October - November 2008

ContentsPresidents LetterTampaFall Fling 2008Sharpes Assembly English CountryDance WeekendKarmiel Israeli Dance FestivalYoav and Rakefet Ashriel in FloridaFrom the EditorGainesville Ice Cream SocialMy Trip by Joy HerndonOrlando IFDCThe Grapevine DancersHungry for SnacksSixtieth Wedding AnniversarySouth Brevard DancersDancing Changed My LifeFolk Dancers Found in NorthCarolina MountainsEventsInternational Folk Dance Tours andWorkshops

Presidents LetterPlans are shaping up for Florida Folk Dance Camp February 13-162009 Roo and Yves are making their travel arrangements and lookingforward to their weekend with us Caroline is in charge of recruitingpeople to provide our evening snacks Jean is spending hours workingon a computer based registration system similar to the one that sheuses so successfully for the national dog agility shows Once again ldquothegirlsrdquo of Melbourne are making great plans for lunches Everybodydoes a lot of work with very little help from me and I truly appreciate it

Scandinavian Dance PartyWorkshopRoos primary focus this year will be the beautiful and challengingBasque dances She is also an accomplished Scandinavian danceinstructor and those of us who love Scandi dancing have asked her todo a mini-workshopparty on Friday afternoon before camp formallystarts Possibly one of the pre-party sessions will also have aScandinavian themeIm open to suggestions as to how people would like this structured Ifyou have an interest in Scandinavian please drop me an email atPresidentfolkdanceorg and tell me what you would like We wouldlove to see a groundswell of interest in an introductory levelScandinavian dance class Based on past experience however Imcurrently planning an intermediate level session for people who havesome experience with Scandi and can already do a basic polskahambo and schottis I can change if enough people are interested in anintroductory class

RegistrationPlease register as early as possible Hotel rooms are assigned firstcome first served We do have a few more rooms than last year butthere is still the issue of whether you will share a bed with yourroommate or want a room with two beds Also the hotel requires aroom count four weeks before the event I realize now that the currentform is wrong because it says we will close registration on January 15That is really too late Please register before January 10 to ensurea room in the hotelA flyer for camp and registration forms are available on the FFDCwebsite wwwfolkdanceorg On the main page go to the calendarsection Click on ldquoMore Informationrdquo in the entry for camp That willbring up the flyer Near the bottom of the flyer are the links to theregistration forms Each person who will attend camp should fill out aseparate registration form

Bobby Quibodeaux and AndiKapplin at Fall Fling Story page 3

Photo by Caroline LankerReturn to Contents

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 1

Return to Contents

Non-Dancing CompanionOne of the benefits of the hotel is that dancers canbring a non-dancing spousesignificantotherfriendwhatever Last year there was someconfusion about how to register this extra personThis year there are separate registration forms fordancers and non-dancing companions If yourebringing a non-dancer to share your room please fillout a registration form for each of you On thedancerrsquos registration specify ldquoSingle occupancyrdquo forthe room That tells us that the registration of onedancer is paying for the whole room The non-dancerrsquos registration form is for meals name tagsand T-shirts

Credit CardsBy November 5 I hope to have the website set up toallow you to pay with a credit card through PayPalNot everybody likes PayPal and it does cost us afew dollars when someone uses it But the campfees are higher now that we use the hotel and Iwanted to make the opportunity available for thosewho would benefit from a little responsible credit

Next OfficersOur hope is that the computer system Jean isworking so hard on will simplify much of the routinehassle of doing the administrative tasks for campmaking it much easier to recruit officers for the nexttwo years Im also putting together some ideas forusing the website to facilitate communication amongthe officers especially when they live in differentcities Its hard to include everybody when some ofthe officers live in one city and meet regularly atdance and social events For this administrationthe tasks of the officers are sufficiently different that itseems to have worked out But I definitely recognizethe need for a better way to share the decisionmaking on such important issues as instructors andfees

T-ShirtsI was told to announce that the T-shirt sizes are allunisex As a guy I also had to be told that the guysdont need to worry about this The women willunderstand I leave it at that

Graduate SchoolGoing well learning a lot I had no idea there couldbe so many preservation problems with brick andstoneBestJohn

Tampaby Terry Abrahams

Wasnt Fall Fling fun Tampa showed up in goodstyle with Andi Ursula Judith Ernesto Bill andmyself J E and I stayed with Jean and got to seeher new house on her new property I got to helpwash the horse and enjoy her shepherds ndash animalsand dancing ndash great comboAs per usual the food was almost as good as thedancing and we did so many dances we hurt thenext day Now Ursula Bobbie and I are going to theSharpes Assembly and looking forward to somemore good dancing and companyOn the local scene we are being joined by Nieces ndashfirst to come was Bobbies niece Denise ndash we callher Da niece Denise who is so excited she is eventrying Israeli now A couple of weeks ago Mariabrought her niece Laura and she seems to like it aswell so along with a new gal Yvonne who hastransferred in were ten of us and dancing in a circleBobbie and Denise are also doing flamenco andhave done a couple of gigs in the last month I helpedout a couple of months agoNo trips abroad this month so finally ndash a shortarticle Once again though it was so good to seeeveryone at the Fling Thanks Melbourne

Melinda Lugo Bobbie Ward Denise Green and TerryAbrahams at a flamenco show for the wives of the

Masons on July 18Photo by Carmen Oliver

2 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return to Contents

Fall Fling 2008by Bobby J Quibodeaux

Fall fling was off to a good start with an early crowdPremium parking without standing water was for theearly birds Melbourne was blessed with enough rainto offset the rest of the statersquos deficitBy lunch the folk dance crowd had reached almost40 As usual the covered dish meals were variedand exceptional I just love covered dish gatherings Ialmost forget that I am really there to dance Therewas even enough food left for the evening meal

Fall Fling dancers - yep all 40 of em Left to right ndash sittingkneeling Fannie Salerno Eva Gaber Lila Gaber FelissaGaber John Daly Jean Murray Willa Davidsohn Terry Abrahams Caroline Lanker Suzan Grinarml Virginia

Marszal Kelly Fagan Bobby Quibodeaux Second row Pat Henderson Betty Nehemias Ernesto Baizan JudithBaizan Joy Herndon Minerva Berkowitz Palmira Mora-Valls Ann Robinson Bernice Roth Top row Bonnie Olsen

Catie Geist Lou Dania David Dania Ursula Tison Andi Kapplin Arleen Kaufmann Donna Young Julius Horvath BillSchwarz Jan Lathi Manuel Mora-Valls Gary Lanker Ruth Ann Fay Claudia Terrence Joan Washington Wally

Washington Juanita Schockey

Photo by Jean Marszal

John and the Melbourne gang of helpers did a greatjob at hospitality and the preprogrammed list ofdances We covered a wide range of dances frompast Florida workshops and a few from trips andother gatherings It was nice to see fellow dancersthat we may not have seen since the last fling orpossibly longerFor the really energetic Melbourne danced theirregular Friday night and was also scheduled todance a couple of sessions Sunday My hat is off tothose who participated in all three days

Left to right Kelly Fagan Arleen Kaufmann Terry Abrahams Fannie Solerno Palmira Mora-Valls Suzan Grinarml Virginia Marszal Bernice Roth Eva Gaber Lila Gaber

Photos by Caroline Lanker

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 3

Return toContents

Sharpes Assembly English CountryDance Weekendby Catie Condran Geist

There were 76 participants at the Sharpes AssemblyEnglish Country Dance weekend in Sebring onOctober 17-19 Robin Hayden from Amherst MAwas the guest teacher and caller and she broughtsome interesting and lovely dances We all learnedhow to move and keep time with the music RobinHayden has the wonderful ability to sing the tune asshe is walking the dancers through the dances Themusic for the two evening dances and the Saturdaymorning workshop was played skillfully andbeautifully by Full Circle (Veronica Lane RobbieZukauskas and Ted Lane)The refreshments after the dances were trulydelicious They were set out artfully by Chun-NiHines and Pat Scott on Friday night and by Nettieand Ed Swan and Tricia and Kenton Smith onSaturday night

Bernice Roth Willa Davidsohn and Fannie Salernowere the lunch mavens who worked so hard totransport and prepare and set out the food It wasmarvelous Willa Davidsohn was also the registrarand she did a wonderful job keeping all of thefinances straightVeronica Lane taught an Israeli Folk Dance sessionon Saturday afternoon attended by quite a few of thedancers including the FFDC members who werethere Terry Abrahams assisted in demonstrating thedances Veronica also taught a Zumba Gold class onSunday morning before the Farewell Dance Four ofthe Florida callers Catie Geist Colette Moore PamRusso and Onie Senyk took turns calling dancesduring the social English dance session on Saturdayafternoon All of the callers who attended theweekend including Robin Hayden took turns callingthe dances at the Farewell Dance Onie Senykfounded the Sharpes Assembly weekend along withher late husband George and it continues to delightall of the dancers who are able to attend each year

Clockwise from upper left the sharpes Assembly Saturday evening ball RobbieZukauskas Veronica and Ted Lane Robin Hayden the Saturday evening ball

Photos by Caroline Lanker

4 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Karmiel Israeli Dance Festivalby Debbie Meitin

This past July I had the distinct pleasure andprivilege of attending the 21st annual Israeli DanceFestival in the Northern Israeli city of Karmiel Twoother Israeli dancers from Orlando attended as wellEvelyne Parisien and Nashiely Aguilar We alsoparticipated in the Summer Course for ForeignTeachers of Israeli Dance a seven-day workshopprior to the festival Evelyne and I spent three days in Jerusalem beforewe were taken to Karmiel to meet our fellow dancersand course participants Dany Benshalom directedthe course assisted by Ruthy Slann Dany hastaught workshops for us in Orlando and Gainesvilleand Ruthy is also well known to many Floridadancers There were participants from manycountries ndash Serbia Germany Finland Italy MexicoAustralia Taiwan Canada and different parts of theUnited StatesEach day was very busy Several prominentchoreographers taught us some of their dances andtalked about their connections with Israeli danceOne of them was Eliyahu Gamliel one of the originalchoreographers and the composer of Eretz ZavatChalav He has been creating dances since theearly years of the state of Israel Other teacherswere Shmulik Gov-Ari who led our May 2008workshop in Orlando Gadi Biton Dudu BarzilayOren Shmuel Eli Segal and Shlomo Maman (artisticdirector of the festival) Every evening we traveledas a group to a different dance session There werehundreds of people at most of these sessions Itwas very clear that Israeli dance is a very popularsocial activity throughout Israel We saw some of thesame people several nights

