Get Ready for the English-Scottish Ball!
We've been featured in the March '03 issue of the Swarthmore College Bulletin! You can find the article here.
So, what is this "folk dance" thing? Our twice-weekly classes, taught by three experienced community dancers, mix flying Scottish leaps with flowing English figures and wild contra swings. Here, new dancers find their feet and student musicians find their instruments, joined by faculty, staff, alumni, and community members. The Physical Education awards you a PE credit, for attending two semesters of our classes. (We're working on returning to the previous system of two PE credits.) All of our classes have live music, produced mostly by fellow students and recent alumni. The music centers on fiddle and keyboard, but we mix in whistles, accordion, bodhran, electric bass, guitar, cello, and clarinet.
Since dancing is about more than classes, though, the club hosts other events throughout the year. At several campus-wide contra dances with local callers and live musicians, we kick up our heels and frolic even more than we usually do. Recent dance workshops include waltz, Norwegian, and International dance, and a concert and Cape Breton step dance workshop with the fiddle band Halali. And, our annual English-Scottish Ball, now in its fortieth year, attracts over 100 visitors to the campus, including alumni from across the country.