The last activity on Saturday afternoon will be a Contra Dance with all dances taught and called by Chris Kermiet. Chris, a 50-year veteran of organizing such events, will be putting together a combination of dances that will provide a rich program with a variety of easy dances that involve less learning and more dancing.
The band is open to anyone who wants to learn the material and practice—Hammered and Mountain Dulcimers and any other instruments you might want to play. We would really like to encourage more of our Mountain Dulcimer friends and, to this end, Bob Elieson has made good music with Mountain Dulcimer tablature for all the sets we’ll do, with melody arrangements as well as chords so you can choose which approach to take.
The dozen and a half people who played last year in the band had so much fun and learned so much that we are repeating the activity this year. The dance will be shorter so we will need roughly half the number of sets from last year. You are welcome to participate by learning one or two sets, or half of the sets or all of them; you may play melody or chords. Some people want to dance some of the five or so dances, and play for others. Just participate in the band at whatever level you like!
Our Contra Dance Director for 2018 is Bob Elieson (970-685-0359 or [email protected]).
This is a very low-stress situation in which you can learn to play with other people and to play for dances and just to get together once a month or so and play together. There’s little else that is as much fun as playing music with other people, so please join us.
THE MUSIC: Here are our six sets (always subject to change as we practice, but we’ll start here.There will be six contra dance sets and a waltz.
Over the Waterfall-Arkansas Traveler-Spotted Pony
Whiskey Before Breakfast-Nixon’s Farewell-Liberty
Elkins-Deer Walk- Reel des Accordionistes
Calliope House-Out in the Ocean-Old Favorite
Shoes and Stockings-Flying Home to Shelly-Reel de Montreal
Homage a Edmond Parizeau-Ger the Rigger-Johnny Cope
The waltz will be Amelia’s Waltz
The music for this tune list is in the Jam Tunes List
Oooooeeee, here goes some fun!
Some Examples
To get an idea of what some of the dances look like, watch some youtube videos . . .
(And don’t get intimidated by these dancers. Remember, the caller will step you through it every step of the way. And any “mistakes” can lead to a lot of laughing and fun!
The Contra Dance from the 2017 Dulcimer Festival:
