This is an article about Local Community Dances as they exist throughout New Hamphishire and the other Northern New  England, and how they form the core

Last month I wrote about the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, which is one of the biggest and most enjoyable events of the year in this area. This month I thought I’d write about the core of New England contra and square dancing, which keeps the dance scene alive over the years, brings in new dancers, provides us with lots of varied events to attend every weekend, and even in between.

Of course, what I’m talking about is the local community dance. It’s easy to forget about it, ignore it, discount its importance in favor of the big events like the Ralph Page Weekend, the upcoming and also very enjoyable Downeast Country Dance Festival, dance camps, and the larger urban dances. But where would we be without the network of local community dances that we’re so fortunate to have in New England? Flip the page, and ask: what proportion of the dances fall into that category and what proportion are in the category of large modern urban dances, festivals and dance camps? My count, even counting Monday night Nelson only once, was 22 local dances and 3 in the other category.

But not only are there more of them, they also provide us with great variety. Each dance has its own character; and the quality of the dancing (in terms of atmosphere, style, etc., not just ability) differs from dance to dance. Dudley talks about how you used to be able to identify which town someone danced in by the stylistic differences. That’s less true than it used to be, but still somewhat true. No one can dance Money Musk quite like the people who used to dance it in Francestown 25 years ago; and even the same people danced it differently if we were in Greenfield NH or in Nelson. There was something particularly satisfying about everyone balancing forward and back together, making seven discrete, well-defined sounds on the balance. Ralph Page might not have liked it, since he thought a balance shouldn’t make any noise, but we sure had a lot of fun dancing! And of course you could always tell a Tamworth dancer because they would promenade in the Varsouvienne position, with their arms at shoulder height rather than by the waist; and you could tell Maine dancers by the way they took hands on rights and lefts. These distinctions are less clear these days, but regions still have their different styles.

Last month I called in Concord with Teresa, George; Sophie, Neil and Russell Orzechowski; and Liz Faiella. We’d never played in that configuration before, and there were some rough moments, especially since it was the second time I’d used a new sound system. But overall the music sounded really good, and we had a lot of fun, and it appears that the dancers did too.  We even received compliments from Renn Tolman of the Tolman family from Nelson who was there which we consider to be quite an honor. This month Tony Parkes is doing the dance with Old New England. The dance always attracts a friendly group of dancers, and we always dance Chorus Jig. So check it out!

Going a bit into the more rural part of the state, the Gilmanton dance is another very friendly dance in a hall that’s wider than it is long. If it’s crowded, people run the sets the other way which personally I don’t like, but it works. It’s a very nice hall, a very nice dance, and has had some good callers and musicians. After 12 years Lisa is looking for a replacement as an organizer; do you want to be the one to keep it going?

So all these dances around the state, large and small, give us such a great heritage of music and dancing. They aren’t as professional as a big festival, but that’s not the idea, and they’re probably more fun that way. Their greatness is in providing us with such variety and with such enjoyment every week, year after year; and that they do very well!