We stayed in the Absorption Center for newimmigrants (no none of us moved to Israel)Although they thought the renovation would becompleted before our arrival we had a little surprisendash no elevators ndash and we stayed on the 5th 6th and 7th

floors Lots of exercise as if we werenrsquot alreadyexercising enough The apartments were very niceonce we got up the stairs I celebrated my birthday in Israel along with Danywhose birthday was a few days before mine Ruthygot a beautiful and delicious cake and we wereserenaded by ldquoHappy Birthdayrdquo in many differentlanguagesAfter the seven-day course the festival openedWhat an amazing experience Each day there wereperformances of ballet modern and ethnic dancegroups from around the world and a two-hour show inthe outdoor amphitheater each evening Theevening shows included popular Israeli singers andstaged choreographies with over 100 dancers andconcluded with great fireworks At midnight theIsraeli dance action moved to three different venuesand continued until 600AM There were thousandsof people there in massive circles We were told thatthe population of Karmiel increases by 20000during the festivalI canrsquot wait to go back next year

Right Gadi BitonDebbie Meitin andEliyahu Gamliel

Above left Debbie Meitin Dany Benshalom and Ruthy Slann (all standing) with birthday cake and other celebrantsAbove right one of the evening dance sessions ndash early in the evening before it got crowded

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 5

Return to Contents

From the EditorPlans are progressing for Florida Folk Dance Camp2009 to be held on Presidentrsquos Day weekend at theKenilworth Lodge ndash the same venue as last yearJohnrsquos letter focuses on camp The teachers are twofavorites of many dancers ndash Yves Moreau and RooLester I am coordinating snacks ndash see Hungry forSnacks More information will be coming innewsletters between now and campJohn has been doing some work on the websiteMuch of it is not visible such as the facility used toupdate the calendar pages But one improvement isof benefit to everyone He has started creating newemail addresses for FFDC officers So far there aretwo ndash for the president (presidentfolkdanceorg)and the newsletter editor (editorfolkdanceorg)Email sent to these addresses is now forwarded toJohnrsquos and my personal email addresses But in thefuture the email will be forwarded to whoever holdsthe positions at the timeGary and I are continuing to enjoy the feast ofdancing that is available to us here in centralFlorida Recent big events have been Fall Fling andthe Sharpes Assembly and we have also dancedwith the Orlando club at their Oktoberfestcelebration in Melbourne with the South BrevardFolk Dancers and in Tampa at Judith BaizanrsquosWednesday night Scandinavian class Since wehave to drive over 1frac12 hours to get to most of theseplaces we sure are glad gas prices have comedown and we get about 30 mpg in our little carThe response to recent calls for articles for thenewsletter has been very gratifying Many of ourmembers now regularly report on the activities oftheir clubs special events and trips Others sendnotices about upcoming events poetry web links tosites featuring dance videos etc I have receivedmany nice compliments on the job I am doing asnewsletter editor but it would be a pretty dullnewsletter without the input of our many contributorsTo our authors ndash thank you and keep up the goodworkndash CL

Yoav and Rakefet Ashriel in Floridaby Debbie Meitin

Many Florida Israeli and international dancers weretreated to two workshops ndash on September 16 inTampa and September 18 in Gainesville ndash given byone of the legends of Israeli dance Yoav AshrielAfter several workshops in New York California andOregon Yoav and his daughter Rakefet (the nameof an Israeli dance he choreographed in the 1950s)came to Florida before traveling back home toIsrael I had the pleasure of attending bothworkshops and serving as their host and chauffeurduring part of their Florida visitYoav Ashriel and his late wife Mira were key playersin the Israeli dance world for many years Yoavhelped to screen new dances as choreographerspresented them at workshops Mira his life partnerdied in February and he decided to come to the USwith his daughter Rakefet to teach some of thedances he has choreographed over the last 50 yearsor so It was really hard to believe that he is 78 yearsold His mind is very sharp and his dancing andstamina are excellent I guess thatrsquos what happenswhen you dance all your life Rakefet is a talenteddancer in her own right and serves on the faculty atthe Wingate Institute in Israel which is IsraelrsquosNational Center for Physical Education and SportTerry Abrahams and Andi Kapplin had a largeturnout (close to 50 people) for Yoav at their regularTuesday night Israeli dance session People camefrom all the surrounding communities includingOrlando Sarasota St Petersburg Clearwater andprobably others that I missed Yoav and Rakefettaught several of his classis dances including ErevBa Bo Beshalom Tzama Sovevuni Irisim andRakefet While in Tampa he also talked to aHebrew class at the University of South Floridaabout the history of Israeli dancing and was delightfulOn Wednesday I took them to EPCOT (with ticketsthanks to Jennifer Velt a Tampa Israeli dancer whoworks part-time at Disney World) Thursdayafternoon we went to Gainesville where AndyWeitzen had arranged a workshop at the regularThursday evening Israeli dance session There wereat least 40 people there including dancers fromJacksonville Ocala and other nearby communitiesBesides teaching Yoav spent a little time talking tothe group about the history of Israeli dance and hisrole in it The Gainesville dancers also provided ahuge amount of delicious snacks

The groups in Tampa and Gainesville wereextremely friendly and hospitable My last activitywas taking Yoav and Rakefet to the Orlando airporton Friday to catch their flight to New York My timewith them was lots of fun especially talking to themabout the history of Israeli dance and the manychoreographers and teachers I know in Israel

6 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return to Contents

Fall Fling 2008by Bobby J Quibodeaux

Fall fling was off to a good start with an early crowdPremium parking without standing water was for theearly birds Melbourne was blessed with enough rainto offset the rest of the statersquos deficitBy lunch the folk dance crowd had reached almost40 As usual the covered dish meals were variedand exceptional I just love covered dish gatherings Ialmost forget that I am really there to dance Therewas even enough food left for the evening meal

Fall Fling dancers - yep all 40 of em Left to right ndash sittingkneeling Fannie Salerno Eva Gaber Lila Gaber FelissaGaber John Daly Jean Murray Willa Davidsohn Terry Abrahams Caroline Lanker Suzan Grinarml Virginia

Marszal Kelly Fagan Bobby Quibodeaux Second row Pat Henderson Betty Nehemias Ernesto Baizan JudithBaizan Joy Herndon Minerva Berkowitz Palmira Mora-Valls Ann Robinson Bernice Roth Top row Bonnie Olsen

Catie Geist Lou Dania David Dania Ursula Tison Andi Kapplin Arleen Kaufmann Donna Young Julius Horvath BillSchwarz Jan Lathi Manuel Mora-Valls Gary Lanker Ruth Ann Fay Claudia Terrence Joan Washington Wally

Washington Juanita Schockey

Photo by Jean Marszal

John and the Melbourne gang of helpers did a greatjob at hospitality and the preprogrammed list ofdances We covered a wide range of dances frompast Florida workshops and a few from trips andother gatherings It was nice to see fellow dancersthat we may not have seen since the last fling orpossibly longerFor the really energetic Melbourne danced theirregular Friday night and was also scheduled todance a couple of sessions Sunday My hat is off tothose who participated in all three days

Left to right Kelly Fagan Arleen Kaufmann Terry Abrahams Fannie Solerno Palmira Mora-Valls Suzan Grinarml Virginia Marszal Bernice Roth Eva Gaber Lila Gaber

Photos by Caroline Lanker

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 3

Return toContents

Sharpes Assembly English CountryDance Weekendby Catie Condran Geist

There were 76 participants at the Sharpes AssemblyEnglish Country Dance weekend in Sebring onOctober 17-19 Robin Hayden from Amherst MAwas the guest teacher and caller and she broughtsome interesting and lovely dances We all learnedhow to move and keep time with the music RobinHayden has the wonderful ability to sing the tune asshe is walking the dancers through the dances Themusic for the two evening dances and the Saturdaymorning workshop was played skillfully andbeautifully by Full Circle (Veronica Lane RobbieZukauskas and Ted Lane)The refreshments after the dances were trulydelicious They were set out artfully by Chun-NiHines and Pat Scott on Friday night and by Nettieand Ed Swan and Tricia and Kenton Smith onSaturday night

Bernice Roth Willa Davidsohn and Fannie Salernowere the lunch mavens who worked so hard totransport and prepare and set out the food It wasmarvelous Willa Davidsohn was also the registrarand she did a wonderful job keeping all of thefinances straightVeronica Lane taught an Israeli Folk Dance sessionon Saturday afternoon attended by quite a few of thedancers including the FFDC members who werethere Terry Abrahams assisted in demonstrating thedances Veronica also taught a Zumba Gold class onSunday morning before the Farewell Dance Four ofthe Florida callers Catie Geist Colette Moore PamRusso and Onie Senyk took turns calling dancesduring the social English dance session on Saturdayafternoon All of the callers who attended theweekend including Robin Hayden took turns callingthe dances at the Farewell Dance Onie Senykfounded the Sharpes Assembly weekend along withher late husband George and it continues to delightall of the dancers who are able to attend each year

Clockwise from upper left the sharpes Assembly Saturday evening ball RobbieZukauskas Veronica and Ted Lane Robin Hayden the Saturday evening ball

Photos by Caroline Lanker

4 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Karmiel Israeli Dance Festivalby Debbie Meitin

This past July I had the distinct pleasure andprivilege of attending the 21st annual Israeli DanceFestival in the Northern Israeli city of Karmiel Twoother Israeli dancers from Orlando attended as wellEvelyne Parisien and Nashiely Aguilar We alsoparticipated in the Summer Course for ForeignTeachers of Israeli Dance a seven-day workshopprior to the festival Evelyne and I spent three days in Jerusalem beforewe were taken to Karmiel to meet our fellow dancersand course participants Dany Benshalom directedthe course assisted by Ruthy Slann Dany hastaught workshops for us in Orlando and Gainesvilleand Ruthy is also well known to many Floridadancers There were participants from manycountries ndash Serbia Germany Finland Italy MexicoAustralia Taiwan Canada and different parts of theUnited StatesEach day was very busy Several prominentchoreographers taught us some of their dances andtalked about their connections with Israeli danceOne of them was Eliyahu Gamliel one of the originalchoreographers and the composer of Eretz ZavatChalav He has been creating dances since theearly years of the state of Israel Other teacherswere Shmulik Gov-Ari who led our May 2008workshop in Orlando Gadi Biton Dudu BarzilayOren Shmuel Eli Segal and Shlomo Maman (artisticdirector of the festival) Every evening we traveledas a group to a different dance session There werehundreds of people at most of these sessions Itwas very clear that Israeli dance is a very popularsocial activity throughout Israel We saw some of thesame people several nights

We stayed in the Absorption Center for newimmigrants (no none of us moved to Israel)Although they thought the renovation would becompleted before our arrival we had a little surprisendash no elevators ndash and we stayed on the 5th 6th and 7th

floors Lots of exercise as if we werenrsquot alreadyexercising enough The apartments were very niceonce we got up the stairs I celebrated my birthday in Israel along with Danywhose birthday was a few days before mine Ruthygot a beautiful and delicious cake and we wereserenaded by ldquoHappy Birthdayrdquo in many differentlanguagesAfter the seven-day course the festival openedWhat an amazing experience Each day there wereperformances of ballet modern and ethnic dancegroups from around the world and a two-hour show inthe outdoor amphitheater each evening Theevening shows included popular Israeli singers andstaged choreographies with over 100 dancers andconcluded with great fireworks At midnight theIsraeli dance action moved to three different venuesand continued until 600AM There were thousandsof people there in massive circles We were told thatthe population of Karmiel increases by 20000during the festivalI canrsquot wait to go back next year

