Mark your calendars now for an amazing weekend of English Country Dancing in charming, friendly and funky Asheville, North Carolina.
The Performers
Tom Roby has been teaching English dancing since undergraduate days, and is well-known as an ECD leader on both coasts. Currently he is one of the main callers for CDS Boston Centre (calling regularly with Bare Necessities and Friends) for both weekly dances and special events. He maintains a busy schedule teaching at festivals, dance camps, and weekends. Credits include CDSS English and American weeks at Pinewoods, Mainewoods Dance Camp, and other dance weekends.
Tom works hard to foster community, communicating the skills needed to dance better and to assist others gracefully, and helping everyone appreciate the amazing diversity of styles and music represented by ECD’s 374-year history. Dancers at all levels appreciate his lively and efficient teaching, clarity, and sense of humor. His dance choreography, “Sunlight through Draperies,”, is well-known in many ECD communities. Tom is also an accomplished leader and teacher of Balkan folk dances and of couple dances from Transylvania and Scandinavia.
Music by Firecrest: Ben Shreiber, Dave Wiesler & Paul Oorts
Ben Schreiber, a fiddler and tune writer rooted in the contra dance scene, brings a diverse musical palette influenced by his Midwest upbringing and years in the San Francisco Bay Area. Having started with the Suzuki method at an early age, Ben’s musical journey has been enriched through exploration of folk music. Although best known as a contradance fiddler, he is a regular presence at English Country dances, playing for local dances as well as workshops at various camps and weekends. He also performs with the newly-established chamber-folk trio, Long Story Short. Beyond music, he enjoys cooking, running, coding, and digital art/design.
Dave Wiesler (Newark, DE) began his musical journey as “the guy who could figure out the chords” in his high school garage band. Nearly 20 years later he discovered playing folk music for dances, and felt that the job description had been written just for him. At home in a wide range of styles, Dave is in demand for contra, English and Scottish country dancing, swing, waltz and vintage dance; and his music has taken him across the country and into Canada, Scotland, England, France and the Galapagos Islands. Dave is a prolific composer of tunes and songs, a capable guitarist and singer, an accompanist for children’s choirs, and a passionate music teacher.
Belgian-born Paul Oorts, is very active in the world of English, contra, and vintage dances in the DC-Baltimore area. With the trio Goldcrest he performs at dance events all over the US. He also performs and tours with his wife, hammered dulcimer player Karen Ashbrook. As a teacher and staff musician, he has been on faculty at many week-long camps including Augusta Heritage Center (WV) the Swannanoa Gathering (NC), Common Ground on the Hill (MD), Pinewoods (MA), Kentucky Music Week, and the Volksmuziekstage in Gooik (Belgium). During the academic year Dr. Oorts teaches Italian and French at Loyola University in Baltimore.
The Dance Hall
The event will be held again at the beautiful Masonic Temple in the heart of Asheville. Beautiful hardwood dance floor, high ceilings, turn-of-the-century ambience – and mostly, room to dance! All dances and workshops will be held on the main floor.
The Schedule
Friday
7:00 pm Welcome and Check-in
7:30 – 10:30 pm Evening Dance
Saturday
Workshops
10:45 – 12:30 PM
Weaving & Dovetailing
Many challenging country dances involve dancers weaving around the floor or dovetailing movements that fit together precisely. These require extra spacial awareness and particular sensitivity to timing. We will focus on a selection of
such dances and enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes from dancing them well.
Note: $15 extra charge. Extra challenging dances for experienced dancers who are in tune to the music and their fellow dancers, and who enjoy both familiar favorites without teaching and complex dances which reward attentiveness to teaching. Cheerful recovery skills and knowledge of ECD figures and basic repertoire are expected.
12:30 – 2:00 : Lunch Ramble
Lunch is on your own. You’re right there in downtown Asheville – wander and enjoy!
2:15 – 4:00- ECD Workshop
Recently Reconstructed ECD Gems
In the preface to their groundbreaking 1932 collection of new set dances, Heffer and Porter opined the “indisputable fact that the older collections of country-dances have now yielded all or almost all that they are likely to yield.” This workshop disputes this by presenting historical gems in recent reconstructions, mostly by Andrew Shaw.
Saturday Evening Dance
7:15 – 7:30 pm Evening Waltz
7:30- 10:30 pm Evening DANCE PArty
Elegant attire welcome but not required.
Enthusiastic attitude – absolutely!
Sunday
11:00 am – 1:30 pm Morning Dance
ECD Buffet (This is the theme of the dance program -not actual food!)
ECD music and dancing encompasses a wide range of music and styles, from older set dances set to Renaissance tunes, to modern compositions set to lush romantic tunes. We will sample some of this variety, exploring the different moods and sense of figures as we move up a double (and back) from 1651 to 2024.
Register now!
Sign up now for a weekend of English Country Dancing – Great music, fun workshops, strong community!
Tickets for individual Dances?
Although we would love for you to come for the whole weekend, tickets for individual dances are now available for purchase. If space is available, they may available at the door.
Special International Folk Dance Add-on Workshop
You might know that Tom Roby is also a well-regarded teacher of international folk dance, well beyond English Country. He’ll be staying on to lead a workshop on Sunday afternoon. It will be held at the Jewish Community Center, 236 Charlotte Street in Asheville. Tickets are available at the door, $10-20, cash or check. Contact Karen Bain (ksbain74@gmail.com) for more information.
Logistics
Where to Stay
There are a number of hotels and Bed and Breakfast accommodations are located in or near downtown Asheville, several within walking distance of the dance hall. There are several more budget-friendly hotels are located on or near Tunnel Road, a 5-10 minute drive.
Staying with people in town is always a good idea too. Call your Asheville friends early!
Where to Park
All events are at the Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway St, Asheville, NC 28801. If you’re staying at one of the nearby hotels, use their lot of course.
Otherwise, there is parking available at 35 Woodfin St. for a nominal fee, 2 blocks East. Metered spaces are free after 6PM, and all day Sunday. At last check, parking at Home Trust bank, right across the street, was $3/hour. City of Asheville lots run about $2 an hour. If you choose to utilize other parking lots or public garages, note the hourly and daily rates which will be more costly. Street parking on Central Avenue near the YMCA is free, though it requires a window sticker during the workday. There is also free parking in the lots on Cherry Street, just north of I-240, close to the skate park as well as in the neighborhoods just north of downtown.