Contents

How to Register for Camp

There are several ways to register:

1. Register by mail, or

2. Register on line and pay with a credit card, using PayPal, or

3. Register on line and send a check by mail.

Just choose the method you want to use and follow the directions below. To register a non-dancing companion or sign up for the Scandi workshop Friday afternoon, see Special Cases, at the bottom, right.

1. Register by Mail

First, get a registration form:

If you receive your newsletter by mail, you should have received a registration form along with the last issue of the newsletter. 

If you don’t have a computer but someone else prints the newsletter for you, ask them to print out the registration form from the website.

If you view the newsletter on line, go to the calendar on the main page of the FFDC website, find the entry for "Florida Un-camp 2009" and click on “More Information”.  Scroll down to where it says “Registration Forms”.  Click on “Campers and Companions”.   This brings up the registration form, in PDF format.  (You need to have Acrobat Reader on your computer to do that.)

If you can’t seem to get a registration form, contact the newsletter editor.

Next, fill out the registration form:

Remember that you need to fill out a form for each person.   You can choose a full package (room and all meals) or register to attend part time.

Finally, mail the form with your check to the registrar, at the address on the form.

2. Register on Line and Pay with PayPal

Go to the calendar on the main page of the FFDC website, www.folkdance.org, find the entry for "Florida Un-camp 2009" and click on “More Information”.  Scroll down to where it says “Registration Forms”.  Click on “Online Registration”. Go through the registration process.  Remember that you have to do this separately for each individual.  When you have a choice of using PayPal to pay, choose PayPal. PayPal will encourage you to register with them.  You don't have to do that if you don’t want to – you can pay with your credit card without registering. To register more than one person for camp, repeat the process.

3.  Register on Line and Mail Payment

Fill out registration form on line

Go to the calendar on the main page of the FFDC website, www.folkdance.org, find the entry for "Florida Un-camp 2009" and click on “More Information”.  Scroll down to where it says “Registration Forms”.  Click on “Online Registration”. 

Go through the registration process.  Remember that you have to do this separately for each individual.  When you have a choice of using PayPal to pay, choose the other option.  Complete the online registration without payment.

Mail your check to the registrar

Mail a check for the full amount to the registrar.  You may send one check for more than one person, but be sure to indicate all names on the check.

Special Cases

Registering a non-dancing companion

To register a non-dancing companion, please fill out the registration form and mail it to the registrar.  The form to use is the last page in the registration form pdf file on the website.  See registration method 1, at left.

Registering for the Friday afternoon Scandinavian workshop with Roo

The form to register for the Scandi workshop is also one of the pages in the pdf registration form on the website.  But, if you are registering on line and want to attend the Scandi workshop, just let the registrar or John Daly know.

Directions to Camp

The Kenilworth Lodge is located at 1610 Lakeview Drive, Sebring, FL, on the southeast side of Lake Jackson (the big lake in Sebring).  

From the north, northeast or northwest:  Take I-4 or SR 60 to US Hwy 27, which runs north and south down the center of Florida.  Travel south on US 27 to Sebring and drive along the west side of Lake Jackson.   At the south end of the lake, turn left to Lakeview Drive/SR17.  Go 0.6 miles.  Kenilworth Lodge is on the right.

From the south or southeast: Take any convenient route to US 27 north to Sebring.  In Sebring, turn right to Lakeview Drive/SR17.  This turn is shortly before you get to Lake Jackson on the right, so if you get to the lake, you’ve gone too far.  On Lakeview Drive, go 0.6 miles.  Kenilworth Lodge is on the right.

Return to Contents

The Return of Richard Schmidt

by Terry Abrahams

Tampa proudly sponsored the return of Richard Schmidt on Friday, December 19^th at the Barksdale Senior Center.  For you non-campers, he taught Polish dances at Florida Folk Dance Camp three years ago, and was extremely well received.  He has now tied in with Jim Gold, hosted a wonderful trip to Poland last year, and will offer it again this year.  (See International Folk Dance Tours.)  Lucky for us he was vacationing in Clearwater, got in touch with me and offered an evening of his “stuff”. Twenty-one of us showed up and he was his usual wonderful, organized, concise, funny guy! 