Right Gadi BitonDebbie Meitin andEliyahu Gamliel

Above left Debbie Meitin Dany Benshalom and Ruthy Slann (all standing) with birthday cake and other celebrantsAbove right one of the evening dance sessions ndash early in the evening before it got crowded

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 5

Return to Contents

From the EditorPlans are progressing for Florida Folk Dance Camp2009 to be held on Presidentrsquos Day weekend at theKenilworth Lodge ndash the same venue as last yearJohnrsquos letter focuses on camp The teachers are twofavorites of many dancers ndash Yves Moreau and RooLester I am coordinating snacks ndash see Hungry forSnacks More information will be coming innewsletters between now and campJohn has been doing some work on the websiteMuch of it is not visible such as the facility used toupdate the calendar pages But one improvement isof benefit to everyone He has started creating newemail addresses for FFDC officers So far there aretwo ndash for the president (presidentfolkdanceorg)and the newsletter editor (editorfolkdanceorg)Email sent to these addresses is now forwarded toJohnrsquos and my personal email addresses But in thefuture the email will be forwarded to whoever holdsthe positions at the timeGary and I are continuing to enjoy the feast ofdancing that is available to us here in centralFlorida Recent big events have been Fall Fling andthe Sharpes Assembly and we have also dancedwith the Orlando club at their Oktoberfestcelebration in Melbourne with the South BrevardFolk Dancers and in Tampa at Judith BaizanrsquosWednesday night Scandinavian class Since wehave to drive over 1frac12 hours to get to most of theseplaces we sure are glad gas prices have comedown and we get about 30 mpg in our little carThe response to recent calls for articles for thenewsletter has been very gratifying Many of ourmembers now regularly report on the activities oftheir clubs special events and trips Others sendnotices about upcoming events poetry web links tosites featuring dance videos etc I have receivedmany nice compliments on the job I am doing asnewsletter editor but it would be a pretty dullnewsletter without the input of our many contributorsTo our authors ndash thank you and keep up the goodworkndash CL

Yoav and Rakefet Ashriel in Floridaby Debbie Meitin

Many Florida Israeli and international dancers weretreated to two workshops ndash on September 16 inTampa and September 18 in Gainesville ndash given byone of the legends of Israeli dance Yoav AshrielAfter several workshops in New York California andOregon Yoav and his daughter Rakefet (the nameof an Israeli dance he choreographed in the 1950s)came to Florida before traveling back home toIsrael I had the pleasure of attending bothworkshops and serving as their host and chauffeurduring part of their Florida visitYoav Ashriel and his late wife Mira were key playersin the Israeli dance world for many years Yoavhelped to screen new dances as choreographerspresented them at workshops Mira his life partnerdied in February and he decided to come to the USwith his daughter Rakefet to teach some of thedances he has choreographed over the last 50 yearsor so It was really hard to believe that he is 78 yearsold His mind is very sharp and his dancing andstamina are excellent I guess thatrsquos what happenswhen you dance all your life Rakefet is a talenteddancer in her own right and serves on the faculty atthe Wingate Institute in Israel which is IsraelrsquosNational Center for Physical Education and SportTerry Abrahams and Andi Kapplin had a largeturnout (close to 50 people) for Yoav at their regularTuesday night Israeli dance session People camefrom all the surrounding communities includingOrlando Sarasota St Petersburg Clearwater andprobably others that I missed Yoav and Rakefettaught several of his classis dances including ErevBa Bo Beshalom Tzama Sovevuni Irisim andRakefet While in Tampa he also talked to aHebrew class at the University of South Floridaabout the history of Israeli dancing and was delightfulOn Wednesday I took them to EPCOT (with ticketsthanks to Jennifer Velt a Tampa Israeli dancer whoworks part-time at Disney World) Thursdayafternoon we went to Gainesville where AndyWeitzen had arranged a workshop at the regularThursday evening Israeli dance session There wereat least 40 people there including dancers fromJacksonville Ocala and other nearby communitiesBesides teaching Yoav spent a little time talking tothe group about the history of Israeli dance and hisrole in it The Gainesville dancers also provided ahuge amount of delicious snacks

The groups in Tampa and Gainesville wereextremely friendly and hospitable My last activitywas taking Yoav and Rakefet to the Orlando airporton Friday to catch their flight to New York My timewith them was lots of fun especially talking to themabout the history of Israeli dance and the manychoreographers and teachers I know in Israel

6 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return toContents

Sharpes Assembly English CountryDance Weekendby Catie Condran Geist

There were 76 participants at the Sharpes AssemblyEnglish Country Dance weekend in Sebring onOctober 17-19 Robin Hayden from Amherst MAwas the guest teacher and caller and she broughtsome interesting and lovely dances We all learnedhow to move and keep time with the music RobinHayden has the wonderful ability to sing the tune asshe is walking the dancers through the dances Themusic for the two evening dances and the Saturdaymorning workshop was played skillfully andbeautifully by Full Circle (Veronica Lane RobbieZukauskas and Ted Lane)The refreshments after the dances were trulydelicious They were set out artfully by Chun-NiHines and Pat Scott on Friday night and by Nettieand Ed Swan and Tricia and Kenton Smith onSaturday night

Bernice Roth Willa Davidsohn and Fannie Salernowere the lunch mavens who worked so hard totransport and prepare and set out the food It wasmarvelous Willa Davidsohn was also the registrarand she did a wonderful job keeping all of thefinances straightVeronica Lane taught an Israeli Folk Dance sessionon Saturday afternoon attended by quite a few of thedancers including the FFDC members who werethere Terry Abrahams assisted in demonstrating thedances Veronica also taught a Zumba Gold class onSunday morning before the Farewell Dance Four ofthe Florida callers Catie Geist Colette Moore PamRusso and Onie Senyk took turns calling dancesduring the social English dance session on Saturdayafternoon All of the callers who attended theweekend including Robin Hayden took turns callingthe dances at the Farewell Dance Onie Senykfounded the Sharpes Assembly weekend along withher late husband George and it continues to delightall of the dancers who are able to attend each year

Clockwise from upper left the sharpes Assembly Saturday evening ball RobbieZukauskas Veronica and Ted Lane Robin Hayden the Saturday evening ball

Photos by Caroline Lanker

4 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Karmiel Israeli Dance Festivalby Debbie Meitin

This past July I had the distinct pleasure andprivilege of attending the 21st annual Israeli DanceFestival in the Northern Israeli city of Karmiel Twoother Israeli dancers from Orlando attended as wellEvelyne Parisien and Nashiely Aguilar We alsoparticipated in the Summer Course for ForeignTeachers of Israeli Dance a seven-day workshopprior to the festival Evelyne and I spent three days in Jerusalem beforewe were taken to Karmiel to meet our fellow dancersand course participants Dany Benshalom directedthe course assisted by Ruthy Slann Dany hastaught workshops for us in Orlando and Gainesvilleand Ruthy is also well known to many Floridadancers There were participants from manycountries ndash Serbia Germany Finland Italy MexicoAustralia Taiwan Canada and different parts of theUnited StatesEach day was very busy Several prominentchoreographers taught us some of their dances andtalked about their connections with Israeli danceOne of them was Eliyahu Gamliel one of the originalchoreographers and the composer of Eretz ZavatChalav He has been creating dances since theearly years of the state of Israel Other teacherswere Shmulik Gov-Ari who led our May 2008workshop in Orlando Gadi Biton Dudu BarzilayOren Shmuel Eli Segal and Shlomo Maman (artisticdirector of the festival) Every evening we traveledas a group to a different dance session There werehundreds of people at most of these sessions Itwas very clear that Israeli dance is a very popularsocial activity throughout Israel We saw some of thesame people several nights

We stayed in the Absorption Center for newimmigrants (no none of us moved to Israel)Although they thought the renovation would becompleted before our arrival we had a little surprisendash no elevators ndash and we stayed on the 5th 6th and 7th

floors Lots of exercise as if we werenrsquot alreadyexercising enough The apartments were very niceonce we got up the stairs I celebrated my birthday in Israel along with Danywhose birthday was a few days before mine Ruthygot a beautiful and delicious cake and we wereserenaded by ldquoHappy Birthdayrdquo in many differentlanguagesAfter the seven-day course the festival openedWhat an amazing experience Each day there wereperformances of ballet modern and ethnic dancegroups from around the world and a two-hour show inthe outdoor amphitheater each evening Theevening shows included popular Israeli singers andstaged choreographies with over 100 dancers andconcluded with great fireworks At midnight theIsraeli dance action moved to three different venuesand continued until 600AM There were thousandsof people there in massive circles We were told thatthe population of Karmiel increases by 20000during the festivalI canrsquot wait to go back next year

Right Gadi BitonDebbie Meitin andEliyahu Gamliel

Above left Debbie Meitin Dany Benshalom and Ruthy Slann (all standing) with birthday cake and other celebrantsAbove right one of the evening dance sessions ndash early in the evening before it got crowded

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 5

Return to Contents

From the EditorPlans are progressing for Florida Folk Dance Camp2009 to be held on Presidentrsquos Day weekend at theKenilworth Lodge ndash the same venue as last yearJohnrsquos letter focuses on camp The teachers are twofavorites of many dancers ndash Yves Moreau and RooLester I am coordinating snacks ndash see Hungry forSnacks More information will be coming innewsletters between now and campJohn has been doing some work on the websiteMuch of it is not visible such as the facility used toupdate the calendar pages But one improvement isof benefit to everyone He has started creating newemail addresses for FFDC officers So far there aretwo ndash for the president (presidentfolkdanceorg)and the newsletter editor (editorfolkdanceorg)Email sent to these addresses is now forwarded toJohnrsquos and my personal email addresses But in thefuture the email will be forwarded to whoever holdsthe positions at the timeGary and I are continuing to enjoy the feast ofdancing that is available to us here in centralFlorida Recent big events have been Fall Fling andthe Sharpes Assembly and we have also dancedwith the Orlando club at their Oktoberfestcelebration in Melbourne with the South BrevardFolk Dancers and in Tampa at Judith BaizanrsquosWednesday night Scandinavian class Since wehave to drive over 1frac12 hours to get to most of theseplaces we sure are glad gas prices have comedown and we get about 30 mpg in our little carThe response to recent calls for articles for thenewsletter has been very gratifying Many of ourmembers now regularly report on the activities oftheir clubs special events and trips Others sendnotices about upcoming events poetry web links tosites featuring dance videos etc I have receivedmany nice compliments on the job I am doing asnewsletter editor but it would be a pretty dullnewsletter without the input of our many contributorsTo our authors ndash thank you and keep up the goodworkndash CL

