lump turned out to be malignant. Her activity will be severely restricted for a while as she undergoes chemotherapy. Her planned trip to Africa is delayed indefinitely. We hope and pray for her complete recovery. Consider sending her a note, get well card, etc. It’s hard to say which will be tougher for her – the chemo or cutting back on dancing and fencing! - Ed
Tampa Talks
by Terry Abrahams
So....I'm off to Israeli dancing [July 31], but not before I chat a bit in my monthly article. Summer is slow, but both our International and Israeli clubs are surviving. The most fun thing that happened was last week, when Charlene Heaton came back to town for a visit. I picked her up at the airport, we ate at our traditional Panera's, were joined by others, and then went dancing, where the whole gang showed up to say hello. Wish she'd come more often - could use that whole gang! She's lovin' her new congregation, the little town she lives in (outside Baton Rouge) and her new house, so life is good for her. If only there were more dancing there. Apparently Vonnie Brown isn't always at her group (I'm not sure I understood), and Israeli is only once a month.
The best dancing fun of the month was attending Caroline and Gary's party July 21. Ursula, Andy Pollock and I went, joining five Orlandoans, and one of the Lankers’ local dancers for afternoon dancing. The meal and evening dancing included four more local people, so it was a great time! A little cross-training by Bobby was enjoyed by all.
Ursula's body is doing better - we are thrilled. Now if it would only stop raining so her roof wouldn't keep caving in, requiring extensive work on her house.
Jennifer passed her GRE's and is quite excited about getting into grad school. She bebops between four different jobs - Disney, the Limited, her synagogue (Sunday school) and tutoring. In between she dances both with Orlando and Tampa, and managed to sneak in a workshop in Dallas.
Judith is doing the Scan workshops in and out of the state, and loving it as per usual.
After fencing Nationals, I was required to settle in (I didn't do well enough to discuss it, but did see lots of friends - what does that tell you?), and, as many of you know, we didn't go to Africa. We were supposed to leave July 14, but Jodi's passport renewal didn't make it in time. I guess it's fine, giving me time to recoup both physically and financially. The change in plans really isn't that bad; I’m enjoying the break. But, just discovered that the bump on my chest has to be removed Thursday via hospital surgery.
Dancing in Vancouver
by Andi Kapplin
I've been dancing three nights a week: one International and two Israeli. The regular Monday night International group ran through the end of June and won't resume until September. I taught four dances: Pembe, Jednostranka, Ini Vitui, and Tikho Nad Richkoya. I also hope to bring some of their dances back to the Florida groups. For the rest of the summer, International dancing is held outdoors (weather permitting) at one of the parks. Easy beginner dances are done with the hopes of attracting new people.
There was an Israeli workshop in May. Since no choreographer was available, the local teachers took charge. It was well attended, with a number of people coming up from the US. I have learned a lot of new dances that, hopefully, I'll remember when I get back to Tampa!
Orlando International Folk Dance Club
by Pat Henderson
We are more than half way through our two month summer hiatus. There were a couple of events in June that I failed to report. The first was my trip to Panama City, Florida for my 40th high school reunion. It had been ten years since I last attended one, so it was great to see what everyone looks like when we are pushing 60. Also in June, Eva Gaber lost her mother rather quickly to cancer. Eva had two trips to Detroit, for her mother's services and again two weeks later to be with her father. Ellie Hall spent the month of July in Michigan visiting family, including ten days in a cottage on Walloon Lake. She saw four of her five children there. During July, Juanita Schockey traveled to West Virginia to visit family.
Since we're not dancing at home, we have gone visiting other dance groups in Florida. On July 21, five of us traveled to Frostproof to dance with Gary and Caroline Lanker's group. We were happy to see Andy, Terry and Ursula from Tampa there also.
On July 28, Bobby and I visited south Florida and Ira Weisburd's group in Margate. We were glad to see Doris Wolman and Jack and Frances Glasner there. Virginia and Jean Marszal drove up from Miami to dance with us and we later had dinner with them and Ira.
On August 3, nine of us traveled to Melbourne to create the first "summer fling." (See article – Summer Fling.) As of this writing, Orlando is still scheduled to begin dancing on Wednesday, September 5 at our house. We have been investigating a senior center option (dancing on Thursday), but that is not working out at the moment.
Sasha and Ira's July 4th Workshop
by Robin Brigaerts
Every July 4th, Florida's Ira Weisburd and New York's Sasha Gottlieb hold a wonderful folk dance workshop in the Catskills. This year, several folk dancers from South Florida had the good fortune to attend.