We reviewed the Polonez Royale, Rysiek’s Kujawiak, and the Stockton Goralski.  As it turns out, they all needed reviewing – we had forgotten things here and there – so it was great.  Then he taught a Kaczor (which means duck) from Kurpie, Sarna (which means deer) from Zywiec, a children’s dance, Krzyzak from the region of Rzeszow – which was great fun – and a “crossing the street” dance for kids, which we happily became.  He had CDs available, and gave me copies of the syllabi (except the kids’ dance), if anyone wants a copy.  I also have syllabi for two other dances – a Trojak and Bogatym, should you be interested.  Just let me know. 

An Evening with Richard Schmidt

Standing: Pat Henderson, Gary Lanker, Ernesto Baizan, Richard Schmidt, Judith Baizan, Bill Schwarz, Andy Pollock, Dylan Conway, Denise Green, Ken Kwo, Susan Levasseur, Bobby Quibodeaux, Donna Young, Ursula Tison, Eva Gaber; seated: Caroline Lanker, Terry Abrahams, Maria Pasetti, Lee Berry, Bobbie Ward, Bonnie Olson, Roseann Castro.

Photo by Bill

The workshop brought out some people who had danced with Richard at camp and a bunch of others who hadn’t.  We had Pat, Bobby and Eva from Orlando; Caroline and Gary from Frostproof; Donna and Bonnie from Ocala; Dylan and Lee from Tampa, who don’t dance regularly with us (Lee comes to Israeli), but performed Polish dances in college; Bill Schwarz, who comes only  to events like this, but is always welcome; Bobbie and “da niece” Denise. Susan who is from Tampa, and doesn’t come to other things, came, so this was a good time for others to meet her. 

Ken Kwo, who didn’t have a concert, came;  Maria Pasetti, who’s leg is hurting right now, came and helped take money; Roseann showed up, as she isn’t in North Carolina at the moment; and Ursula, who’s getting over her latest physical problem.  Then us usuals – Judith, Ernesto, Andy, and me. 

The picture shows us all having a wonderful time!   Well, actually, it just shows us posing. No one wanted to stop dancing to take pictures of dancing. But the smiles are natural - we did have a wonderful time!   Thanks Richard!

Hoot Mon!

Kay Demos sent the following link to an amusing video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgtuZJu7oFA.

Does anyone know enough Bulgarian to understand the voice-over?

Dancers at Orlando Halloween Party. See article, page 5.

Photo by Nicki Wise

From the Editor

Happy New Year to all!  

Gary and I have done more traveling and dancing since the last newsletter came out.  We made another trip to California over Thanksgiving.  The main purpose of the trip was to attend the Thanksgiving weekend Skandia Camp in California, but we took every opportunity to dance wherever we could, saw old dancing friends and made some new ones.  We drove out, stopping for two nights in Houston, went to international folk dancing on one night and contra dancing the next, and saw old friends both times.  We stayed with my older daughter’s in-laws again, as we had in June, and introduced them to contra dancing.  They caught on quickly and enjoyed it a lot. 

Two days later, we danced with a little group in Las Cruces, NM.  They have a challenge keeping folk dancing alive there.   The nearest other folk dancing is once a month in El Paso, just a short drive away.   Albuquerque, where there is more dancing, is over 200 miles away.  Their leader, Julie Schmitt, had been to a recent Lee Otterholt workshop and brought back some new dances, but otherwise their repertoire was limited.  They did a number of old standards that Gary and I knew, and the dancing was fun.  The picture below shows Gary and me with the whole group, as we were getting ready to leave.

Two days later, the day before Thanksgiving, we were in San Diego .   We picked up Judith Baizan at a suburban train station. She had flown to Los Angeles and visited her brother before taking the train south. Then she was along for the ride for whatever Gary and I did until we got to camp. That evening the three of us went to the regular Scandinavian dance group in San Diego. The next day we all had Thanksgiving dinner at my niece’s house, along with 12 other relatives and in-laws.

Judith professed to thoroughly enjoy the family gathering.  The crowd didn’t faze her – since she and Ernesto have five children and 11 grandchildren, I guess it wasn’t a very large group to her.

After dinner, we headed up to Skandia camp, in the mountains near Julian. The camp is held annually and features both dance and music classes.  This year the dance teachers were a couple from Norway.  Four musicians were also brought in to play for the dancing and give lessons in playing Scandinavian music on the fiddle and Hardingfele (Harding fiddle).  All the dancing in the classes and the evening parties was done to live music and the professional musicians also performed after supper on Friday and Saturday. 

