When will Portland Intown Contra Dance begin again?

Hello, dancers!

It's been on all of our minds: when, oh when, will Portland Intown Contra Dance open again?! Our goal is clear: we plan to reopen when it's safe for everyone to return to dancing — with masking optional and no clear need to require vaccine proof at the door. Though we're getting closer and closer to that possibility, the epidemiological consensus is that we're not there yet.

We'll continue to hibernate through this winter, paying close attention to impacts of COVID-19, the flu, and other viruses over their busy season. You'll hear from us here just as soon as we begin hosting live events again. If you want to stay in the loop, sign up for our email newsletter on our homepage.

Is PICD Hosting the Temple Beth El Dance?

While we're waiting for the COVID-19 death rate to fall in line with the flu, a different group of organizers in Portland, Common Floor Contra, are hosting dances now. To mitigate coronavirus spread, they require proof of COVID-19 vaccination, high quality masks, and, starting in January 2023, proof of the latest available COVID-19 booster shots. Folks who feel it's safe to contra dance under those conditions are gathering monthly.

Why Isn't PICD Dancing If Others Are?

In North America, fewer than a quarter of all dance series that were operating prior to the pandemic have resumed dancing.

No two contra series are alike! Every contra dance is independently organized by volunteers and, as a result, each organizing team makes their own decisions: weighing risk, determining what policies work best for their community, and plotting the direction they'll take. Decision-making around safety is complex and we're all doing our best.

We'll Keep In Touch!

We're wishing you and your families a joyful, cozy, and healthy season. ❄️ Expect an update on contra hosted by PICD in the new year!


We miss you,
Portland Intown Contra Dance

When Will We Ever Contra Dance Again?

We’re watching the vaccination rate climbing and the number of positive COVID-19 diagnoses declining both in Maine and across the US. And, of course(!), we’re looking for our opportunity to start dancing with you! Finally, the end of the coronavirus pandemic seems possible.

But(!) as you can imagine, contra dancing is the absolute last thing on the list of activities to resume as a pandemic ends. There’s almost no better environment for the coronavirus to spread! So we are waiting for absolutely all other activities to be considered low risk before we think about starting back up with our favorite activity.

What does that mean? Basically, if live concert venues are not running at max capacity with consensus support from the epidemiological community, then doing the same thing with aerobic activity and hand-holding thrown in doesn’t look very safe.

We will start booking bands and callers and inviting you back for face-to-face events as soon as it is deemed a low risk for the general public, regardless of individual vaccination status, to gather like we do: close together in big groups doing an aerobic activity.

 
Waiting for all smiles and full green in both columns; what we do is below the bottom line of this graphic in the “least safe” category.  Source: US CDC

Waiting for all smiles and full green in both columns; what we do is below the bottom line of this graphic in the “least safe” category.
Source: US CDC

 

Right now it appears that the end of this pandemic is tied to national and international COVID-19 vaccination rates. The more people who get their shots, the closer we get to contra dancing! Please get a vaccine yourself and help others to do the same.

We are following updates to guidelines from health officials like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as regulations from the City of Portland and the State of Maine. At this time, we are not considering restricted-access events only for vaccinated dancers. Once we resume, everyone’s invited! But not until that’s more safe.

We can’t wait to dance with you! Here’s hoping that conditions improve enough—and soon—so we can resume in-person events.

We miss you!

Source: City of Portland, Maine

Source: City of Portland, Maine

Performer Love

 

Since March we have been been unable to host events because of the coronavirus pandemic, which means we haven’t been able to enjoy performances from so many local and visiting musicians and callers.

These folks would appreciate any support you can send their way!

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Cecilia Vacanti of Boston, Massachusetts offers online lessons in various style of viola and fiddle playing. You can contact her by email at cvacanti@berklee.edu or through her website: www.ceciliavacanti.com.

Cecilia was scheduled to play August 13 with Kingfisher.

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Gus La Casse of Mount Desert Island, Maine has music and information about online appearances on his website: www.guslacasse.com. He accepts tips via Venmo at @reneaugustus.

Gus was scheduled to play on July 30.

THANK YOU if you are able to financially support any of these performers.

 

Hidden History in American Folkways

LET’S LEARN

What is the hidden history of American Folkways? Why was it hidden?