Yoav and Rakefet Ashriel in Floridaby Debbie Meitin

Many Florida Israeli and international dancers weretreated to two workshops ndash on September 16 inTampa and September 18 in Gainesville ndash given byone of the legends of Israeli dance Yoav AshrielAfter several workshops in New York California andOregon Yoav and his daughter Rakefet (the nameof an Israeli dance he choreographed in the 1950s)came to Florida before traveling back home toIsrael I had the pleasure of attending bothworkshops and serving as their host and chauffeurduring part of their Florida visitYoav Ashriel and his late wife Mira were key playersin the Israeli dance world for many years Yoavhelped to screen new dances as choreographerspresented them at workshops Mira his life partnerdied in February and he decided to come to the USwith his daughter Rakefet to teach some of thedances he has choreographed over the last 50 yearsor so It was really hard to believe that he is 78 yearsold His mind is very sharp and his dancing andstamina are excellent I guess thatrsquos what happenswhen you dance all your life Rakefet is a talenteddancer in her own right and serves on the faculty atthe Wingate Institute in Israel which is IsraelrsquosNational Center for Physical Education and SportTerry Abrahams and Andi Kapplin had a largeturnout (close to 50 people) for Yoav at their regularTuesday night Israeli dance session People camefrom all the surrounding communities includingOrlando Sarasota St Petersburg Clearwater andprobably others that I missed Yoav and Rakefettaught several of his classis dances including ErevBa Bo Beshalom Tzama Sovevuni Irisim andRakefet While in Tampa he also talked to aHebrew class at the University of South Floridaabout the history of Israeli dancing and was delightfulOn Wednesday I took them to EPCOT (with ticketsthanks to Jennifer Velt a Tampa Israeli dancer whoworks part-time at Disney World) Thursdayafternoon we went to Gainesville where AndyWeitzen had arranged a workshop at the regularThursday evening Israeli dance session There wereat least 40 people there including dancers fromJacksonville Ocala and other nearby communitiesBesides teaching Yoav spent a little time talking tothe group about the history of Israeli dance and hisrole in it The Gainesville dancers also provided ahuge amount of delicious snacks

The groups in Tampa and Gainesville wereextremely friendly and hospitable My last activitywas taking Yoav and Rakefet to the Orlando airporton Friday to catch their flight to New York My timewith them was lots of fun especially talking to themabout the history of Israeli dance and the manychoreographers and teachers I know in Israel

6 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Karmiel Israeli Dance Festivalby Debbie Meitin

This past July I had the distinct pleasure andprivilege of attending the 21st annual Israeli DanceFestival in the Northern Israeli city of Karmiel Twoother Israeli dancers from Orlando attended as wellEvelyne Parisien and Nashiely Aguilar We alsoparticipated in the Summer Course for ForeignTeachers of Israeli Dance a seven-day workshopprior to the festival Evelyne and I spent three days in Jerusalem beforewe were taken to Karmiel to meet our fellow dancersand course participants Dany Benshalom directedthe course assisted by Ruthy Slann Dany hastaught workshops for us in Orlando and Gainesvilleand Ruthy is also well known to many Floridadancers There were participants from manycountries ndash Serbia Germany Finland Italy MexicoAustralia Taiwan Canada and different parts of theUnited StatesEach day was very busy Several prominentchoreographers taught us some of their dances andtalked about their connections with Israeli danceOne of them was Eliyahu Gamliel one of the originalchoreographers and the composer of Eretz ZavatChalav He has been creating dances since theearly years of the state of Israel Other teacherswere Shmulik Gov-Ari who led our May 2008workshop in Orlando Gadi Biton Dudu BarzilayOren Shmuel Eli Segal and Shlomo Maman (artisticdirector of the festival) Every evening we traveledas a group to a different dance session There werehundreds of people at most of these sessions Itwas very clear that Israeli dance is a very popularsocial activity throughout Israel We saw some of thesame people several nights

We stayed in the Absorption Center for newimmigrants (no none of us moved to Israel)Although they thought the renovation would becompleted before our arrival we had a little surprisendash no elevators ndash and we stayed on the 5th 6th and 7th

floors Lots of exercise as if we werenrsquot alreadyexercising enough The apartments were very niceonce we got up the stairs I celebrated my birthday in Israel along with Danywhose birthday was a few days before mine Ruthygot a beautiful and delicious cake and we wereserenaded by ldquoHappy Birthdayrdquo in many differentlanguagesAfter the seven-day course the festival openedWhat an amazing experience Each day there wereperformances of ballet modern and ethnic dancegroups from around the world and a two-hour show inthe outdoor amphitheater each evening Theevening shows included popular Israeli singers andstaged choreographies with over 100 dancers andconcluded with great fireworks At midnight theIsraeli dance action moved to three different venuesand continued until 600AM There were thousandsof people there in massive circles We were told thatthe population of Karmiel increases by 20000during the festivalI canrsquot wait to go back next year

Right Gadi BitonDebbie Meitin andEliyahu Gamliel

Above left Debbie Meitin Dany Benshalom and Ruthy Slann (all standing) with birthday cake and other celebrantsAbove right one of the evening dance sessions ndash early in the evening before it got crowded

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 5

Return to Contents

From the EditorPlans are progressing for Florida Folk Dance Camp2009 to be held on Presidentrsquos Day weekend at theKenilworth Lodge ndash the same venue as last yearJohnrsquos letter focuses on camp The teachers are twofavorites of many dancers ndash Yves Moreau and RooLester I am coordinating snacks ndash see Hungry forSnacks More information will be coming innewsletters between now and campJohn has been doing some work on the websiteMuch of it is not visible such as the facility used toupdate the calendar pages But one improvement isof benefit to everyone He has started creating newemail addresses for FFDC officers So far there aretwo ndash for the president (presidentfolkdanceorg)and the newsletter editor (editorfolkdanceorg)Email sent to these addresses is now forwarded toJohnrsquos and my personal email addresses But in thefuture the email will be forwarded to whoever holdsthe positions at the timeGary and I are continuing to enjoy the feast ofdancing that is available to us here in centralFlorida Recent big events have been Fall Fling andthe Sharpes Assembly and we have also dancedwith the Orlando club at their Oktoberfestcelebration in Melbourne with the South BrevardFolk Dancers and in Tampa at Judith BaizanrsquosWednesday night Scandinavian class Since wehave to drive over 1frac12 hours to get to most of theseplaces we sure are glad gas prices have comedown and we get about 30 mpg in our little carThe response to recent calls for articles for thenewsletter has been very gratifying Many of ourmembers now regularly report on the activities oftheir clubs special events and trips Others sendnotices about upcoming events poetry web links tosites featuring dance videos etc I have receivedmany nice compliments on the job I am doing asnewsletter editor but it would be a pretty dullnewsletter without the input of our many contributorsTo our authors ndash thank you and keep up the goodworkndash CL

Yoav and Rakefet Ashriel in Floridaby Debbie Meitin

Many Florida Israeli and international dancers weretreated to two workshops ndash on September 16 inTampa and September 18 in Gainesville ndash given byone of the legends of Israeli dance Yoav AshrielAfter several workshops in New York California andOregon Yoav and his daughter Rakefet (the nameof an Israeli dance he choreographed in the 1950s)came to Florida before traveling back home toIsrael I had the pleasure of attending bothworkshops and serving as their host and chauffeurduring part of their Florida visitYoav Ashriel and his late wife Mira were key playersin the Israeli dance world for many years Yoavhelped to screen new dances as choreographerspresented them at workshops Mira his life partnerdied in February and he decided to come to the USwith his daughter Rakefet to teach some of thedances he has choreographed over the last 50 yearsor so It was really hard to believe that he is 78 yearsold His mind is very sharp and his dancing andstamina are excellent I guess thatrsquos what happenswhen you dance all your life Rakefet is a talenteddancer in her own right and serves on the faculty atthe Wingate Institute in Israel which is IsraelrsquosNational Center for Physical Education and SportTerry Abrahams and Andi Kapplin had a largeturnout (close to 50 people) for Yoav at their regularTuesday night Israeli dance session People camefrom all the surrounding communities includingOrlando Sarasota St Petersburg Clearwater andprobably others that I missed Yoav and Rakefettaught several of his classis dances including ErevBa Bo Beshalom Tzama Sovevuni Irisim andRakefet While in Tampa he also talked to aHebrew class at the University of South Floridaabout the history of Israeli dancing and was delightfulOn Wednesday I took them to EPCOT (with ticketsthanks to Jennifer Velt a Tampa Israeli dancer whoworks part-time at Disney World) Thursdayafternoon we went to Gainesville where AndyWeitzen had arranged a workshop at the regularThursday evening Israeli dance session There wereat least 40 people there including dancers fromJacksonville Ocala and other nearby communitiesBesides teaching Yoav spent a little time talking tothe group about the history of Israeli dance and hisrole in it The Gainesville dancers also provided ahuge amount of delicious snacks

The groups in Tampa and Gainesville wereextremely friendly and hospitable My last activitywas taking Yoav and Rakefet to the Orlando airporton Friday to catch their flight to New York My timewith them was lots of fun especially talking to themabout the history of Israeli dance and the manychoreographers and teachers I know in Israel

6 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return to Contents

From the EditorPlans are progressing for Florida Folk Dance Camp2009 to be held on Presidentrsquos Day weekend at theKenilworth Lodge ndash the same venue as last yearJohnrsquos letter focuses on camp The teachers are twofavorites of many dancers ndash Yves Moreau and RooLester I am coordinating snacks ndash see Hungry forSnacks More information will be coming innewsletters between now and campJohn has been doing some work on the websiteMuch of it is not visible such as the facility used toupdate the calendar pages But one improvement isof benefit to everyone He has started creating newemail addresses for FFDC officers So far there aretwo ndash for the president (presidentfolkdanceorg)and the newsletter editor (editorfolkdanceorg)Email sent to these addresses is now forwarded toJohnrsquos and my personal email addresses But in thefuture the email will be forwarded to whoever holdsthe positions at the timeGary and I are continuing to enjoy the feast ofdancing that is available to us here in centralFlorida Recent big events have been Fall Fling andthe Sharpes Assembly and we have also dancedwith the Orlando club at their Oktoberfestcelebration in Melbourne with the South BrevardFolk Dancers and in Tampa at Judith BaizanrsquosWednesday night Scandinavian class Since wehave to drive over 1frac12 hours to get to most of theseplaces we sure are glad gas prices have comedown and we get about 30 mpg in our little carThe response to recent calls for articles for thenewsletter has been very gratifying Many of ourmembers now regularly report on the activities oftheir clubs special events and trips Others sendnotices about upcoming events poetry web links tosites featuring dance videos etc I have receivedmany nice compliments on the job I am doing asnewsletter editor but it would be a pretty dullnewsletter without the input of our many contributorsTo our authors ndash thank you and keep up the goodworkndash CL

Yoav and Rakefet Ashriel in Floridaby Debbie Meitin

Many Florida Israeli and international dancers weretreated to two workshops ndash on September 16 inTampa and September 18 in Gainesville ndash given byone of the legends of Israeli dance Yoav AshrielAfter several workshops in New York California andOregon Yoav and his daughter Rakefet (the nameof an Israeli dance he choreographed in the 1950s)came to Florida before traveling back home toIsrael I had the pleasure of attending bothworkshops and serving as their host and chauffeurduring part of their Florida visitYoav Ashriel and his late wife Mira were key playersin the Israeli dance world for many years Yoavhelped to screen new dances as choreographerspresented them at workshops Mira his life partnerdied in February and he decided to come to the USwith his daughter Rakefet to teach some of thedances he has choreographed over the last 50 yearsor so It was really hard to believe that he is 78 yearsold His mind is very sharp and his dancing andstamina are excellent I guess thatrsquos what happenswhen you dance all your life Rakefet is a talenteddancer in her own right and serves on the faculty atthe Wingate Institute in Israel which is IsraelrsquosNational Center for Physical Education and SportTerry Abrahams and Andi Kapplin had a largeturnout (close to 50 people) for Yoav at their regularTuesday night Israeli dance session People camefrom all the surrounding communities includingOrlando Sarasota St Petersburg Clearwater andprobably others that I missed Yoav and Rakefettaught several of his classis dances including ErevBa Bo Beshalom Tzama Sovevuni Irisim andRakefet While in Tampa he also talked to aHebrew class at the University of South Floridaabout the history of Israeli dancing and was delightfulOn Wednesday I took them to EPCOT (with ticketsthanks to Jennifer Velt a Tampa Israeli dancer whoworks part-time at Disney World) Thursdayafternoon we went to Gainesville where AndyWeitzen had arranged a workshop at the regularThursday evening Israeli dance session There wereat least 40 people there including dancers fromJacksonville Ocala and other nearby communitiesBesides teaching Yoav spent a little time talking tothe group about the history of Israeli dance and hisrole in it The Gainesville dancers also provided ahuge amount of delicious snacks

The groups in Tampa and Gainesville wereextremely friendly and hospitable My last activitywas taking Yoav and Rakefet to the Orlando airporton Friday to catch their flight to New York My timewith them was lots of fun especially talking to themabout the history of Israeli dance and the manychoreographers and teachers I know in Israel

6 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return toContents

Gainesville Dancers Host Ice CreamSocial

by Julieta Brambila

The Gainesville International Folk Dancers organizeda fundraiser to benefit the Gainesville Dance andMusic Association on August 20th at Sweet DreamsIce Cream We enjoyed dances by Cyndi and byMerald Clark of the Greenwood Morris dance groupJack Seltzer and John Ward participated in a coupleof their high-stepping spirited dances with sticks andhandkerchiefs Barry Gibbons was present as wellrepresenting the Gainesville Old Time DanceSociety Tara Bolker of the Gainesville CountryDancers visited our event and bought an ice creamJohn joyfully and tirelessly led us in dances torecorded music for about three hours in front of theice cream store Toshi and Talia thank you forjoining usThe picture below was taken by Cyndi On the left isJune Littler and on the far right is Julieta talking witha visitor to our table of information about folk danceand general dance in Gainesville and Florida

We enjoyed a brief but colorful sunset andoccasionally felt the strong breezes from the slowlyapproaching Tropical Storm Fay I am grateful toJack and Linda for helping set up the display andmusic and to John Joyce Dewsbury and June forhelping take it all down This was a small butmemorable event which we hope to repeat if only toenjoy some ice cream again while dancing togetherwith good friends

My Tripby Joy Herndon

For years I wanted to see my family I am theyoungest in our family of nine and five have passedon to a better place It grieves me to say I had to waituntil my husband passed on to be able to see thembut my place was with him in his last days I grieve forhim every day but it was time for me to visit thefamily I have left On this trip I visited my brother andsister who live in Sacramento CaliforniaMy daughter Carla went with me and helped meplan this trip What a blessing she was in this hardtime of my grieving I have to tell you a little story Iwas expecting my sister to pick us up from SanFrancisco and drive us to Sacramento After we gotoff the JetBlue plane and were getting our baggage Iwas watching our stuff and some strange man wasthere acting homeless I said to him ldquoThis is ourstuffrdquo He looked at me kind of funny I looked againOMG it was my brother Denny I did not recognizehim he had lost so much weight I was so ashamedThen I just hugged him I never thought I would notrecognize my own brotherWe went to the Sacramento Zoo and visited a lot ofwineries I got to visit Lake Tahoe just for a fewhours rode the lifts and saw the beautiful mountainsWhat a sight to see ndash well worth the trip there I wouldgo again if time permits Carla and I did some sight-seeing on our own but we did not have a car I didntgo dancing ndash just didnt have the time and when youdont have a car it is difficult to get around We couldhave rented a car but who wanted to drive inCalifornia We would have gotten lost for sure Theroads are not like Florida Theyrsquore up and downaround and over ndash no thanksWe took a boat trip to visit Alcatraz ndash that was amust The building is old and broken down The cellswere as big as some of your small bathrooms ndash justenough room for a small bed and one toilet Wowbut you know once yoursquove seen ithellip I would not goback I enjoyed the boat ride thoughWe also went to old town Sacramento That wasinteresting ndash again lots of walking All in all I had awonderful time I brought back some old pictures ofmy sisters that have passed on I plan on enlargingthem and making a place in my home for displayI love T-shirts so every place we went I bought ashirt Silly me ndash what can I say One day I will gotraveling again ndash maybe a trip to Minnesota to seemy sister Peggy who is 81 That is if I can make itnext year We will see

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 7

Return to Contents

Orlando International Folk Dance Clubby Pat Henderson

Our club is having a great fall dancing everyWednesday and having our share of parties OnOctober 1 we celebrated Bobbys birthday Weplayed an extra long polka so he could polka with allthe ladies Then on October 15 we had ourOktoberfest complete with knockwurst andOktoberfest beer We resurrected a bunch ofGerman dances that our club performed regularlyyears ago including Sauerlander Quadrille andShuhplattler LandlerWe plan to have our annual Halloween party on Oct29 We had about 13 from our group if you countPalm Coast attend Fall Fling in Melbourne onOctober 11 We had an exceptional day dancingand the food was great Thanks to all of you whoattended to make the day specialIn other news a few more of us traveled this pastmonth In my last travel report I did not mention thatKelly Fagan spent a week with her family in BooneNC in August Eva Meyer and her husband Davetook a September trip to Israel They especiallyenjoyed visiting Masada Joy Herndon went toCalifornia ndash see her article My Trip Emilie Brozektraveled with some of her family to the Finger Lakesarea of New YorkTwo of our dancers have been involved with localtheater I taught DHammerschmiedsgrsquosellen and OxDansen to an adult theater group that is working onThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow They perform forchildren Kelly Fagan will play the mother superior inNuncrackers on November 7-9 14-16 at the WayneDensch Theatre of the Performing Arts SanfordFlorida The performances are on Friday andSaturday nights and Sunday matinees Discountsmight be available for groups

Clockwise from upper left Joy Herndon Ann Robinsonand Juanita Schockey in Octoberfest garb

Pat Henderson and Bobby Quibodeaux doingShuhplattler Landler

Photos by Caroline Lanker

The Grapevine Dancersby Marie Millett

Delores Lustig Mary Finegold Varda Ruskin and Ijourneyed to Tampa to dance with Yoav Ashiel andhis daughter Rakafet in September It was areunion for Varda and Yoav He was her first folkdance teacher when she was twelve years old Itsalways good to dance with friends from otherplaces Thanks to Tampa for hosting the workshopWe have a few snowbirds back here in SarasotaWe will not be dancing on the Wednesday beforeThanksgiving November 26 Christmas Eve or NewYears Eve Otherwise do come and dance with usAndi has been teaching some new to us dances shelearned in VancouverWeve missed Eva Stunkel several weeks this pastmonth while she tried to find out why her heart isbeating so fast So far she hasnt learned the causebut it was great to have her back dancing last week

Spring Fling Date for 2009Mark your calendars now for Spring Fling onApril 4 2009 10 AM - 7 PM at the Whirl andTwirl square dance hall in Orlando More detailswill be published in coming months

8 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return to Contents

Hungry for Snacksby Caroline Lanker

Volunteers are needed to do the evening snacks atFlorida Folk Dance Camp in February 2009 In thepast dance clubs volunteered to do the refreshmentsfor the evenings of camp Last year OrlandoSarasota Grapeviners and Tampa provided thesnacks for one evening eachUnfortunately we no longer have many large clubs torotate the job among And there are some outlyingpeople who havenrsquot enjoyed the privilege of doingsnacks for camp This year we are trying somethingdifferent - asking for individual volunteers About 12volunteers are needed to do the snacks for the threeevenings They will be grouped into three teamsone for each evening Once a team is assigned theywill communicate among themselves to determinewhat food to provide and how to divide up the workIf you would like to volunteer please contact me (seecontact information on the back of this newsletter)Each person will only be asked to do snacks on onenight Please specify which night(s) you could doand if there is someone else you would particularlylike to work with Alternatively you may get a groupto volunteer togetherHere is some more information to help you make upyour mind

bullœ The camp will reimburse the expenses forsnacks up to a pre-determined reasonable amountper night

bullœ Each team is responsible for buying preparingand bringing the food and beverages for set upand for cleaning up the serving tables and servingdishes

bullœ Ethnic foods corresponding to the theme of theevening party are encouraged but not required forSaturday (Basque) and Sunday (Balkan) nightsFriday evening does not have any particularethnicity associated with it

Sixtieth Wedding AnniversaryOur 60th Wedding Anniversary celebration tookplace in our subdivision clubhouse at TropicalShores The actual date of our wedding wasSeptember 12 1948 in Spring Valley NYThe anniversary party was a total surprise We wereshocked Children grandchildren and great-grandscame from all over the eastern US fromMinneapolis Chicago Baltimore Louisville andSeneca SC They really enjoyed their stay on SiestaKey All our folk dance buddies new and ancient were there too We have remarkable photos to keepthis event in mindndash Shirley and Dmitri Babiak

Picture board displayed at Shirley and Dmitri Babiakrsquos60th wedding anniversary celebration

Life is not about waiting for thestorm to pass Its about learning

to dance in the rain

The amount to be reimbursed suggestions of ethnicfoods and other details will be provided to the teamswell before campPlease volunteer so we donrsquot have to twist arms tomake sure there are evening snacks at camp