The workshop took place at Kutsher's Country Club, which holds special memories for many of us who grew up in the New York area. We spent mornings, afternoons, and evenings doing the kinds of dances that have made Ira famous in the folk dance world. And when we weren't dancing, we were treated to the kind of food that has made Kutsher's famous.
Ira formally introduced his new folk dances, Borat and Go Fatile Mome. Borat, a lively dance done to music from the movie of the same name, has quickly become an international hit. But I must admit that it's Go Fatile Mome that has captured my heart.
Those who missed the opportunity to attend the workshop can get a taste of what we learned from Ira's new CD and instructional DVD. In addition to Borat and Go Fatile Mome, the CD and DVD include several other popular folk dances and a number of Ira's own line dances. For more information, please contact Ira Weisburd at dancewithira@comcast.net.
Reflections on Camp
by Pat Henderson
While completing the conversion project of our camp tapes to DVDs, I relived all those years of sheer joy of going to camp. As we approach a new era with a new location for camp, a lot of discussion has surfaced about the location and whether to have two teachers. The alternative being discussed is to hire one professional teacher plus have some of the teachers in our own groups teach dances, as well. I saw a lot of dances on the videos that I would like to try again if they are still alive in other groups or can be revived. So, I see having one teacher as a plausible scenario.
There was some discussion that some people might not come to camp with one teacher, if they did not care for either the nationality of the dances or the teacher. On the other hand, our old routine of having one couple dance teacher and one line dance teacher is not practical any more, since we have lost so many of our men.
Either way, I hope that most of you are in my camp in that I treasure the time at camp to see all of you and to dance with more than 10-15 people. If I happen to be inspired by a dance or music, then I pursue it. A lot of us have been dancing together for decades and the time that we have left to dance together is relatively short. I was reminded of this as I saw many dancers in the videos who are in dancing heaven now. I saw others whom I have not seen in years. I have no idea where they are and I wonder if they are still dancing. We all made a choice to make folk dance our lifestyle and camp gives us that chance once a year to almost reach dance nirvana. So it does not matter if we are at Camp Crystal Lake or Kenilworth Lodge or if we have one or two teachers; what is most important to me is that we are together!
Summer Fling
by Pat Henderson
On Friday, August 3, the Melbourne group hosted what turned out to be the first "Summer Fling." However, I have been around long enough to remember when "Spring Fling" was in June or July! While Orlando has been visiting Melbourne regularly over the past several summers during our hiatus, we were joined by dancers from two other groups this year. We were happy to see Jan, Arleen and Anita from Palm Coast and Caroline and Gary from Frostproof. Orlando had a large delegation of nine, since we are in the throes of being dance deprived.
The Melbourne group put on a fantastic spread of food and drinks, which we greatly appreciated. I believe that it was the first time that most of the visitors had danced there at their new Friday location which is the Community House of Melbourne Village, the location of Fall Fling. During the evening breaks, we had several announcements that turned out to be a preview of this edition of the newsletter. If anyone who would have been there did not know about our visit, let me know and I can add you to my Central Florida email list (henderp@bellsouth.net). Thanks again to all the Melbourne folks for a great evening!
Videotape Conversion Project
by Pat Henderson
I am happy to report that I have completed converting all the FFDC camp videos to DVD. The years that I converted were from 1989 to 2004. The DVDs have menus and I separated the teaching from the dancing. I did not duplicate dances if there was more than one rendition on the tape. After a year of neglecting the project, Bobby bought me a new computer which made all the difference in the world for my software program, Pinnacle Studio, to work properly. I converted some of the years on my Panasonic direct VHS-DVD recorder.
I delivered duplicate copies of the DVDs to John Daly, Jack Seltzer, Andy Pollock and Julius Horvath. If you are in Melbourne, Gainesville, Tampa, or Daytona Beach and want to see any of them, contact the above curators of my project. If you are elsewhere, contact me. Some of the earlier years had deteriorated and had blue or green hues but they look great for their age.
My project would not have been possible without the hard work of Julius Horvath to create the videos. I could see the improvement over the years in the format and organization.
When I retired three and half years ago, I thought that I could complete this project in six months. Who would have guessed that it would take so long?
Now, of course, DVD is the only format available. I believe that this year's DVD with Daniela dancing in her black shoes and black dress on the white floor of the dining room looked fantastic.