The dance teachers presented an interesting variety of dances – couple turning dances, as we expected, but also some other types.   One dance was a set dance of the so-called “English” type, a Norwegian dance style obviously adapted from what we know as English country dancing, with a little different flavor.

On Saturday evening, many people dressed in Scandinavian costumes for the evening party.  The picture at right  shows Judith dancing with Meg Mabbs.  Judith is wearing her brand new “bunad” – a traditional Norwegian costume.  She had commissioned it from one of the women dancers there.  

The picture at left shows one of the musicians playing at the Saturday evening party, with dancers (including Judith) dancing around her.

Meg Mabbs was at camp with her husband, Bill Gooch.  They live in Tennessee and some of you may know them from dance workshops and camps.

Meg runs the annual Nordic Fiddles and Feet camp, but Gary and I had met her at Rang Tang.

After camp, Judith headed home and Gary and I stayed in Southern California for the rest of the week.   Gary was under the weather, but I managed to go to the San Diego Scandinavian dance again on Wednesday.   A number of people who had been at the camp were there, plus former Orlando and Tampa dancers Kevin Johnson and Suzanne Papp.  All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip.

– CL

Trippin’ in Tampa   

by Terry Abrahams

Don’t you love the Holidays!  We’ve kept on dancing as long as the rec centers let us, but are now on break until the New Year.   First we had Yoav Ashriel here for a quickie workshop, and now we have had Richard Schmidt come for an evening on Friday the 19^th. (See The Return of Richard Schmidt.)  Love these special moments. 

We continue to have Bobbie’s niece, Denise, dance with us, which is a pleasure – she gets so excited when she does a good dance well.  They traveled to Sarasota to dance with that group in December. I traveled to Orlando for their Holiday celebration.  And five of us – Ken, Dylan, Andy, Mickey (my daughter) and I – are going back for more on New Year’s Eve – should be a ball!

Bill Schwarz will be in Orlando too, but for a swing dance.  We keep moving!   I taught Israeli at a Chanukah party in Brandon and am sure I got one new person for our Israeli group, and a good half dozen others inquiries – wouldn’t that be something!  Dylan and I are still playing music with a group on Wednesday evenings, and hope to come up with a few numbers for camp again; he and I both also play once a month at Four Green Fields, the local Irish Pub.  Judith was in California for Scandi over T-giving (see From the Editor), Cecy (our flamenco dancing friend) is in New York City.

The contra dancers had a white elephant party, always silly, but fun. Andi missed the Polish workshop to be with old friends for the holidays.  I’ll be missing Machol Miami this year, boo-hoo, but the credit cards are getting a little full!  But on a personal note, I had my final PET scan, and my port taken out.  That’s the end of my cancer; you need never hear about it again!  OK – we’re starting to get hyped up for camp – February isn’t that far away! Happy New Year everyone!

Orlando International Folk Dance Club

by Pat Henderson

To pick up from the last newsletter, we had our Halloween party on October 29.  Bobby was driving back from Washington State with our daughter, Julie, so he missed the party.  I had to run the music and I managed to keep the dances rolling.  You can see the various costumes from our group picture, below.

In front: Mary Jean Linn and Corky (the dog).

Back row: Palmira Mora-Valls, Janine Lampe, Nicki Wise, Ann Robinson, Joe Birkemeier, Lucy Birkemeier, Manuel Mora-Valls, Juanita Schockey, Betty Nehemias, Jan Lathi, Phyllis Dammer, Eva Meyer, Joy Herndon, Emilie Brozek, Pat Henderson

Photo by Brian Quibodeaux

On Sunday, November 9, several of us met at the Willow Tree, a German restaurant in Sanford, for lunch and then saw Kelly Fagan in her play, The Nuncrackers.  It was funny and cute.  At one point, when the nuns were putting on a play and within that play was the Nutcracker, we had a play in a play in a play!

