Seacoast Country Dance Calendar ~ News & Commentary

Local Dance Edition: July & August 2009 • Volume 25 • Numbers 3 & 4

General Information

1. •Time: 8:00 to 11:00 or later unless noted.
   

2. •Admission: about $5 - $8 unless noted.
   

3. •Please do not call information numbers early in the morning or late at night!
   

4. •Always call to confirm before major traveling!
   

5. •For updates & further information, go to the web site: <http://nhcountrydance.com>.
   

6. ‣Note: Dances that are in grey text don’t have callers/bands confirmed, and items in grey italic text have even more uncertainty, possibly about whether they will happen.
   

Weekly Dances & Other Recurring Events

1. •Dance: Mondays - Nelson, NH Town Hall, Contras, $3, 8:00 - 10:30, 603-827-3044.
   

2. •Every Wednesday - Durham, NH Unitarian Fellowship - Jam Session; Canadian, New England, Swedish & other fiddle tunes. $2, students $1 (no session 7/15, 7/22, 8/5, 8/19). 7:30 - 10:30, 603-664-2513.
   

3. •Concord, NH Music Theater - Strathspey & Reel Society. Scottish music gathering. Last Sundays (usually); 1:00 - 5:00, 603-225-6546.
   

Thurs. July 2

1. •DOVER City Hall - Peter Yarensky, Sarah Mason, Lamprey River Band. Guest musicians and callers welcome. Clean, soft-soled shoes only!  8:00 - 10:40, 603-664-2513.
   

Sat. July 11

1. •EXETER Unitarian Church -  Rickey Holt, Stone Soup. Workshop 7:30, dance 8:00, clean soft-soled shoes; 603-679-1915. 
   

Fri. July 25

1. •FARMINGTON Recreation Center - TBA. 603-738-9259.
   

Thurs. August 6

1. •DOVER City Hall - Peter Yarensky, Sarah Mason, Lamprey River Band. Guest musicians and callers welcome. Clean, soft-soled shoes only!  8:00 - 10:40, 603-664-2513.
   

Sat. August 8

1. •EXETER Unitarian Church -  Rickey Holt, Stone Soup. Workshop 7:30, dance 8:00, clean soft-soled shoes; 603-679-19
   

Sat. August 22

1. •KINGSTON Town Hall - Jeff Petrovich, Perpetual e-Motion. 603-772-5355.
   

Summer Cancellations:

1. •Concord & Kingston - No dance July, no Concord dance August; Concord resumes 9/19.
   

Early September

1. •Thurs. Sept. 3: Dover; Fri. Sept. 12: Exeter.
   

Special Events

1. •Sun. Aug. 9: Canterbury, NH, Parish House - Fiddling Picnic; all fiddlers  & general public invited! Play/listen to music and eat good food! 3:00 - 6:00, pot luck supper, donation accepted, sponsored by the Conservation Commission, 603-664-2513.
   

2. •Sat. Aug. 15: Webster, NH Town Hall - Bradford/Frank Fortune Square Dance Second Reunion Dance, Bob Boynton Jr. with Woody Roberts & friends (original band/family thereof). Introductory teaching 1:00; dance 1:30 - 5:00, 603-774-4412.
   

3. •Sat. Sept. 12: Warren Farm, Barrington, NH - Barrington Natural Heritage and Agricultural Fair. 10:00 - 4:00; traditional music from 11:00-1:30, Peter Yarensky & Teresa Wyman host/organizers, all traditional musicians invited. 603-664-2513.
   

1. •Dover: First Thursdays; Peter Yarensky, Sarah Mason calling with the Lamprey River Band; guest callers and musicians welcome.
   

2. ‣Dates: 9/3, 10/1
   

3. •Deerfield: First Saturdays, various bands, callers. Listing follows.
   

4. ‣Done for the season (it gets hot in the summer).
   

5. ‣Next dance 11/7. (Due to the Deerfield Fair the hall isn’t available for October.)
   

6. •Exeter: Second Saturdays; Rickey Holt, Stone Soup.
   

7. ‣Dates: 9/12, 10/10
   

8. •Kingston: Fourth Saturdays, various bands, callers. Listing follows.
   

9. ‣9/26: Beth Parkes, Einstein’s Little Homunculus
   

10. ‣10/24: Chris Weiler, Nor’Easter
    

11. ‣11/28: Old Grey Goose
    

12. ‣12/26: Peter Yarensky, Sarah Mason,  Lamprey River Band - Seacoast Holiday Dance. Pot luck dessert, guest callers & musicians welcome.
    

13. •Star Hampshire Traditional Music & Dance Weekend: September 18 - 20, Star Island. Details on the Star web site.
    

14. •Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend: January 15 - 17, 2010, Durham, NH. Details on the RPDLW Web Site.

decided to try something a bit different this month. The newsletter got delayed a bit because I needed to finish getting my e-mail back in order, which I never entirely did after I had to redo my system last winter. My new setup handles e-mail groups in a way that’s incompatible with the old system so setting them up again is a big deal. I decided to do it the long way because that involves learning a few things that will ultimately be quite useful to know; I didn’t realize how long it would take! So I’m putting out a combined July/August issue, and expanding the format slightly.

1. •Let me start with an important announcement. As of now I’m changing my official policy from being neutral with respect to whether you get the newsletter by mail or by e-mail to strongly encouraging you to switch to e-mail if you haven’t already. Here’s the reasoning and the full story.
   

2. •First of all, if you don’t have e-mail or rarely check it, keep on getting it by mail; I have no plans to stop publishing the print version.
   

3. •However, the printing and distributing are very time-consuming, and time is what I don’t have much of these days. There have been several issues that have been completed but never mailed because I didn’t have time to do it. Even when I do, the e-mail version nearly always goes out one to several days earlier.
   

4. •If it’s an issue, I publish the e-mail version in a form that can be printed so you can still have a copy to put on your refrigerator or wherever else.
   

5. •Even if you have a fairly slow connection the files aren’t all that large; they’ve ranged from 75K (card-sized) to under 300K (letter-sized).
   

6. •Please note that this applies only to existing subscribers: for now I’m still not taking new subscriptions and I’m still not letting existing subscriptions expire unless someone tells me they don’t want to receive it anymore.
   

To switch, just send me an e-mail identifying yourself as a current subscriber to the newsletter, and letting me know what e-mail address you want me to use.

In other news, I’ve made some major updates to the web site <http://www.nhcountrydance.com>, including adding a page of links to web sites that have recorded music on them. There are some excellent web sites out there along those lines; check them out!

There are some good music and dance events coming up. In addition to the usuals, the Canterbury Fiddler’s Picnic is always a good time. Also the Bradford Reunion Dance should be fun. Walter Lenk has a recording of one of the original Bradford dances from Frank Fortune’s Barn in 1955 on his web site <www.configular.com/fortunesbarn>, as well as lots of other related information. I’ve got a story about the first reunion dance; I’ll put a link right here.

July Update. This is an occasional section to be included as it seems relevant, to give newsletter readers an update on recent changes and additions I’ve made to the rest of the web site.

As of today (Thursday 6/9), the newsletter is delayed in part because I’m busy making a bunch of changes to the web site and need to get them done before I can upload the web site (including the newsletter) to the web.

I’m gradually updating all the pages to the new layout. I’m also adding in a bunch of new content, especially in the Music and Fiddle Tunes sections.

1. ‣I’ve added in material on learning by ear vs. from music, and some material on the New England tradition
   

2. ‣Of interest to nearly everyone I should think, I’ve added a rather large section of links to other web sites that feature recorded music. If you haven’t looked at the variety of recorded music on the web, check it out; there’s lots of it out there!
   

3. ‣I’ve also updated the Wednesday Night Jam Session pages and the Canterbury Fiddler’s Picnic pages to include information for this year; and the Ralph Page Weekend web site has everything we know about next year’s Weekend online.
   

August Update. I just added the Kingston Dance schedule through the end of this year.

This is a new section that will take some time to develop. I’ve got the core of the local dances covered now; eventually I hope to have a fairly extensive listing including most of the dances I used to list, with fuller contact information. Note that e-mail addresses will be disguised to reduce junk e-mails.

First Weekend Dances

First Thursdays

1. •Dover, NH City Hall - Peter Yarensky, Sarah Mason, Lamprey River Band; guest musicians and callers invited. 288 Central Ave., Dover NH, 03820.
   Contact: Peter, 603-664-2513; peter dot yarensky at unh dot edu; http://www.nhcountrydance.com.
   

First Saturdays

1. •Deerfield, NH Town Hall - Various bands & callers. 8 Raymond Road, Deerfield, NH 03037. Pot luck refreshments at the break.
   Contact: Sarah, 603-463-4182; slmason at metrocast dot net.
   

Second Weekend Dances

Second Saturdays

1. •Exeter, NH Unitarian Church -  Rickey Holt, Stone Soup. 12 Elm Street, Exeter, NH 03833. 
   Cantact: Rickey, 603-679-1915; holt at e dot comcast dot net.
   

Fourth Weekend Dances

Fourth Saturdays

1. •Kingston, NH Town Hall -  Various bands & callers. 163 Main St., Kingston, NH, 03848. Pot luck refreshments at the break.
   Contact: Glenn, 603-772-5355; glenncopp at rcn dot com.

This is the online edition of the Seacoast Country Dance Newsletter. It contains the current issue of the newsletter, and in addition it contains some additional web-only information which will change from time to time. Currently that includes (1) listings of upcoming local dance for the next few months, and (2) basic summary information about regional dances including some not covered in the newsletter (just started).

1. •To Download a copy of the newsletter in PDF format or to Return to the rest of the web site, use the Navigation Box above.
   

2. •Please See the Main Information Page of the Newsletter concerning the Future of this Newsletter!