Top row: Juanita Schockey, Joy Herndon, Eva Meyer, Joe Birkemeier, Willa Davidsohn; bottom row: Ann Robinson, Ellie Hall, Gary Lanker, Bernice Roth, John Daly, Bobby Quibodeaux
Photos by Caroline Lanker
Hardanger Fiddle Association of America Meeting
by Judith Baizan
This was the 7th year that Ernesto and I attended the annual midsummer Hardanger Fiddle Association of America meeting, held July 19-22, at Folklore Village in southern Wisconsin. We flew into Milwaukee and had a two-hour drive from there to our destination. There are many good reasons for attending this annual event, but the one that is never mentioned is the opportunity to enjoy the sight of the rolling Wisconsin farmland in bounteous production. Under a great vault of blue sky, the various hues of green and gold of ripening crops extend in precisely edged patterns, gently curving over the hills and stretching to the horizon. Here and there are clusters of the red painted barns, silos, and out buildings that make up the industrial complex of a modern farm.
Folklore Village consists of the original family home of the founder, a bunkhouse, a barn that's really a dance hall, a small schoolhouse that used to be the dance hall, and a tiny church now in a new location and incarnation as a classroom/concert hall. All of these areas were put to use for the various activities of the HFAA weekend: instruction in Norwegian singing, mouth harp, willow flute, three levels of hardanger fiddle and several musical traditions, and, finally, the dances associated with the music tradition being highlighted this year.
The focus this year was on Setesdal, with noted fiddler Monika Atun, and father and daughter dance duo Torliev and Marit Loyland imported from Norway. However, equal time was given to an intensive review of last year's highlighted dance, Valdresspringar, in the capable hands of long time springar dancer Bruce Emery, partnered by Mary Hegge, who taught the dance in many workshops alongside her late husband Olav Hegge.
The stately Setesdalgangar is nearly always danced as a mixer. Men or women enter the ring as couples or singly. Partners come together, each executes a turn, the man may perform some athletic show-off steps, there is an ending turn, and each is then free to invite and accept the attentions of a new partner. As well as in the grace of his movements, a man's expertise in the dance is judged on how appropriately he fits his actions to the music.
Inspired by the success of a similar organization in
Norway, the HFAA was organized in 1983 to revive, support and nurture the tradition of hardanger fiddle music in America. At that time there were only a handful of active hardanger fiddle players in the country. Nowadays, in the proudest moment of the four day event, upwards of 30 instructor and student fiddlers join together for the traditional Hardanger Fiddle Grand March into the Saturday night concert!
For further information about HFAA and news of other Norwegian music and dance events, please visit the website: www.hfaa.org.
NFO and Lee Otterholt Coming to Orlando in 2008!
by Pat Henderson
The National Folk Organization (NFO) has announced that Orlando is the location for the annual conference to be held February 28 - March 2. Conference activities begin on Thursday evening and end around noon on Sunday, March 2. There will be a pre-conference activity of going to EPCOT during the day on Thursday, February 28.
Lee Otterholt will lead dance parties on Friday and Saturday nights and also have a workshop on Saturday. I am the local coordinator and I have recommended the Holiday Inn Select across the street from the University of Central Florida as the location for most of the conference. On Saturday, the dance activities will be held at the Whirl & Twirl Square Dance Hall about ten minutes from the hotel. We will have a workshop with Lee, then a banquet, followed by a dance party.
You can register for the whole conference, which will include a lunch on Friday and a banquet dinner on Saturday, with NFO members getting a discount on the registration fee. There will be separate admissions to the dance activities. This date is two weeks after our camp so mark your calendars now to attend and also to join NFO!
by Marie Millett
The Grapeviners are dancing away this Summer, although we couldn't dance on the 4th of July or July 18th because our recreation center was closed. I'll be away August 7th but Eva Stunkel and Delores Lustig will make sure the dancing goes on.
A number of our dancers are looking forward to dancing at Sebring at the camp in February. We will welcome Andi back in September.
A Little Historical Item
by Terry Abrahams
Is there any of us who have not read at least one issue of Vyltis? At one time, I had every issue, but when I moved to this smaller house, I put them out at one of our camps and “gave” them all away. I hope those of you who took some for your dancing collection enjoyed them and have kept them.
In looking at my old files, I found a response from Vytes himself, whom I apparently asked to teach at the camp I was responsible for. I’m putting his response in this issue, for your reading and memory enjoyment. He was quite a guy!
What is Kulning?
This article is taken from a piece written by Ruth Sylte, and sent in by Judith Baizan, about an aspect of Norwegian culture that is sometimes taught at Scandinavian workshops. Judith wrote, "One person who had taken a kulning class told me it was the 'most liberating thing she had ever done.' (You start by making any kind of explosive sound you can get out.)" - Ed
Kulning can include cow calls, goat calls and calls to people, etc. The calls are mainly used to draw down the animals from the hillsides of the mountains where they have been grazing during the day. Imagine these high-pitched calls ringing and echoing throughout a Norwegian valley in the mountains!