Travelers this fall included Kelly Fagan to New York City for a long weekend in October.  She took in some art museums and Broadway plays.  Eva Gaber and her daughters visited family in Lancaster, PA for Thanksgiving.  Then Joan and Wally Washington had a Caribbean cruise on Holland America to celebrate Joan's 60th birthday.  They enjoyed having a balcony room and Joan snorkeled for the first time.  The cruise ports included Grand Turk and Caicos, Tortola and St. Maarten.  Their favorite spots were the beaches on St. Maarten, both the French and Dutch sides. In December, we welcomed Ruby Durian back from Connecticut, where she had lived since the late spring.  She comes down to dance with the Palm Coast gang.

Check out all the parties that we are having!  See Party Time in Orlando and the calendar on the website for details.

Grapevine International Folk Dancers of Sarasota

by Marie Millett

December 17 was a big circle night for dancing with the Sarasota Grapeviners. Thirty-eight dancers held hands and danced the night away.  Sanna Longden, international folk dance leader and her husband and partner, Mars, joined us from the Chicago area.  A number of dancers enjoyed reconnecting with them. They will be in Sarasota for a month.  Lucky us, except we will not dance on December 24 or 31 because of the holidays. 

Bobbie Ward and her niece, Denise, came down from Tampa.   Hope they will be back. We missed Faye that night because she had undergone cataract surgery that week. Varda was away that week, visiting her son in Seattle.  Kay Hislop has been dancing with the Grapeviners in Wichita, Kansas.  She has also organized a beginners' folk dance class in Bradenton, with Nancy Wilusz doing the teaching, and has been having pretty good attendance.

January 7, 2009 we are having our first annual Snow Party to welcome in the New Year.  See Events.

Letters

Dear friends into folkdance,

Together with my holiday greetings, let me also send you a life update. Since June, I live in Maryland, a subway ride away from the National Mall and the Smithsonian. While Eric's new position at University of Maryland is permanent, I am once again a post-doc, this time for a year of telecommuting at Penn State.  

Shelley Roode, a transplant from Gainesville to DC, introduced me to www.dcfolkdance.com/dcifd.htm and that's how I found and started dancing with the Greenbelt, MD groups.  Two groups meet in the historic downtown of this planned community, both on Friday nights, at a three minute walking distance one from the other. One is a beginners group led by Ron Forbes and uses an "eight weeks for twelve dances" model. People sign up for the whole module; each session they learn one or two new dances and review the previously learned dances. The teaching is good, music selection varied and the group of about 20 friendly, which almost compensates for dancing on a plastic-over-cement floor.

The second group is led/taught by Larry Weiner, John Robinson, Ben Hole and Michael Gelman, on the beautiful wood floor of the dance room in the Greenbelt Community Center.  The group is unusual because it does not own its music/equipment, but rather has the teacher-of-the-day come with his personal music and equipment. What can I say – I liked the dynamics of the group in Gainesville better!  But if you are just passing through the region, this is still a good group of advanced dancers to try, and they host a live music party on the first Friday of the month (plus their man-to-woman ratio is larger than the usual 2:5).

See you all dancing (someday),

Raluca Rosca

Party Time in Orlando

Orlando is hosting a trio of parties in December and January.  The annual holiday dance party on December 17 has already occurred as this newsletter goes to press. 

Since New Year's Eve is a Wednesday, Bobby and Pat are hosting a dance party.  We will start at 7 PM with a potluck dinner followed by dancing, a bonfire and new year's celebration at midnight. We may end up doing as much talking as dancing. 

On Wednesday, January 14, there will be a birthday party for Pat, who turns 60 that day.  Yes, one of the "babies" of the group hits that milestone.  We will have a potluck dinner starting at 6:30 PM and dancing afterward. 

Accommodations or camping space are available after any of the parties.  An email went out earlier about the New Year's Eve Party and some have already reserved their bed.  Call or email:  Pat or Bobby at 407-275-6247 or henderp@bellsouth.net.

Events

January 3 - 4 Duquesne Tamburitzans

Place: Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center, 324 Pine Street, Tarpon Springs, Florida 34689

Time: 7:30 PM Saturday, 3 PM Sunday

Box Office: 727-942-5605, www.tarponarts.org

Please note: The Florida Folk Dancer prints information on folk dance tours, camps and other events that may be of interest to our readers. This does not imply an endorsement or recommendation of any tour or camp (except our own FFDC events!).

Notices of selected tours are published in the newsletter and changed with each issue. A more complete list of tours can be found in the calendar on the FFDC website.