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 9

Return to Contents

South Brevard Dancersby Suzan Grinarml

On the 19th of September the South Brevard International Folk Dancerscelebrated dancer Jean Murrays birthday Food and wine were servedincluding a German chocolate cake baked by Fannie and Willa Specialguests Caroline and Gary Lanker arrived from Frostproof We had enoughpeople for set dancing and danced beyond our usual 10 PM closingPresident John Daly chose a wide selection of dances new and old and wehad quite an athletic workout to commemorate Jeans special day and herexciting move into a new homeOn October 10 - 12 we sponsored Fall Fling at the Melbourne VillageCommunity House (See Fall Fling on page 3) It was a wonderful weekendwith a great turnout ndash approximately 40 people in attendance including groupsfrom Orlando Tampa Palm Coast Flagler and Miami Bernice Willa andFannie did an outstanding job of organizing the potluck lunch and supper andcleaning up The weekend was fun-filled and the dances (100 or so) were awide variety with President John Dalyrsquos computerized music making thedances seem almost as if live musicians were present We even learned anew $5000 dance taught by Kelly Ann and Terry who learned it during theirtrip to Romania

Jean Murray with birthdaycake

Fall Fling left toright Lou and DavidDavia Jean Murray

and John Daly Wallyand Joan

Washington Judithand Ernesto Baizan

Dancing Changed My Lifeby Bernice Roth

It was only by chanceThat I learned to danceWhen my heart was so sadI needed something to make me gladAn item in the paper caught my eyeWhich gave me an instant highTo learn something new was my thoughtCould this be what I soughtWould dancing be for meI would try it and seeLittle did I knowThat from it I would get a glowAnd improve my body and mindIn ways very kindSo today I can boastWhile making a toastDance for your healthSo you can enjoy your wealth

Folk Dancers Found in North CarolinaMountainsby Wanda Turner

While attending a Unitarian Universalist retreat in NorthCarolina over Labor Day weekend I met SusanneWhitehead Walker Susanne has been integral to the UUcamp for the last nine years I had not recognized her by hermarried name when I spoke with her on the telephone Inreal life I recognized her immediately For years shedanced in Sarasota with her family Randi Whitehead is stillin Sarasota Jeanie Whitehead has moved to North Carolina to be nearMark and Susanne Walker and their two sons Lincoln andLogan Jeanies son Craig Whitehead and his wife Paulalive about an hour away also Jeanie surprised me with atwo hour visit at UU camp that was wonderful She sendsher love to Florida folk dancers Kathy Dudek who is from Lakeland and formerly danced inOrlando lives and dances in the area also

Photos by CarolineLanker

10 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return to Contents

Please note The Florida Folk Dancer prints information on folkdance tours camps and other events that may be of interest to ourreaders This does not imply an endorsement or recommendationof any tour or camp (except our own FFDC events)

Notices of selected tours are published in the newsletter andchanged with each issue A more complete list of tours can befound in the calendar on the FFDC website

International Folk Dance Tours andWorkshops

Events

November 7 - 9 St Johns Greek FestivalPlace St John Greek Orthodox Church 2418

Swann Avenue Tampa FL 33609 813-876-8830Times Friday 5-10 PM Saturday noon-10 PM

Sunday noon-9 PMInformation wwwsaintjohngocorgfestivalindexhtm

November 14 - 16 Holiday Dance WeekendFriday English Country Dance Party

Place Senior Center 909 Lane Avenue TitusvilleTime 7-10 PM

Saturday Contra and English Country DanceParty

Place Great Outdoors RV Resort pavilion 137Plantation Drive Titusville

Time potluck supper 645 PM dancing to 1030 PMSunday Ceilidh Dance Party

Place Community House 6200 Hall RoadMelbourne Village

Time 1 - 5 PM with a potluck lunchInformation httpchagaloorgecdecdspecshtml

December 26 - January 1 2009 ChristmasCountry Dance School

Several teachers and dance traditions includingEnglish Country and contra music and crafts Roo

Lester will teach Scandinavian dancePlace Berea College Berea KY

Information 859-985-3431 ccdsbereaeduwwwbereaedupehdanceccds

August 3-17 Balkan JourneyLed by Jim Gold Sightseeing music and dancing in

Tirana Albania Ohrid Macedonia ThessalonikiGreece and Bansko and Sofia Bulgaria

Contact for all Jim Gold ToursJim Gold International Inc 497 Cumberland Avenue

Teaneck NJ 07666 (201) 836-0362jimgoldjimgoldcom

Information at wwwjimgoldcomJuly 31-August 11 Hungary Tour

Jim Gold Tour led by Adam Molnar Sightseeing inBudapest and historic towns and a two-day

workshop at the Jaacuteszbereacuteny Folk Music and FolkDance Camp

February 13 - 16 Florida Folk Dance CampPlace Kenilworth Lodge Sebring FL

Instructors Yves Moreau Balkan and Roo LesterBasque

Additional Scandinavian WorkshopParty with RooFriday Afternoon February 13

Information and registration formswwwfolkdanceorg

March 7 Azalea International Folk Fair - WorldCulture Dance Competition

Place Valdosta-Lowndes County ConferenceCenter off I-75 and Highway 84 Valdosta GA

Information wwwgainternationalfolkfairorg Videos wwwyoutubecomfolkdancecompetition

and wwwyoutubecomazaleainternationalNote Julius Horvath has been invited to be a judgeof this competition in 2009 for the second year

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 11

Return to Contents

Orlando International Folk Dance Clubby Pat Henderson

Our club is having a great fall dancing everyWednesday and having our share of parties OnOctober 1 we celebrated Bobbys birthday Weplayed an extra long polka so he could polka with allthe ladies Then on October 15 we had ourOktoberfest complete with knockwurst andOktoberfest beer We resurrected a bunch ofGerman dances that our club performed regularlyyears ago including Sauerlander Quadrille andShuhplattler LandlerWe plan to have our annual Halloween party on Oct29 We had about 13 from our group if you countPalm Coast attend Fall Fling in Melbourne onOctober 11 We had an exceptional day dancingand the food was great Thanks to all of you whoattended to make the day specialIn other news a few more of us traveled this pastmonth In my last travel report I did not mention thatKelly Fagan spent a week with her family in BooneNC in August Eva Meyer and her husband Davetook a September trip to Israel They especiallyenjoyed visiting Masada Joy Herndon went toCalifornia ndash see her article My Trip Emilie Brozektraveled with some of her family to the Finger Lakesarea of New YorkTwo of our dancers have been involved with localtheater I taught DHammerschmiedsgrsquosellen and OxDansen to an adult theater group that is working onThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow They perform forchildren Kelly Fagan will play the mother superior inNuncrackers on November 7-9 14-16 at the WayneDensch Theatre of the Performing Arts SanfordFlorida The performances are on Friday andSaturday nights and Sunday matinees Discountsmight be available for groups

Clockwise from upper left Joy Herndon Ann Robinsonand Juanita Schockey in Octoberfest garb

Pat Henderson and Bobby Quibodeaux doingShuhplattler Landler

Photos by Caroline Lanker

The Grapevine Dancersby Marie Millett

Delores Lustig Mary Finegold Varda Ruskin and Ijourneyed to Tampa to dance with Yoav Ashiel andhis daughter Rakafet in September It was areunion for Varda and Yoav He was her first folkdance teacher when she was twelve years old Itsalways good to dance with friends from otherplaces Thanks to Tampa for hosting the workshopWe have a few snowbirds back here in SarasotaWe will not be dancing on the Wednesday beforeThanksgiving November 26 Christmas Eve or NewYears Eve Otherwise do come and dance with usAndi has been teaching some new to us dances shelearned in VancouverWeve missed Eva Stunkel several weeks this pastmonth while she tried to find out why her heart isbeating so fast So far she hasnt learned the causebut it was great to have her back dancing last week

Spring Fling Date for 2009Mark your calendars now for Spring Fling onApril 4 2009 10 AM - 7 PM at the Whirl andTwirl square dance hall in Orlando More detailswill be published in coming months

8 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return to Contents

Hungry for Snacksby Caroline Lanker

Volunteers are needed to do the evening snacks atFlorida Folk Dance Camp in February 2009 In thepast dance clubs volunteered to do the refreshmentsfor the evenings of camp Last year OrlandoSarasota Grapeviners and Tampa provided thesnacks for one evening eachUnfortunately we no longer have many large clubs torotate the job among And there are some outlyingpeople who havenrsquot enjoyed the privilege of doingsnacks for camp This year we are trying somethingdifferent - asking for individual volunteers About 12volunteers are needed to do the snacks for the threeevenings They will be grouped into three teamsone for each evening Once a team is assigned theywill communicate among themselves to determinewhat food to provide and how to divide up the workIf you would like to volunteer please contact me (seecontact information on the back of this newsletter)Each person will only be asked to do snacks on onenight Please specify which night(s) you could doand if there is someone else you would particularlylike to work with Alternatively you may get a groupto volunteer togetherHere is some more information to help you make upyour mind

bullœ The camp will reimburse the expenses forsnacks up to a pre-determined reasonable amountper night

bullœ Each team is responsible for buying preparingand bringing the food and beverages for set upand for cleaning up the serving tables and servingdishes

bullœ Ethnic foods corresponding to the theme of theevening party are encouraged but not required forSaturday (Basque) and Sunday (Balkan) nightsFriday evening does not have any particularethnicity associated with it

Sixtieth Wedding AnniversaryOur 60th Wedding Anniversary celebration tookplace in our subdivision clubhouse at TropicalShores The actual date of our wedding wasSeptember 12 1948 in Spring Valley NYThe anniversary party was a total surprise We wereshocked Children grandchildren and great-grandscame from all over the eastern US fromMinneapolis Chicago Baltimore Louisville andSeneca SC They really enjoyed their stay on SiestaKey All our folk dance buddies new and ancient were there too We have remarkable photos to keepthis event in mindndash Shirley and Dmitri Babiak

Picture board displayed at Shirley and Dmitri Babiakrsquos60th wedding anniversary celebration

Life is not about waiting for thestorm to pass Its about learning

to dance in the rain

The amount to be reimbursed suggestions of ethnicfoods and other details will be provided to the teamswell before campPlease volunteer so we donrsquot have to twist arms tomake sure there are evening snacks at camp

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 9

Return to Contents

South Brevard Dancersby Suzan Grinarml

On the 19th of September the South Brevard International Folk Dancerscelebrated dancer Jean Murrays birthday Food and wine were servedincluding a German chocolate cake baked by Fannie and Willa Specialguests Caroline and Gary Lanker arrived from Frostproof We had enoughpeople for set dancing and danced beyond our usual 10 PM closingPresident John Daly chose a wide selection of dances new and old and wehad quite an athletic workout to commemorate Jeans special day and herexciting move into a new homeOn October 10 - 12 we sponsored Fall Fling at the Melbourne VillageCommunity House (See Fall Fling on page 3) It was a wonderful weekendwith a great turnout ndash approximately 40 people in attendance including groupsfrom Orlando Tampa Palm Coast Flagler and Miami Bernice Willa andFannie did an outstanding job of organizing the potluck lunch and supper andcleaning up The weekend was fun-filled and the dances (100 or so) were awide variety with President John Dalyrsquos computerized music making thedances seem almost as if live musicians were present We even learned anew $5000 dance taught by Kelly Ann and Terry who learned it during theirtrip to Romania