One of my favorite "non-cow" calls is a call from the Romsdal region to the sæterjenter (girls who stayed with
the animals in the high mountain pastures above the tree line during the summer) that they should wake up because the sun is shining in the valley below. A couple of classical pieces for piano and for orchestra by Edvard Grieg are based on cow calls that he heard. And there is a fabulous soprano aria from an early Norwegian opera that is half-opera and half-kulning.
One of my cousins told me that that cow calls can be individual, but are sometimes family-based and are handed down so that a family's cows know they are being called and thus respond. Some calls contain names of individuals cows.
I had a wonderful experience once in Norway while hiking in the mountains near a family sæter (high mountain farm) to suddenly hear a woman in the valley begin calling her cows. I could hear the cows begin to respond and talk back to her and could hear their bells as they began to move down the mountain toward home.
Cow calls are usually a mix of high-pitched tones/melodies sometimes mixed with lower-pitched calls to the animals. They can be incredibly piercing in enclosed spaces/halls. I rarely will do a cow call if I feel the space is too small, because I need be able to use "full power" in the call to do it properly.
2008 Tour Schedules
It's not too early to start planning for a folk dance tour in 2008. Tour leaders are making their 2008 plans now. Here are the ones we have received information about so far.
Dancing In San Francisco: For Mind, Body and Spirit
Elderhostel Program #15597RJ, produced by Mel Mann
Dates: January 13 -18 and February 24 - 29
Includes classes of easy beginner dances, tours and events in San Francisco.
See the Elderhostel website, www.elderhostel.com, or contact Mel Mann at Meldancing@aol.com (510) 527-2177
Mel Mann's 24th Annual Dance on the Water to Russia
Dance instructor: Lee Otterholt
June 28th to July 9th, 2008 - Moscow to St. Petersburg on the Volga River. Optional 2 night extension in Moscow or St. Petersburg.
2007 prices are in effect for this tour until September 15; thereafter the price goes up.
Information: www.FolkDanceOnTheWater.org
Contact: Mel Mann, c/o Berkeley Travel Company, 1301 California St., Berkeley, CA 94703-1061, (510) 526-4033.
Jim Gold Tours
Jim sent a schedule of tours for 2008. They include Budapest and Prague, Norrway, Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and Greece. But dates are not firm. FFD will publish the list, with dates, in a month or two. Contact: Jim Gold International. (201) 836-0362; jimgold@jimgold.com
Please note: The Florida Folk Dancer prints information on folk dance tours and camps which may be of interest to our readers. This does not imply an endorsement or recommendation of any tour or camp.
October 20-21 Fall Fling
Place: the Community House, 6200 Hall Road, Melbourne Village
Time: 11 AM to ?? on Saturday plus Sunday morning, if anyone stays over.
See President's Letter for more information.
October 5-7 Sharpes Assembly English Country Dance Weekend
Place: Kenilworth Lodge, 836 SE Lakeview Drive, Sebring, FL 33870
Guest teacher and caller: Brad Foster from Amherst, MA, Executive and Artistic Director of the Country Dance and Song Society
Music by Full Circle
More information at http://chagalo.org/ecd/
Contact: Catie Geist, 321-427-3587, catiegeist@att.net or Willa Davidsohn, 321-254-7090, annona2@earthlink.net
November 22-25 (Thanksgiving weekend) Texas International Folk Dance Camp
Features Romanian (taught by Cristian Florescu and Sonia Dion) and Salsa (taught by Nathan Zamaniego and partner).
More information to be announced at www.tifd.org.
February 15-18 Florida Folk Dance Camp
Place: Kenilworth Lodge, Sebring, FL
More information will be available in future newsletters.
October 26-28 Swedish Dance and Music Weekend
Featuring music and dance from Dalarna Sweden
Place: Folklore Village, Dodgeville, Wisconsin (west of Madison)
Return Address:
Florida Folk Dancer
38 St. Andrews Ct.
Palm Coast, FL 32137
USA
FIRST CLASS
FLORIDA FOLK DANCER
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.
2007 FFDC OFFICERS:
President: John Daly
321-482-6818
jdaly@palmnet.net
VP: Fannie Salerno
772-664-0580
fansale@aol.com
Treasurer: Jan Lathi
386-447-8396
amarjan1@bellsouth.net
Secretary: Willa Davidsohn
321-254-7090
annona2@earthlink.net
Historian: Dan Lampert
PO Box 151719
Altamonte Springs, FL 32715
dan@dlc2.com
Newsletter Editor: Caroline Lanker
1963 S. Lake Reedy Blvd.
Frostproof, FL 33843
863-635-9366
lanker2@attglobal.net
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