International Folk Dance Tours

September 5 - 19 Poland Tour

Jim Gold Tour, led by Richard Schmidt

April 16 - 19 National Folk Organization (NFO) Annual Conference

Place: YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park Center, Denver, Colorado. Packages of rooms at the Alpen Inn Lodge plus meals will be available. 

Contact: Katherine St. John, 801-485-5824, kstjohn@burgoyne.com 

Information:

www.nfo-usa.org/Conference2009.htm

April 4 Spring Fling

Place: Whirl and Twirl Square Dance Hall, Orlando

Time: 10 AM – 7 PM

Potluck lunch.

March 7 4th Annual World Culture Folk Dance Competition

Place: Valdosta-Lowndes County Conference Center off I-75 and Highway 84,  Valdosta, GA

Information: www.folkdancecompetition.org

Videos: www.youtube.com/folkdancecompetition and www.youtube.com/azaleainternational

Note: Julius Horvath has been invited to be a judge of this competition in 2009, for the second year.

February 6-8 Greek Festival, St. Petersburg

Place: St. Stefanos Greek Orthodox Church, 3600 76th Street N., St. Petersburg, FL 33710

Times: Friday 11 AM – 11 PM; Saturday 11 AM – 10 PM; Sunday Noon – 6 PM

Information: 727-345-8235, www.supergreekfest.net

February 13 – 16 Greek Festival, Winter Haven

Place: St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, 1030 Bradbury Road, Winter Haven, FL, 33880

Times: Friday and Saturday 11 AM – 9 PM, Sunday 11 AM – 6 PM

Information: 863-299-4532, www.polkgreekfestival.com

January 7 First Annual Snow Party, Sarasota Grapeviners

Place:  Bayfront Community Center, 801 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

Time:  7 – 9:30 PM

Refreshments, bring a snack item to share

Information: Judy Merkt, 941-379-6302

January 5 - 6  Duquesne Tamburitzans

Place: Watson B. Duncan III Playhouse, Palm Beach Community College, 4200 Congress Ave., Lake Worth, FL 33461

Time: 7:30 PM

Information: 877-826-6437

January 6 Greek Festival, Tarpon Springs

Place: Spanos-Pappas Community Center Theofilos Hall, 348 N Pinellas Avenue, Tarpon Springs

Time: 1:30 PM – 9 PM

January 23 – 24 Greek Festival, Ocala

Place:  Blessed Trinity Catholic Church, 5 SE 17^th St., Ocala, FL 34471

Note: lack of space prevented publishing some events, including Tamburitzan performances in March and later Greek Festivals.

Information about all Tamburitzan performances is at

www.tamburitzans.duq.edu.

Greek festival information can be found at www.greek-fest.com and www.yasas.com/greek-festivals.asp.

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Florida Folk Dancer

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USA

FIRST CLASS

FLORIDA FOLK DANCER

Florida Folk Dancer is published six to eight times a year by the Florida Folk Dance Council, Inc., a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to further knowledge, performance, and recreational enjoyment of International Folk Dance.

2008 FFDC OFFICERS:

President: John Daly

321-482-6818

president@folkdance.org

VP: Fannie Salerno

772-664-0580

fansale@aol.com

Treasurer: Jan Lathi

386-447-8396

amarjan1@bellsouth.net

Secretary: Willa Davidsohn

321-254-7090

annona2@earthlink.net

Historian: Dan Lampert

PO Box 151719

Altamonte Springs, FL 32715

dan300@dlc2.com

Newsletter Editor: Caroline Lanker

1963 S. Lake Reedy Blvd.

Frostproof, FL 33843

863-635-9366

editor@folkdance.org

Submissions: Send all newsletter submissions to the Editor.

Copyright: Articles in the Florida Folk Dancer are copyright by the Florida Folk Dance Council, Inc., or by their individual authors.

Subscriptions for printed and mailed copies are $15 per year per person ($20 per family) and include membership in the Florida Folk Dance Council. Membership without printed newsletters is $10 per person or $15 per family. The membership year runs from one annual Florida Folk Dance Camp (usually February) to the next. The newsletter is posted on the FFDC website and members with e-mail addresses are notified of its availability.

FFDC Website: www.folkdance.org