Jean Murray with birthdaycake

Fall Fling left toright Lou and DavidDavia Jean Murray

and John Daly Wallyand Joan

Washington Judithand Ernesto Baizan

Dancing Changed My Lifeby Bernice Roth

It was only by chanceThat I learned to danceWhen my heart was so sadI needed something to make me gladAn item in the paper caught my eyeWhich gave me an instant highTo learn something new was my thoughtCould this be what I soughtWould dancing be for meI would try it and seeLittle did I knowThat from it I would get a glowAnd improve my body and mindIn ways very kindSo today I can boastWhile making a toastDance for your healthSo you can enjoy your wealth

Folk Dancers Found in North CarolinaMountainsby Wanda Turner

While attending a Unitarian Universalist retreat in NorthCarolina over Labor Day weekend I met SusanneWhitehead Walker Susanne has been integral to the UUcamp for the last nine years I had not recognized her by hermarried name when I spoke with her on the telephone Inreal life I recognized her immediately For years shedanced in Sarasota with her family Randi Whitehead is stillin Sarasota Jeanie Whitehead has moved to North Carolina to be nearMark and Susanne Walker and their two sons Lincoln andLogan Jeanies son Craig Whitehead and his wife Paulalive about an hour away also Jeanie surprised me with atwo hour visit at UU camp that was wonderful She sendsher love to Florida folk dancers Kathy Dudek who is from Lakeland and formerly danced inOrlando lives and dances in the area also

Photos by CarolineLanker

10 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return to Contents

Please note The Florida Folk Dancer prints information on folkdance tours camps and other events that may be of interest to ourreaders This does not imply an endorsement or recommendationof any tour or camp (except our own FFDC events)

Notices of selected tours are published in the newsletter andchanged with each issue A more complete list of tours can befound in the calendar on the FFDC website

International Folk Dance Tours andWorkshops

Events

November 7 - 9 St Johns Greek FestivalPlace St John Greek Orthodox Church 2418

Swann Avenue Tampa FL 33609 813-876-8830Times Friday 5-10 PM Saturday noon-10 PM

Sunday noon-9 PMInformation wwwsaintjohngocorgfestivalindexhtm

November 14 - 16 Holiday Dance WeekendFriday English Country Dance Party

Place Senior Center 909 Lane Avenue TitusvilleTime 7-10 PM

Saturday Contra and English Country DanceParty

Place Great Outdoors RV Resort pavilion 137Plantation Drive Titusville

Time potluck supper 645 PM dancing to 1030 PMSunday Ceilidh Dance Party

Place Community House 6200 Hall RoadMelbourne Village

Time 1 - 5 PM with a potluck lunchInformation httpchagaloorgecdecdspecshtml

December 26 - January 1 2009 ChristmasCountry Dance School

Several teachers and dance traditions includingEnglish Country and contra music and crafts Roo

Lester will teach Scandinavian dancePlace Berea College Berea KY

Information 859-985-3431 ccdsbereaeduwwwbereaedupehdanceccds

August 3-17 Balkan JourneyLed by Jim Gold Sightseeing music and dancing in

Tirana Albania Ohrid Macedonia ThessalonikiGreece and Bansko and Sofia Bulgaria

Contact for all Jim Gold ToursJim Gold International Inc 497 Cumberland Avenue

Teaneck NJ 07666 (201) 836-0362jimgoldjimgoldcom

Information at wwwjimgoldcomJuly 31-August 11 Hungary Tour

Jim Gold Tour led by Adam Molnar Sightseeing inBudapest and historic towns and a two-day

workshop at the Jaacuteszbereacuteny Folk Music and FolkDance Camp

February 13 - 16 Florida Folk Dance CampPlace Kenilworth Lodge Sebring FL

Instructors Yves Moreau Balkan and Roo LesterBasque

Additional Scandinavian WorkshopParty with RooFriday Afternoon February 13

Information and registration formswwwfolkdanceorg

March 7 Azalea International Folk Fair - WorldCulture Dance Competition

Place Valdosta-Lowndes County ConferenceCenter off I-75 and Highway 84 Valdosta GA

Information wwwgainternationalfolkfairorg Videos wwwyoutubecomfolkdancecompetition

and wwwyoutubecomazaleainternationalNote Julius Horvath has been invited to be a judgeof this competition in 2009 for the second year

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 11

Return to Contents

Hungry for Snacksby Caroline Lanker

Volunteers are needed to do the evening snacks atFlorida Folk Dance Camp in February 2009 In thepast dance clubs volunteered to do the refreshmentsfor the evenings of camp Last year OrlandoSarasota Grapeviners and Tampa provided thesnacks for one evening eachUnfortunately we no longer have many large clubs torotate the job among And there are some outlyingpeople who havenrsquot enjoyed the privilege of doingsnacks for camp This year we are trying somethingdifferent - asking for individual volunteers About 12volunteers are needed to do the snacks for the threeevenings They will be grouped into three teamsone for each evening Once a team is assigned theywill communicate among themselves to determinewhat food to provide and how to divide up the workIf you would like to volunteer please contact me (seecontact information on the back of this newsletter)Each person will only be asked to do snacks on onenight Please specify which night(s) you could doand if there is someone else you would particularlylike to work with Alternatively you may get a groupto volunteer togetherHere is some more information to help you make upyour mind

bullœ The camp will reimburse the expenses forsnacks up to a pre-determined reasonable amountper night

bullœ Each team is responsible for buying preparingand bringing the food and beverages for set upand for cleaning up the serving tables and servingdishes

bullœ Ethnic foods corresponding to the theme of theevening party are encouraged but not required forSaturday (Basque) and Sunday (Balkan) nightsFriday evening does not have any particularethnicity associated with it

Sixtieth Wedding AnniversaryOur 60th Wedding Anniversary celebration tookplace in our subdivision clubhouse at TropicalShores The actual date of our wedding wasSeptember 12 1948 in Spring Valley NYThe anniversary party was a total surprise We wereshocked Children grandchildren and great-grandscame from all over the eastern US fromMinneapolis Chicago Baltimore Louisville andSeneca SC They really enjoyed their stay on SiestaKey All our folk dance buddies new and ancient were there too We have remarkable photos to keepthis event in mindndash Shirley and Dmitri Babiak

Picture board displayed at Shirley and Dmitri Babiakrsquos60th wedding anniversary celebration

Life is not about waiting for thestorm to pass Its about learning

to dance in the rain

The amount to be reimbursed suggestions of ethnicfoods and other details will be provided to the teamswell before campPlease volunteer so we donrsquot have to twist arms tomake sure there are evening snacks at camp

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 9

Return to Contents

South Brevard Dancersby Suzan Grinarml

On the 19th of September the South Brevard International Folk Dancerscelebrated dancer Jean Murrays birthday Food and wine were servedincluding a German chocolate cake baked by Fannie and Willa Specialguests Caroline and Gary Lanker arrived from Frostproof We had enoughpeople for set dancing and danced beyond our usual 10 PM closingPresident John Daly chose a wide selection of dances new and old and wehad quite an athletic workout to commemorate Jeans special day and herexciting move into a new homeOn October 10 - 12 we sponsored Fall Fling at the Melbourne VillageCommunity House (See Fall Fling on page 3) It was a wonderful weekendwith a great turnout ndash approximately 40 people in attendance including groupsfrom Orlando Tampa Palm Coast Flagler and Miami Bernice Willa andFannie did an outstanding job of organizing the potluck lunch and supper andcleaning up The weekend was fun-filled and the dances (100 or so) were awide variety with President John Dalyrsquos computerized music making thedances seem almost as if live musicians were present We even learned anew $5000 dance taught by Kelly Ann and Terry who learned it during theirtrip to Romania

Jean Murray with birthdaycake

Fall Fling left toright Lou and DavidDavia Jean Murray

and John Daly Wallyand Joan

Washington Judithand Ernesto Baizan

Dancing Changed My Lifeby Bernice Roth

It was only by chanceThat I learned to danceWhen my heart was so sadI needed something to make me gladAn item in the paper caught my eyeWhich gave me an instant highTo learn something new was my thoughtCould this be what I soughtWould dancing be for meI would try it and seeLittle did I knowThat from it I would get a glowAnd improve my body and mindIn ways very kindSo today I can boastWhile making a toastDance for your healthSo you can enjoy your wealth

Folk Dancers Found in North CarolinaMountainsby Wanda Turner

While attending a Unitarian Universalist retreat in NorthCarolina over Labor Day weekend I met SusanneWhitehead Walker Susanne has been integral to the UUcamp for the last nine years I had not recognized her by hermarried name when I spoke with her on the telephone Inreal life I recognized her immediately For years shedanced in Sarasota with her family Randi Whitehead is stillin Sarasota Jeanie Whitehead has moved to North Carolina to be nearMark and Susanne Walker and their two sons Lincoln andLogan Jeanies son Craig Whitehead and his wife Paulalive about an hour away also Jeanie surprised me with atwo hour visit at UU camp that was wonderful She sendsher love to Florida folk dancers Kathy Dudek who is from Lakeland and formerly danced inOrlando lives and dances in the area also

Photos by CarolineLanker

10 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return to Contents

Please note The Florida Folk Dancer prints information on folkdance tours camps and other events that may be of interest to ourreaders This does not imply an endorsement or recommendationof any tour or camp (except our own FFDC events)

Notices of selected tours are published in the newsletter andchanged with each issue A more complete list of tours can befound in the calendar on the FFDC website

International Folk Dance Tours andWorkshops

Events

November 7 - 9 St Johns Greek FestivalPlace St John Greek Orthodox Church 2418

Swann Avenue Tampa FL 33609 813-876-8830Times Friday 5-10 PM Saturday noon-10 PM

Sunday noon-9 PMInformation wwwsaintjohngocorgfestivalindexhtm

November 14 - 16 Holiday Dance WeekendFriday English Country Dance Party

Place Senior Center 909 Lane Avenue TitusvilleTime 7-10 PM

Saturday Contra and English Country DanceParty

Place Great Outdoors RV Resort pavilion 137Plantation Drive Titusville

Time potluck supper 645 PM dancing to 1030 PMSunday Ceilidh Dance Party

Place Community House 6200 Hall RoadMelbourne Village

Time 1 - 5 PM with a potluck lunchInformation httpchagaloorgecdecdspecshtml

December 26 - January 1 2009 ChristmasCountry Dance School

Several teachers and dance traditions includingEnglish Country and contra music and crafts Roo

