This page is an historical archive, and therefore is out of date and will not be updated. Please visit our homepage at http://mit.edu/fdc for current information about the MIT Folk Dance Club.

* MIT Folk Dance Club *

Sunday: International Folk *Two or three Tuesdays per month: Contra Dance *Wednesday: Israeli

Updated July 17, 2013                                                                                                   Facebook icon Join our Facebook group!

**Upcoming Dances

** Quick Index

Click to jump to a category.

*About The Club
* IAP Special Events
*Club Email Lists
*Special Events
*How to Find a Room We're Scheduled in
*Organizational meetings of the Club
*Links to related dance sites

** About The Club

The MIT Folk Dance Club sponsors three nights of dancing each week throughout the year, all of which are open to the MIT community and the general public.

Sunday night International Folk Dancing meets every week from 8:00 to 11:00 pm, almost always on the 2nd floor of the Student Center:

Sunday Dates (8-11 pm) Building/Floor Room Notes
September 8 - October 20, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Live music 9/8 by Rakiya, and 9/22 by the Cambridge Folk Orchestra!
October 27, 2013 Kresge Auditorium basement Rehearsal Room B Guest teachers Paula Rosenstock & David Salstein
November 3, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Live music by Rakiya!
November 10, 2013 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
November 17, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
November 24, 2013 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
December 1 & 8, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall 12/8: Live music by Rakiya!
December 15, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
December 22, 2013 Kresge Audirotium basement Rehearsal Room B
December 29, 2013 No dancing.
January 5 - 26, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
February 2, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
February 9 - March 2, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Live music by the Cambridge Folk Orchestra 2/9, Rakiya 2/16!
March 9, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
March 16, 2014 No dancing. See you at Balkan Night on Saturday!
March 23 - April 6, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
April 13, 2014 Location to be announced. Subject to cancellation.
April 20, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
April 27 No dancing. See you at NEFFA!
May 4, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Live Croatian music May 4 by Pajdaši!
May 11 & 18, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
May 25 - June 8, 2014 No dancing.
June 15 - 29, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Live electric Balkan music June 29 by Rakiya!
July 6 - August 3, 2014 Building 13 1st Floor Lobby 13
August 10, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
August 17 - 31, 2014 No dancing.

To see what dances we've done from July 2002 - October 2011, see the playlist archive. See our web archive for old versions of our web pages.


Wednesday night Israeli Dancing usually meets on the 4th or 2nd floor of the Student Center, from 8:00 to 11:30 pm.

Wednesday Dates (8-11:30 pm) Building/Floor Room Notes
September 4, 2013 No dancing -- Rosh Hashanah
September 11, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
September 18 & 25, 2013 No dancing.
October 2 & 9, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Beginner's Classes 7:30 - 9 pm, followed by regular dancing.
October 16, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
October 23 & 30, 2013 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
November 6, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
November 13, 2013 No dancing at MIT. Dancing is available at Kehillath Israel, 384 Harvard St, Brookline.
November 20, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
November 27, 2013 No dancing at MIT.
December 4, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
December 11, 2013 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
December 18, 2013 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
December 25, 2013 & January 1, 2014 No dancing.
January 8, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
January 15 - 29, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
February 5, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
February 12, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
February 19, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
February 26 & March 5, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
March 12 & 19, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
March 26, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
April 2, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
April 9, 2014 Location to be announced.
April 16, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
April 23 & 30, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
May 7, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
May 14, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
May 21 - June 4, 2014 Location to be announced. Subject to cancellation.
June 11 - 25, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
July 2 - 16, 2014 No dancing at MIT. Dancing is available at Kehillath Israel downstairs, 384 Harvard St, Brookline.
July 23, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
July 30, 2014 Stata Center basement Classroom 32-044
August 6, 2014 No dancing at MIT. Dancing is available at Kehillath Israel downstairs, 384 Harvard St, Brookline. Partners Workshop 7:30 - 8:15 pm, followed by regular dancing.
August 13 - 27, 2014 Stata Center basement Classroom 32-044


Check the Israeli email announcement archive to confirm information about each week's location and teaching schedule, and special events. Light kosher snacks and drinks will be provided each week.
Israeli dancing is co-sponsored by MIT Hillel and the MISTI MIT-Israel Program.
Israeli photo gallery
For more information about Israeli dancing, email   mitisraeli [at] gmail.com .

In addition to our folk and contra dance PE classes, some semesters there is also an all-Israeli folk dance class run by David Karger. Register with the PE Department. For more information, email karger [at] mit.edu .


International Folk and Israeli Dancing each start with Early Teaching at 8:00 pm, followed by teaching and requests until 11:00 pm. Beginners are always welcome. Admission is free for MIT and Wellesley students; a $1 donation is suggested from others.

On two or three Tuesdays per month, the Contra Dance for All meets in various locations from 8:00 to 10:30 pm (check the schedule for dates and locations). Live music every time! Beginners are always welcome and are encouraged to come early.

All Club Meetings are open to the general public. We're especially interested in hearing from MIT students!

We're considered to be one of the best places for International Folk Dance in the entire country. Come and check us out!

