North Berkshire Contra Dance
Date/Time
Location
North Berkshire contra dance (906 Main St., Williamstown, MA 01267, Williamstown MA)
The North Berkshire Contra Dance will hold its monthly community contra dance with Berkshire dance caller with calling (teaching) by Maggie McRae will call to music by three out of Four Musicians Walked Into Thirty Two Bars.
Maggie McRae will call in an easy and gentle teaching style will help everyone relax and enjoy dancing.
Three out of Four Musicians Walked into Thirty-Two Bars will perform live — all life-long musicans who enjoy playing traditional New England tunes, sometimes with their tongues in their cheeks. The three musicians are well-known Northeast fiddlers George Wilson and Rebeccah Weiss, and Becky Hollingsworth on piano.
“Who was the fourth musician supposed to be?” they say, laughing — “Come to the dance and we’ll tell you.”
Earlier on the same day, NBCD musicians are also hosting a pre-dance calling workshop in the Williamstown Public Library from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Anyone is welcome to come to see how it works, and help out as a dancer on the floor, or bring a dance you’d like to workshop calling in a friendly group setting.
The music is live, all the dances are taught, and anyone is welcome, with or without a partner — most people change partners for each dance of the evening. Contra dancing is the contemporary face of a living tradition. Both the dance and its music can be traced to roots in 17th century England, France, and Scotland, but have been vigorously mixed and remixed in New England and nearby regions since.
Admission is pay-as-you-can, and barter (like help with cleanup) is also welcome. Covid Policy: For this first post-holiday dance in a season of rising respiratory illness, NBCD will require masks on the dance floor. Because contradance isn’t made to social distance — whoever your partner, you’ll wind up dancing with everyone in the room.