October 5-6, 2012
The Phylla Mae Fall Fest is a volunteer-run annual music and dance party featuring great musicians and fun dancing, hosted by the Syracuse Country Dancers. It’s a chance for us to throw a party for our dance community, and invite dancers from all over to join us!
Our line up this year includes favorites from near and far:
Adina Gordon
will be our main caller for the festival, and she calls Contras, English Country Dances and Squares with a wonderful style that has delighted dancers from coast to coast and everywhere in between.
Based in Brattleboro, VT, Adina has called dances in 36 American states spanning all six time zones, as well as 3 Canadian provinces and Israel. Dancers frequently remark on her energy and joy, which is both highly evident and highly contagious. An often-repeated comment is, “You look like you’re having too much fun.”
Adina’s goal is to get you dancing and get out of the way. She says more, with fewer words, to maximize dancing and minimize talking. Experienced and new dancers alike enjoy her clear teaching and choice of engaging dances.
Montage
A contra dance band from Western New York and Pennsylvania, Montage plays an innovative mix of European-based music, rooted in tradition and strongly influenced by modern styles. As a trio, Jane Knoeck, Rachel Bell and Tom Santarsiaro, weave together everything from swing to Parisian to rootsy Breton folk styles. Another focus of the band is authentic music for French bourree and other European dance styles, and they will be offering a French Dance Workshop on Saturday.
Andrew & Noah and friends
Outside-the-box, high energy Contra Dance music, featuring Andrew & Noah VanNorstrand, 2/3 of the Great Bear Trio, and a bunch of their friends. Sure to be an exciting mix of musicians who don’t usually get the chance to collaborate on stage.
Aaron Marcus
While studying at ESF in Syracuse, Aaron was a regular member of our dance community, and we’re excited that he will be joining us for this year’s festival. He regularly plays piano, concertina, and banjo for English Country Dancing, Contras, and more in such bands as Frost and Fire, Giant Robot Dance and Jiggermeister. Studying for many years under Angel Ramón Rivera, as well as Paul Monte and Jacqueline Schwab, he has developed a tone and elegance not commonly heard among contra dance musicians. But he also knows how to groove hard!
He has also been dancing as long as he has been playing music. No foot concertos yet, but Aaron is often sighted clogging/flatfooting, morris dancing, West African dancing, or doing his own thing; at local contra dances, along sidewalks, or while leap-frogging over parking meters.
More details to be announced, but mark your calendars now!
Here’s what we did last year, to whet your appetite: