Walton Dance June 18 Covid Update

 At present, Delaware County is rated by CovidActNow as having a low infection rate, a medium vaccination rate, and a low and declining hospitalization rate.  These are very encouraging figures as we present our second in-person square dance for the season tonight at 7 pm at the Walton Grange (see article below).  . 

So tonight masks are welcomed, but optional while dancing.  You can add a margin of safety by wearing your mask while dancing and when moving around inside the Grange, also by maintaining social distance.  Further safety can be enhanced by arriving with a group of people to dance with and staying with that group. 

Join us for an enjoyable night of familiar - and a few new - square dances with time to waltz in between.

See you at the Grange!

--- Ginny Scheer, Folklorist, Catskills Folk Connection 

  

Old-Time Square Dance Walton Grange June 18 [Pinkster recordings are just below.]

 A Toe-Tapping Good Time To be Had by All 

A Traditional Round and Square Dance at the

Walton Grange, 135 Stockton Avenue

Saturday, June 18 at 7 pm

featuring The Tremperskill Boys

"Kick up your heels" is the apt phrase for enthusiastic dancers at a Catskills Folk Connection square dance.  But don't think that the fun is not for beginners.  At CFC dances, all square dances are taught so beginners can participate from the outset.  And remember that we welcome listeners who want to hear the old, familiar tunes - and maybe some new ones too!  

At the western edge of Delaware County, Walton has a rich tradition of music and dance.  It was the home of the Catskills ballad singer (and fiddler, and square dance caller) Grant Rogers, and has an active group of dancers from town and from surrounding communities.  Walton is also the home of the Walton Theatre which hosts music performers on its big stage and in its "coffeehouse," all planned by a sister-organization, Music on the Delaware. 

Walton Grange, #1454, is still active, run by local management.

Many people know the Walton Grange's location because it is at the turn everyone must take to get to the Delaware County Fair, proudly called "the Walton Fair."  It has also been the site of numerous town functions, including many square dances. If you are driving west from Delhi on St. Route 10, after entering Walton turn left at the traffic light. If you are driving east from Masonville or Trout Creek, turn right at the light. This is Bridge Street (also 206) and it leads directly to the Grange, the brick structure visible opposite the other end of the bridge. Some, like Wikipedia, mistake the former Armory, with its crenellated towers, for the Grange. The Grange is immediately left of the Armory which has been known as the "Castle on the Delaware."  

At 7 pm Saturday, June 18, the Tremperskill Boys will start the music for a traditional old-time square dance with John Jacobson and Dane Scudder, fiddlers and callers.  Accompanying them will be Amy Lieberman on bass fiddle, Sheila Addison on guitar, and Ginny Scheer on flute.  It will be an evening of familiar squares, with a few new ones thrown in, plus round (couple) dances and songs 

Masks are recommended, and by the 18th may be required, due to the unpredictability of Covid infection rates. The safest plan for dancers would be to wear a mask and to arrive in a group of eights, and dance only with that group. (Square dances are usually much more democratic than this, but these are not typical times!) Windows and doors will be open as much as possible to increase ventilation and seating can be arrange for social distancing  Check here just before the dance to see if Covid data has caused the dance to be moved to an outdoor location or to be changed to a concert. For more information, contact Ginny Scheer at gscheer.mcs@gmail.com or 607-326-4206. 

Catskills Folk Connection's square dances follow the Eastern tradition of rural family dancing.  This is not the kind of dance where you have to show a certificate of achievement in order to participate!  There are certain conventions and regional variations in Eastern square dance, but we'll make sure everyone knows about them .

Granges and community halls were common sites for square dances through most of the 20th century. In the 19th century, and for a time in the 20th, a dance was more likely to be organized as a "house dance." A farm family would put the word out and hire a fiddler. Guests would arrive after evening milking and would help move the living room and dining room furniture out of the way (onto the porch...even onto the lawn!).  The fiddler would set up between the two rooms, perhaps accompanied by a neighbor on the piano, or another musician on guitar, and call dances so familiar that everyone knew them.  Like the children who came to the dance with their families, the dancers had grown up going to house dances and might sing the calls along with the caller.  

Join us for a night of community fun and enjoyable music.  See you at the Grange!

Catskills Folk Connection is sponsored by the Roxbury Arts Group and is funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts Folk Art Program, by Gov. Hochul and the NYS Legislature, by HumanitiesNY Action & Vision Grants, and by the O'Connor Foundation.

 

 

  

     

Pinkster Recordings for WIOX Listeners, Who Missed Them

A Pinkster Player represents Sojourner Truth
 as the 2022 Pinkster Walk winds through the historic neighborhood. 

Last Sunday was the celebration of the First Annual Pinkster Festival, organized in Kington NY on June 5 by TransArt Inc., and featuring musicians, historical players, and others in a multi-faceted event whose theme was "Joy is an Act of Resistance."    

Link: 2022 June 5 Pinkster Walk with "Dancing the Plank"  The Pinkster Festival began with a worship service in the Old Dutch Church, Kingston, NY.  It consisted of songs, stories from the Bible about Pentecost, that was celebrated by Dutch settlers,  and stories performed by the Pinkster Players about Pinkster as a 200-year tradition among Africans enslaved in the Hudson Valley. Then everyone went outside for the Pinkster Walk, accompanied by elaborate drum rhythms, to the church Sojourner Truth attended, and then on the the "Assembly Green for the festival itself.  

The festival offered booths that had, for example, samples of Dutch-African foodways, African games, as well as things for sale.  One booth, representing a local vegetable farm was giving away salad makings, greens, and flowers - for free! The Players entertained the festival with interactive demonstrations of body percussion and drumming.

 Link: 2022 June 5 Pinkster Festival Players Engage Audience in "Hambone"   Chief Baba Neil Clarke introduces the idea of "Polyrhythm".  A Pinkster Player (whose name I missed) tells the audience that enslaved Africans had not been able to bring their musical instruments, so they invented ways to make familiar sounds and rhythms with their bodies.  To a simple stomping rhythm he adds more complex rhythms until the audience can play along with him in a call and response song.  

Next year, watch for the second annual Pinkster Festival in early June, about 5 weeks after Easter, the approximate time of Pentecost.  Be prepared participate in African traditional rhythms, dance, games, foods, and joy.