** IAP Special Events

The MITFDC gives classes and workshops as part of IAP each January.
See our IAP offerings for January, 2014. Check back for 2015.

World Folk Music Jam!
Monday January 27, 2014, 8:00 - 9:30 pm
Room 66-144 [map]
Free!

An open jam session featuring traditional folk dance music from a variety of countries,
led by Skorosmrtnica, a local folk dance band with its roots at MIT.

Sheet music will be provided. Bring an instrument, or come to listen. No folk music experience necessary!

** Club Email Lists

We maintain electronic mailing lists used to announce dances and other events of interest. These lists are for announcements only and have very low volume.

If you have any questions, please contact the Folk Dance Club officers at fdc-request[at]mit[dot]edu.

** Special Events

*Annual Israeli Dance Marathon
The Christmas Eve Israeli Dance Marathon takes place every year on or about Christmas Eve.

This year's marathon is at Kehillath Israel, 384 Harvard St, Brookline. Tuesday December 24th 2013, 6 pm - 4 am. [more info]

We'll start with simpler dances and move progressively to harder dances as the night goes on, so be sure to come earlier rather than later...even beginners will have fun if you show up at six!

* Beginner's Nights are for people who haven't done much dancing before and want to learn some and for more experienced dancers who want to practice the basics. In other words, they are for everyone. You need no prior experience and you don't need a partner. Beginner's Nights for all 3 nights of dancing occur in September and January each year.

*The Israel Folkdance Festival of Boston takes place each year in March, in Kresge Auditorium on the MIT campus. The next festival will be on Sunday March 10, 2013. The show includes performances by dance ensembles from far and near. Visit http://www.bostonfestival.org for more information and to order tickets.

** Where We Meet

These are the locations where we usually meet. Click on a location to see it on a campus map.

1. The Stratton Student Center (Building W20). It is located at 84 Mass. Ave., directly across the street from the main entrance to MIT. La Sala de Puerto Rico and Lobdell Dining Hall are located on the second floor. Rooms W20-407, W20-491, and our club office W20-423 are located on the fourth floor.
2. Lobby 13. Can be accessed from either Vassar St. or the Infinite Corridor (go in the main MIT entrance at 77 Mass Ave and turn north at Lobby 10).
3. Kresge Auditorium. Kresge is the triangular dome with a turquoise roof, set back on a plaza at 48 Massachusetts Avenue (across the street from the main MIT entrance). Rehearsal Rooms A and B are located in the basement.
See a Google map and get driving directions

See a schedule for the #1 bus which runs along Mass Ave.

Parking

Free parking is available in the lot behind the Bank of America ATM at Mass Ave and Vassar Street (though it sometimes fills up on weeknights), or on the street.
No parking permit is required at this lot after 5 pm or on weekends. Metered street parking is free after 6 pm.

New option as of October 2012:
Paid parking is available in the West Garage on Vassar Street. $5 flat rate nights and weekends, credit and debit only. Spaces should be available when the free options are full.

Update: As of 11/30/11, the N10 Lot on Albany Street is no longer available for people without MIT parking permits.
As of 11/10/10, the West Annex Lot on Vassar Street is not reliably available.

** Club Meetings

Organizational club meetings usually take place once a year in early May.

Contact the club officers at fdc-request[at]mit[dot]edu to find out about future meetings.

** Links to other folk dance resources

International Folk, Contra Dancing, and Other kinds:
*The Folk Arts Center of New England home page, including their calendar Folk Dancing 'Round Boston.
* New England Folk Festival Association (NEFFA) runs a folk festival each April in Mansfield, MA, as well as a contra dance each Thursday night at the Scout House in Concord, MA. (This dance was formerly located at the VFW in west Cambridge, and hopes to move back there now that the city has rebuilt it as a youth/community center.
* Country Dance Society, Boston Centre (Contra and English Country dancing.)
* contradancelinks.com, a comprehensive page of links to other Contra Dances around the world.
*Larry Denenberg's Beginner's Catechism page
*The Cambridge Folk Orchestra plays at various folk dances in the Boston area, and occasionally plays at MIT at our Sunday night international folk dances.
*The MIT Folk Dance Club Songbook, a compilation of lyrics of the songs in our record collection.
*Arthur Saltzman has posted FDC photos and movies from the 1960s.
*Our own Neil Rosen has written a Folk Dance mp3 Player which can be used along with a database of dances.
*The Tuesday Night Revival is an advanced Balkan dance group that used to dance at MIT, and now holds dances about once a month in Arlington on a Friday or Saturday.
* Balkan Music Night is a concert and dance party which occurs each year in March, in Concord, MA.
*The Dance Gypsy is a calendar of contra and other folk dances throughout the U.S., focusing on New England.

Israeli Folk Dancing:
* Israeli Folk Dance in Boston, including Sunday night Israeli Dancing at Temple Emeth in Chestnut Hill (formerly located at Harvard Hillel), and Monday night dancing at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline.
* israelidance.com, which includes a test to see if you are a true folk dance addict and a session-finder, in case you're thinking of moving and want to see if there's dancing there first.

Comments on this home page and other subjects are welcome.
Send mail to fdc-request[at]mit[dot]edu .

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