This page is an historical archive, and therefore is out of date and will not be updated.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 *various Tuesdays: Contra Dance *Wednesday: Israeli

Updated August 21, 2014                                                                                                   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 7, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 407
September 14, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Live electric/acoustic Balkan music by Rakiya!
September 21, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Greek dance workshop with Yannis Konstantinou!
September 28 - October 19, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Live music Oct 5 by the Cambridge Folk Orchestra, Oct 19 by Rakiya!
October 26 & November 2, 2014 Building 13 1st Floor Lobby 13
November 9 & 16, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
November 23, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491 Plaiurile Dornelor Ensemble from Romania will provide a dance performance, teaching, and live music! [more info]
November 30 & December 7, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Live music both nights by the Cambridge Folk Orchestra!
December 14 & 21, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Live music 12/14 by Rakiya!
December 28, 2014 No dancing. See you next year!
January 4 - February 1, 2015 Student Center 3rd Floor Student Ctr Coffeehouse
February 8 - March 8, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Feb 8 & 15: Dance cancelled (snow). Feb 22: live music by Rakiya! Mar 1: Dance cancelled (snow).
March 8, 2015 Kresge Auditorium basement Rehearsal Room B
March 15, 2015 No dancing.
March 22, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
March 29 - April 12, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico April 5: Israeli and Balkan dance party to celebrate Joan Hantman and Laurence Conn's engagement!
April 19, 2015 No dancing.
April 26, 2015 No dancing. See you at the NEFFA festival.
May 3 & 10, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Live music May 3 by Pajdaşi, May 10 by the Cambridge Folk Orchestra
May 17, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Live music by Rakiya
May 24, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
May 31 & June 7, 2015 No dancing.
June 14 - July 19, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Live music June 21 by the Cambridge Folk Orchestra, July 19 by Rakiya!
July 26, 2015 Student Center 4th Floor Room 407
August 2 - 16, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
August 23, 2015 Student Center 2nd floor Lobdell Dining Hall (moved from Kresge)
August 30, 2015 No dancing.

To see what dances we've done from July 2002 - July 2013, see the playlist archive. See our web archive for old versions of our web pages.


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

Wednesday Dates (8-11:30 pm) Building/Floor Room Notes
September 3 - 17, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
September 24, 2014 No dancing (Rosh Hashonah)
October 1, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Nostalgia Night! Featuring Oldies, 80s, and 90s dances.
October 8, 2014 Building 13 1st Floor Lobby 13
October 15, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
October 22, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Beginner's Class 7:30 - 9 pm! Regular dancing will follow.
October 29, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Beginner's Class 7:30 - 9 pm! Regular dancing will follow.
November 5, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
November 12, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
November 19, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
November 26, 2014 No dancing.
December 3 & 10, 2014 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
December 17, 2014 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
December 24, 2014 Israeli Dance Marathon! Off campus at Kehillath Israel, 384 Harvard St, Brookline. [more info]
December 31, 2014 No dancing.
January 7 - 28, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
February 4, 2015 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
February 11 & 18, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Beginner's Classes 7:30 - 8:30 pm, followed by a regular session
February 25, 2015 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491 Beginner's Class 7:30 - 8:30 pm, followed by a regular session
March 4, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Beginner's Class 7:30 - 8:30 pm, followed by a regular session
March 11, 2015 Building 13 1st Floor Lobby 13 Nostalgia Night honoring Ilene Beckman
March 18 & 25, 2015 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
April 1, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
April 8, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
April 15 & 22, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
April 29 - May 13, 2015 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
May 20, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
May 27, 2015 Student Center 4th Floor Room 407
June 3, 2015 No dancing at MIT. Dancing is available at Kehillath Israel, 384 Harvard St, Brookline.
June 10 - 24, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
July 1, 2015 Student Center 4th Floor Room 407
July 8 - August 5, 2015 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall July 15: Dancing Thru the Decades
August 12, 2015 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
August 19 - September 9, 2015 No dancing at MIT. Dancing is available at Kehillath Israel, 384 Harvard St, Brookline.


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.

** 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

* Romanian dance workshop and performance with Plaiurile Dornelor Ensemble
Sunday November 23, 2014, 8 - 11 pm
Student Center 491 (4th floor)

The Plaiurile Dornelor folk dance and music ensemble was founded in 1977 at the Clubul Copiilor (Children's Club) for ages 7-18 to teach traditional Romanian music, dance and crafts. The winners of many Romanian dance competitions, they have been invited to perform at international folk festivals in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Ukraine and Moldova. They will present 6 suites of folk dances from Tara Dornelor, Bukovina, Moldova, Muntenia and Banat and introduce us to unique folk traditions for the winter holidays from Bukovina.


* Greek Dance Workshop with Yannis Konstantinou
Sunday September 21, 2014
Sala de Puerto Rico (Student Center 2nd floor).
Details to follow.

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

We start at 6 pm and dance until 4 am. Check back to confirm the location and details of the December 2014 marathon.

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 15, 2015. 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.
This lot is free after 5 pm, and all day on weekends. Metered street parking is free after 6 pm.

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.

** 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.)
* The Jamaica Plain Square Dance, BIDA (Porter Square, Cambridge), the Jamaica Plain Gender Free Contra Dance, and the West Cambridge Fourth Saturday Dance are the other contra/traditional square dances in the city.
* 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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