This page is an historical archive, and therefore is out of date and will
not be updated. Please visit our updated homepage at
http://mit.edu/fdc
for current information about the MIT Folk Dance Club.
MIT Folk Dance Club
presents--
International Folk Dancing
Participatory line, circle, and couple dancing for everyone from
eastern Europe and the world
Every Sunday night from 8:00 pm until
11:00 pm
Please remember--we're an all volunteer organization, and we're losing
some of our stalwart volunteers this season. There's a real
possibility we might not be able to staff a dance at some point--so
please keep an eye on this site or the e-mail list
should be there be a need to cancel. Even a little help with
things like setup or food makes a big difference (we'll show you how!),
so please feel free to ask how this all works & what you can do.
.
October 29, 2006 Thanks Divi Zheni & All-Girl Band
November 5, 2006
Programmer: Janet Baker
Room 407 (Student Center, 4th floor)
November 12, 2006
Programmer: Yaron Shragai
Room 407 (Student Center, 4th floor)
November 19, 2006
Programmer: Henry Goldberg & Barbara Zeles
Sala de Puerto Rico (Student Center, 2'd floor)
November 26, 2006
Programmer: Bob Parr
Room 407 (Student Center, 4th floor)
December 3, 2006
Programmer: To be determined
Room 407 (Student Center, 4th floor)
December 10, 2006
Programmer: To be determined
Sala de Puerto Rico (Student Center, 2'd floor)
December 17, 2006
Programmer: To be determined
Sala de Puerto Rico (Student Center, 2'd floor)
December 24 & December 31, 2006 - No dance, Student Center closed
January 7, 2007
Programmer: To be determined
Sala de Puerto Rico (Student Center, 2'd floor)
The MIT Folk Dance Club recorded information line is 617-253-FOLK. Note that since our
office move this machine is not physically accessible to
us. We're updating it remotely as best we can, but please have patience if it
does go down or if the information is stale.
Winter is just around the corner, and while snow is a normal
expectation here, we may need to cancel if conditions become unusually
severe. In those circumstances we will do our best to get a
message onto the information line 617-253-FOLK and/or out to the e-mail list.
Some
further information on
location:
The room listed in the schedule above is our officially-reserved room
for each date. Normally, this will be either Room 491 or 407 on
the 4th floor of the MIT Stratton Student
Center, or the Sala de Puerto Rico or Lobdell Dining Hall, both on
the 2'd floor of
the Student Center. Be aware that our meeting room can
sometimes change at the last minute, so if we don't appear to be in a
scheduled room, check elsewhere in the Student Center (2'd or 4th
floors).
Also look for a sign that may be posted near the
scheduled room announcing a location change. If there's enough
warning (which there often isn't), late room changes will be posted on
the e-mail
list.
Detailed directions to MIT, parking, and other location information can
be found on the MIT folk dancing main
page.
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If
you're new to dancing or
missed out on the Beginners' Nights:
Come check us out anyhow! Bring
your friends! No
experience necessary!
New dancers are welcome to join us any Sunday, not just at Beginners'
Nights. Come any time, though the best time is the earlier part
of the evening (roughly 8:00-9:30) since a certain number of dances are
usually taught during that period. Many of our dances are
straight-forward enough to pick up "on the fly", and folks will invite
you to join the line (or circle, or whatever the formation might be)
for those dances. Later in the evening, we will blend in
some more complex dances to appease the more experienced dancers, but
you should be aware that most of our dance programmers make an effort
to maintain a mix of levels that includes a certain percentage of
easier dances right through the end of the evening, so there will be
plenty for you do to do in the latter part of the evening as
well. If you're unsure about whether to join in a dance you
haven't seen before, a good tactic is to get behind the line of dancers for a
few moments and watch their steps to assess whether you feel
comfortable "faking" this one. And, yes, it is perfectly
acceptable to "fake" a dance - just make sure you're moving more or
less the same direction as the other dancers in the line, keep your
grip relaxed and smile a lot - and no one will notice what your feet
are or aren't doing. This is something all of us, even experienced
dancers, find ourselves doing from time to time.
Please avoid using perfumes or scented personal care products while at
the dances - some of our dancers are allergic to these.
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The kinds of dancing that we do and how we
operate:
We dance mostly village dances and some dances choreographed in folk
style to the complex and fascinating rhythms and music of
Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Greece, and
others. We round out the repetoire with a few dances from other
parts of Europe and the world (such as Israel, France, Russia, even
England and the US). We have a "core" repetoire which you will
pick up as you attend a succession of Sunday nights, but we're also
always acquiring fun and interesting new dances from a number of
sources. Some of the dances are lyrical and slow, others are
great aerobic exercise and give you a chance to really move. Most of the dances move
in the traditional lines or circles; the repetoire also includes some
couple dances (but you don't
need to bring a partner).
The club owns a large and enviable collection of old, rare, as well
modern recordings which we dance to most Sunday evenings. There
are also a number of talented performers of this music in the area, and
on occasion we are able to have live music for dancing - those will be
noted in the schedule. Each Sunday we have a programmer who determines what
dances we will do and sets up the flow of the evening. In
addition to making sure dances get taught and that we get the right mix
of easy/hard, the programmer also works from a request board; anyone can write a
request on this board, so bring along names of dances that you know
from here or from elsewhere.
Approximately half-way through the evening, we usually pause for some
brief announcements and to take a donation.
Suggested donation is
$1.00 for anyone who isn't an MIT or Wellesley student. MIT and
Wellesley students always attend for free. On nights when we have
live music, we may ask for a voluntary donation of more than $1.00,
with the entire "take" to be donated to the band.
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E-Mail list
The Sunday night e-mail listserve is the most reliable way to get
current and last minute information. This will include reminders,
room updates, special events, and the rare cancelation. This list
will be used for this purpose only; it is not a discussion list, and
only the list managers can post.
To subscribe to the list, send a blank e-mail to fdc-international-subscribe[at]mit[dot]edu
or fill out this form:
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Last updated: November 1, 2006
Comments & suggestions for this page to: Bob Parr
(parr[at]ll[dot]mit[dot]edu)
Return to MIT Folk Dance Club home page