Lester will teach Scandinavian dancePlace Berea College Berea KY

Information 859-985-3431 ccdsbereaeduwwwbereaedupehdanceccds

August 3-17 Balkan JourneyLed by Jim Gold Sightseeing music and dancing in

Tirana Albania Ohrid Macedonia ThessalonikiGreece and Bansko and Sofia Bulgaria

Contact for all Jim Gold ToursJim Gold International Inc 497 Cumberland Avenue

Teaneck NJ 07666 (201) 836-0362jimgoldjimgoldcom

Information at wwwjimgoldcomJuly 31-August 11 Hungary Tour

Jim Gold Tour led by Adam Molnar Sightseeing inBudapest and historic towns and a two-day

workshop at the Jaacuteszbereacuteny Folk Music and FolkDance Camp

February 13 - 16 Florida Folk Dance CampPlace Kenilworth Lodge Sebring FL

Instructors Yves Moreau Balkan and Roo LesterBasque

Additional Scandinavian WorkshopParty with RooFriday Afternoon February 13

Information and registration formswwwfolkdanceorg

March 7 Azalea International Folk Fair - WorldCulture Dance Competition

Place Valdosta-Lowndes County ConferenceCenter off I-75 and Highway 84 Valdosta GA

Information wwwgainternationalfolkfairorg Videos wwwyoutubecomfolkdancecompetition

and wwwyoutubecomazaleainternationalNote Julius Horvath has been invited to be a judgeof this competition in 2009 for the second year

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 11

Return to Contents

South Brevard Dancersby Suzan Grinarml

On the 19th of September the South Brevard International Folk Dancerscelebrated dancer Jean Murrays birthday Food and wine were servedincluding a German chocolate cake baked by Fannie and Willa Specialguests Caroline and Gary Lanker arrived from Frostproof We had enoughpeople for set dancing and danced beyond our usual 10 PM closingPresident John Daly chose a wide selection of dances new and old and wehad quite an athletic workout to commemorate Jeans special day and herexciting move into a new homeOn October 10 - 12 we sponsored Fall Fling at the Melbourne VillageCommunity House (See Fall Fling on page 3) It was a wonderful weekendwith a great turnout ndash approximately 40 people in attendance including groupsfrom Orlando Tampa Palm Coast Flagler and Miami Bernice Willa andFannie did an outstanding job of organizing the potluck lunch and supper andcleaning up The weekend was fun-filled and the dances (100 or so) were awide variety with President John Dalyrsquos computerized music making thedances seem almost as if live musicians were present We even learned anew $5000 dance taught by Kelly Ann and Terry who learned it during theirtrip to Romania

Jean Murray with birthdaycake

Fall Fling left toright Lou and DavidDavia Jean Murray

and John Daly Wallyand Joan

Washington Judithand Ernesto Baizan

Dancing Changed My Lifeby Bernice Roth

It was only by chanceThat I learned to danceWhen my heart was so sadI needed something to make me gladAn item in the paper caught my eyeWhich gave me an instant highTo learn something new was my thoughtCould this be what I soughtWould dancing be for meI would try it and seeLittle did I knowThat from it I would get a glowAnd improve my body and mindIn ways very kindSo today I can boastWhile making a toastDance for your healthSo you can enjoy your wealth

Folk Dancers Found in North CarolinaMountainsby Wanda Turner

While attending a Unitarian Universalist retreat in NorthCarolina over Labor Day weekend I met SusanneWhitehead Walker Susanne has been integral to the UUcamp for the last nine years I had not recognized her by hermarried name when I spoke with her on the telephone Inreal life I recognized her immediately For years shedanced in Sarasota with her family Randi Whitehead is stillin Sarasota Jeanie Whitehead has moved to North Carolina to be nearMark and Susanne Walker and their two sons Lincoln andLogan Jeanies son Craig Whitehead and his wife Paulalive about an hour away also Jeanie surprised me with atwo hour visit at UU camp that was wonderful She sendsher love to Florida folk dancers Kathy Dudek who is from Lakeland and formerly danced inOrlando lives and dances in the area also

Photos by CarolineLanker

10 wwwfolkdanceorgFlorida Folk Dancer

October - November 2008

Return to Contents

Please note The Florida Folk Dancer prints information on folkdance tours camps and other events that may be of interest to ourreaders This does not imply an endorsement or recommendationof any tour or camp (except our own FFDC events)

Notices of selected tours are published in the newsletter andchanged with each issue A more complete list of tours can befound in the calendar on the FFDC website

International Folk Dance Tours andWorkshops

Events

November 7 - 9 St Johns Greek FestivalPlace St John Greek Orthodox Church 2418

Swann Avenue Tampa FL 33609 813-876-8830Times Friday 5-10 PM Saturday noon-10 PM

Sunday noon-9 PMInformation wwwsaintjohngocorgfestivalindexhtm

November 14 - 16 Holiday Dance WeekendFriday English Country Dance Party

Place Senior Center 909 Lane Avenue TitusvilleTime 7-10 PM

Saturday Contra and English Country DanceParty

Place Great Outdoors RV Resort pavilion 137Plantation Drive Titusville

Time potluck supper 645 PM dancing to 1030 PMSunday Ceilidh Dance Party

Place Community House 6200 Hall RoadMelbourne Village

Time 1 - 5 PM with a potluck lunchInformation httpchagaloorgecdecdspecshtml

December 26 - January 1 2009 ChristmasCountry Dance School

Several teachers and dance traditions includingEnglish Country and contra music and crafts Roo

Lester will teach Scandinavian dancePlace Berea College Berea KY

Information 859-985-3431 ccdsbereaeduwwwbereaedupehdanceccds

August 3-17 Balkan JourneyLed by Jim Gold Sightseeing music and dancing in

Tirana Albania Ohrid Macedonia ThessalonikiGreece and Bansko and Sofia Bulgaria

Contact for all Jim Gold ToursJim Gold International Inc 497 Cumberland Avenue

Teaneck NJ 07666 (201) 836-0362jimgoldjimgoldcom

Information at wwwjimgoldcomJuly 31-August 11 Hungary Tour

Jim Gold Tour led by Adam Molnar Sightseeing inBudapest and historic towns and a two-day

workshop at the Jaacuteszbereacuteny Folk Music and FolkDance Camp

February 13 - 16 Florida Folk Dance CampPlace Kenilworth Lodge Sebring FL

Instructors Yves Moreau Balkan and Roo LesterBasque

Additional Scandinavian WorkshopParty with RooFriday Afternoon February 13

Information and registration formswwwfolkdanceorg

March 7 Azalea International Folk Fair - WorldCulture Dance Competition

Place Valdosta-Lowndes County ConferenceCenter off I-75 and Highway 84 Valdosta GA

Information wwwgainternationalfolkfairorg Videos wwwyoutubecomfolkdancecompetition

and wwwyoutubecomazaleainternationalNote Julius Horvath has been invited to be a judgeof this competition in 2009 for the second year

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 11

Return to Contents

Please note The Florida Folk Dancer prints information on folkdance tours camps and other events that may be of interest to ourreaders This does not imply an endorsement or recommendationof any tour or camp (except our own FFDC events)

Notices of selected tours are published in the newsletter andchanged with each issue A more complete list of tours can befound in the calendar on the FFDC website

International Folk Dance Tours andWorkshops

Events

November 7 - 9 St Johns Greek FestivalPlace St John Greek Orthodox Church 2418

Swann Avenue Tampa FL 33609 813-876-8830Times Friday 5-10 PM Saturday noon-10 PM

Sunday noon-9 PMInformation wwwsaintjohngocorgfestivalindexhtm

November 14 - 16 Holiday Dance WeekendFriday English Country Dance Party

Place Senior Center 909 Lane Avenue TitusvilleTime 7-10 PM

Saturday Contra and English Country DanceParty

Place Great Outdoors RV Resort pavilion 137Plantation Drive Titusville

Time potluck supper 645 PM dancing to 1030 PMSunday Ceilidh Dance Party

Place Community House 6200 Hall RoadMelbourne Village

Time 1 - 5 PM with a potluck lunchInformation httpchagaloorgecdecdspecshtml

December 26 - January 1 2009 ChristmasCountry Dance School

Several teachers and dance traditions includingEnglish Country and contra music and crafts Roo

Lester will teach Scandinavian dancePlace Berea College Berea KY

Information 859-985-3431 ccdsbereaeduwwwbereaedupehdanceccds

August 3-17 Balkan JourneyLed by Jim Gold Sightseeing music and dancing in

Tirana Albania Ohrid Macedonia ThessalonikiGreece and Bansko and Sofia Bulgaria

Contact for all Jim Gold ToursJim Gold International Inc 497 Cumberland Avenue

Teaneck NJ 07666 (201) 836-0362jimgoldjimgoldcom

Information at wwwjimgoldcomJuly 31-August 11 Hungary Tour

Jim Gold Tour led by Adam Molnar Sightseeing inBudapest and historic towns and a two-day

workshop at the Jaacuteszbereacuteny Folk Music and FolkDance Camp

February 13 - 16 Florida Folk Dance CampPlace Kenilworth Lodge Sebring FL

Instructors Yves Moreau Balkan and Roo LesterBasque

Additional Scandinavian WorkshopParty with RooFriday Afternoon February 13

Information and registration formswwwfolkdanceorg

March 7 Azalea International Folk Fair - WorldCulture Dance Competition

Place Valdosta-Lowndes County ConferenceCenter off I-75 and Highway 84 Valdosta GA

Information wwwgainternationalfolkfairorg Videos wwwyoutubecomfolkdancecompetition

and wwwyoutubecomazaleainternationalNote Julius Horvath has been invited to be a judgeof this competition in 2009 for the second year

Florida Folk DancerOctober - November 2008 wwwfolkdanceorg 11

Return AddressFlorida Folk Dancer1963 S Lake Reedy BlvdFrostproof FL 33843USAFIRST CLASS

FLORIDA FOLK DANCERFlorida Folk Dancer is published six to eight timesa year by the Florida Folk Dance Council Inc anon-profit corporation whose purpose is to furtherknowledge performance and recreationalenjoyment of International Folk Dance2008 FFDC OFFICERSPresident John Daly

321-482-6818presidentfolkdanceorg

VP Fannie Salerno772-664-0580fansaleaolcom

Treasurer Jan Lathi386-447-8396amarjan1bellsouthnet

Secretary Willa Davidsohn321-254-7090annona2earthlinknet

Historian Dan LampertPO Box 151719Altamonte Springs FL 32715dan300dlc2com

Newsletter Editor Caroline Lanker1963 S Lake Reedy BlvdFrostproof FL 33843863-635-9366editorfolkdanceorg

Submissions Send all newsletter submissions tothe EditorCopyright Articles in the Florida Folk Dancer arecopyright by the Florida Folk Dance Council Incor by their individual authorsSubscriptions for printed and mailed copies are$15 per year per person ($20 per family) andinclude membership in the Florida Folk DanceCouncil Membership without printed newslettersis $10 per person or $15 per family Themembership year runs from one annual FloridaFolk Dance Camp (usually February) to the nextThe newsletter is posted on the FFDC websiteand members with e-mail addresses are notifiedof its availabilityFFDC Website wwwfolkdanceorg