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North Berkshire Contra Dance

March 9 @ 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Berkshire contra dance musicians Doone MacKay, Tony Pisano and Butch DeGiorgis perform at the North Berkshire contra dance.
Photo by Kate Abbott

The North Berkshire Contra Dance will hold its monthly community contra dance with Berkshire dance caller Maggie MacRae and live music from a new collaboration between three widely acclaimed musicians and friends — George Wilson on fiddle, Andy Davis on accordion and piano and Marko Packard on guitar and flute.

They are playing together tonight as The Vintons — and they hold many decades of musical experience across the Northeast and beyond. George Wilson performs with Fennig’s All-Star String Band and at dances across the country, Andy Davis with Nowell Sing We Clear and years of dance music and calling, and Marko with contradance bands Airdance and Elixir. These three weave new musical fabric from the traditional tunes that they love.

Maggie McRae, the caller, will teach all the dances with her usual sense of fun and enthusiasm, using gender-neutral phrasing.

The music is live, all the dances are taught, and anyone is welcome, with or without a partner — most people change partners for each dance of the evening. Contra dancing is the contemporary face of a living tradition. Both the dance and its music can be traced to roots in 17th century England, France, and Scotland, but have been vigorously mixed and remixed in New England and nearby regions since.

Admission is pay-as-you-can, and barter (like help with cleanup) is also welcome. Covid Policy: For this first post-holiday dance in a season of rising respiratory illness, NBCD will require masks on the dance floor. Because contradance isn’t made to social distance — whoever your partner, you’ll wind up dancing with everyone in the room.

More info »

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Event Details

Details

Date:
March 9
Time:
7:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Event Categories:
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Event Location

North Berkshire dance
906 Main St.
Williamstown, MA

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