We’re continually asking ourselves these questions, and doing a lot of reading to better understand the true history of the folkways we practice. Part of loving something is seeing it for what it has been and is, and we believe it’s critical to examine the ways folk dance and music have been used as oppressive tools in order to genuinely practice these folk arts in new, transformative ways that enable social justice. We invite you to join in the learning and growth.

RESOURCE LIST: HISTORY OF AMERICAN FOLKWAYS

This list isn’t exhaustive, and it isn’t expertly curated. It’s simply a place to start looking:

Books

African Banjo Echoes In Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions by Cecelia Conway

Way up North in Dixie: A Black Family's Claim to the Confederate Anthem (Music in American Life) by Howard Sacks

Hoedowns, Reels & Frolics by Phil Jamison

The Banjo by Laurent Dubois

City Folk by Daniel J. Walkowitz

Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War by Dena J. Epstein

African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia by Cecelia Conway

Romancing the Folk: Public Memory & American Roots Music by Benjamin Filene

The Music of Black Americans: A History by Eileen Southern

Race In Country Music Scholarship by Olivia Carter Mather

Love & Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (Race and American Culture) by Eric Lott

Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World by Dale Cockrell

Culture On The Margins: The Black Spiritual and the Rise of American Cultural Interpretation by Jon Cruz

Hidden In the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music by Diane Pecknold

The Guitar and the New World: A Fugitive History by Joe Gioia

The Imagined Village: Culture, Ideology, and the English Folk Revival by Georgina Boyes

The Invention of Tradition Edited by Eric Hobsbawm & Terence Ranger

Fakesong: The manufacture of British ‘Folksong’ 1700 to the present day By Dave Harker

Appalachia on Our Mind: The Southern Mountains and Mountaineers in the American Consciousness, 1870-1920 by Henry D. Shapiro

Articles & Online Written Work

Addressing Racism as a Dance Community by Dela Murphy at Portland Intown Contra Dance

”The (Mis)Representation of African American Music: The Role of the Fiddle” by Jacqueline Cogdell Djedje

”Square Dance Calling: The African American Connection” by Philip A. Jamison

“The Afro-American Transformation Transformation of European Set Dances and Dance Suites” by John F. Szwed and Morton Marks

“The Anti-Semitic Origins of Henry Ford’s Arts Education Patronage” by Emery Warnock

Rhiannon Giddens' Keynote Address at IBMA Conference: Community and Connection

Article featuring Rhiannon Giddens, part of which is about Frank Johnson (one of the most popular Americans and fiddlers we've never heard of)

”Ethnicity and Class: Black Country Musicians in the Maritimes” by Neil Rosenberg

”The White Fear of Taking Racist Songs Out of Music Education” by Martin Urbach

“Dinah Put Down Your Horn: Blackface Minstrel Songs Don’t Belong in Music Class” by Katya Ermolaeva

“The Music I Love is a Racial Minefield” by Michael Mechanic

“Accessing the Inside of the Tent: The Optics of Inclusivity in Music Education” by Christopher Mena

“Black Artists Built Country Music - and Then it Left Them Behind” by Andrew Chow

Listening & Watching Online

Cultural Appropriation in American Folkways conversation with Kafari and Jake Hoffman

Uncivil podcast "The Song", which explores appropriation and structural racism through the history of the song "Dixie"

American Songster Radio Podcast, hosted by Dom Flemons“American Songster Radio is a monthly look at the roots of American Popular music. It’s hosted by world renowned musician and folklorist Dom Flemons who playfully refers to himself as The American Songster.”

1619 Podcast Episode 3: The Birth of American Music

Rhiannon Giddens and Francisco Turrisi video with Live with Carnegie Hall
Giddens and Turrisi go “through the music and history of minstrelsy—the most popular form of entertainment in America during the 1800s and a major influence in the creation of the American cultural identity. The two restore minstrelsy to its global context through the journeys of the banjo and the tambourine, and in tracing those journeys show what there is to reproach versus celebrate in the birth of American music.”

American Folk Podcast featuring Jake Blount, hosted by Cindy Howes

“Country Music” documentary series with Ken Burns
The first several episodes relate the stories of early Black originators of country music traditions.

”Wood That Sings: Indian Fiddle Music of the Americas” album featuring Various Artists
“This anthology of Indian fiddle music of the Americas features performances by Indian musicians from Nova Scotia and Manitoba to North Dakota and Arizona, to Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere in Latin America. Using this most popular of instruments as a way to explore the great variety and creativity of Indian musical traditions—from chicken scratch to the indigenous Apache fiddle—this recording expresses the capacity of Native cultures to adapt and synthesize non-Native influences.”

Online Exhibits

History of Minstrels: From “Jump Jim Crow” to “The Jazz Singer”
”An online exhibit from the University of South Florida on the history of blackface minstrelsy, highlighting the creation and rise of America's first popular music and stereotypes from the art form that persist to this day.”

"Musical Passage" 
“Musical Passage tells the story of an important, but little known record of early African diasporic music." "Enslaved Africans and their descendants revolutionized global music historical records tell us far too little about their earliest practices. In this site we offer a careful interpretation of a single rare artifact, from Hans Sloane's 1707 Voyage to the Islands of Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica. Tucked away in this centuries-old book, are several pieces of music that make it possible to hear echoes of performances long past."

Organizations & Projects

Decolonizing the Music Room

Square Dance History Project


Reminder: July’s Reading Group

 
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Starting this month, PICD will host a reading group focused on anti-racism. To participate, simply buy or borrow the book of the month, read it while using the reading guide for reflection, and participate in the Zoom call. There is no cost to attend, but pre-registration is required.

July's book is White Fragility by Robin Diangelo. Reading guide and Zoom link are available when you register. The Zoom gathering will be Thursday, July 30 from 7-9pm. Join us!

 

Cultural Appropriation in American Folkways

APPROACHES FOR DECOLONIZING

Thanks to everyone who joined PICD last night! Musician-activist-historians Kafari and Jake Hoffman joined us to discuss cultural appropriation, and how it shows up in America’s folkways. They talked abut their personal experiences, what distinguishes cultural appropriation and how each of us can take action to decolonize the folkways we practice.

As a majority white community, facilitating candid, constructive reflection on the position and privilege of white people and how whiteness functions is a core anti-racist action Portland Intown Contra Dance is committed to continually engage in together. Constantly dismantling racist structures and replacing them with healthy, anti-racist counter-narratives is critical to changing systems and racist behaviors, most of which have been habitually hidden from white view.

Institutionalized racism and structural inequity pervade and shape American folkways and all American systems. Understanding the living tradition we participate in more deeply requires holding and sitting with multiple, complex stories of oppression, broadening our view to include the carefully omitted violence that shaped, and continues to shape, the world. As we inquire into the tradition, we uncover the Black authorship of fundamental and emblematic modern music and dance practices. We uncover that our roots are in the structures of slavery, minstrelsy and other oppressive systems -- and acknowledge that this history shapes our present.

In contra dance and other American folkways, we uphold white supremacy when we continue to consume Black culture while remaining complicit in the story of its erasure in our tradition's history. We uphold white supremacy when we only engage at the surface, from a white-centered, exploitative perspective.

The work of inquiring, uncovering, and including our history allows us to genuinely engage. We must follow the lead of Black musicians, artists, practitioners, scholars, and other leaders who have contributed to, and continue to contribute to, these living folkways and to anti-racism work.

Recorded audio from the conversation is available here:

 
 

Debrief

Kafari laid groundwork by distinguishing the process of colonization in which cultural appropriation is a key white supremacist tactic used to extract cultural resources and labor from Indigenous peoples for the benefit of colonizers. This process was outlined by Poka Laenui in the essay “Process of Decolonization,” which builds on the work of Virgilio Enriquez.

 
Image by Kafari | Content fom Poka Laenui's 2006 essay 'Processes of Decolonization,' which expounded upon the teachings of Virgilio Enriquez.

Image by Kafari | Content fom Poka Laenui's 2006 essay 'Processes of Decolonization,' which expounded upon the teachings of Virgilio Enriquez.

 

In their work, Laenui offers a process for Indigenous-led decolonization. Kafari and Jake offered strategies for decolonization that could be core approaches in the practice of folkways.

“We should be constantly interrogating race… We are all called to deepen, as anti-racist accomplices who don’t simply say ‘Black lives matter’ and then call it done, but prove through you actions that Black lives matter. Create game-plans to show that.” - Kafari

Kafari started by sharing the inquiry, “How do you know that an old-time space is anti-racist? When a Black person enters a space… what are the signs that would allow that Black person to feel they are safe, that they won’t experience harm?” From that open ended question, he and Jake distinguished some approaches for practicing decolonization in folkways.

  • Start by investigating whiteness. “Simply having people of different skin colors in a room can’t necessarily be the answer… [if] they continue to feel like outsiders in that space,” said Kafari. “Be aware that the norm is whiteness and debunking that whiteness is the norm is crucial.” What impact does whiteness have in your community? What have Black activists in the old-time space shared about the impact of whiteness on their experience? How does white fragility show up in you? How does the need to be a “white savior” show up in you? Notice your own bias. Notice the barriers that whiteness has created that get in the way of genuine participation by Black people.

  • See yourself in the system and in the history. Understand that our contemporary folkways rely on cultural appropriation and erasure. You you are perpetuating these systems. This will only change if we change.

  • Cultivate humbleness. Acknowledge what you don’t know about the practice. Acknowledge where it comes from. Acknowledge the aspects you’re sharing and what might not be being shared. We don’t have to know everything, but we can be humble about what we do and don’t know. This creates a collective curiosity.

  • Value the labor of Black people. Don’t force Black people in your life to educate you about racism. Do your own labor of identifying Black scholars, activists, authors, practitioners and others who offer their work to the public and pay them for the resources they’ve created. There are so many resources easily available.

  • Research the history of your art. Instead of simply playing music, performing dance or calling without knowledge of the history of the work you’re using, get on the internet and do the research. Start thinking of yourself not just as dancer or musician, but as dancer-historian-activist or musician-historian-activist. Make this inquiry part of everything you do, not simply something to engage in once in a while.

  • Share the history. Especially if you are playing music, calling or in another position of power as a practitioner, use opportunities to share the history of instruments, music and choreography, styles and other cultural elements when you perform or have conversations with others. Do the research and provide credit. Express the power imbalance if one exists. Actively debunk the myth that contra, old-time music, bluegrass, and other American folkways are culturally monolithic or Euro-centric.

  • Be critical of what you present. Context is everything. If you are presenting music or other content that is culturally appropriative or racist, always present the history (for instance, playing something from the minstrel catalogue in order to facilitate a conversation about white supremacy) or don’t present them at all.

  • Consider how your community looks and feels, starting at the surface. “How would your community look to a Black person who stands outside it, trying to decide whether to enter or not?” asked Kafari. “Interventions from the norm” at the surface level can help to indicate what kind of space you’re cultivating. For instance, are people wearing “Black Lives Matter” shirts? Are there other signals that tell Black people this is a welcoming space?

  • Book Black artists and pay them. Provide the means for Black artists to continue to make art. If you are unaware of Black artists, do the research on the internet. Book people you enjoy and develop genuine relationships.

  • If you are presenting or booking Black artists, give up your power. Be a part of creating spaces in which Black performers feel safe to be themselves, as fully human and fully self-expressed. Black performers should guide content and lead in the presentation. Take the role of supporter, doing the labor in the background that enables their art.

  • Consider who is building the platform for presenting folk music or folk art. Jake asked, “Do Black people need to alter their appearance, sound or actions to fit within the standards set by the white audience?”

  • Consider where you’re investing. Which artists are you supporting? What organizations or platforms? How can you invest your money, time and labor to support decolonization efforts? Buy Black art. Donate to projects and organizations working on decolonization and reclamation in folkways. Have a conversation with an organizer or musician who is profiting from the exploitation of Black creative resources. Invest in dance and other folkways communities that are led by Black practitioners or who are actively practicing anti-racism.

  • Realize that “it’s not up to Black people to get white people to respect Black music and art.” It’s too common for Black people to have the burden of the emotional labor of coping with and dismantling structural racism. White people need to show up.

  • Practice consent in your conversations with Black people about racism. “If you are curious about the perspective of a Black person with respect to cultural appropriation [or race], try to be sensitive to the fact that it can be a hard conversation for Black folks to have,” said Kafari. It can be draining and contentious. Kafari shared that he’s “left conversations where the other person felt like they learned a lot and [he] felt like something was taken from [him] in the process.” A question like, “do you have the space and energy to talk about this?” can be a respectful place to start. Respect the answer they give.

  • Practice new traditions. Folk practitioners who know the healing power of folk arts need to reshape and develop new folkways that will fight for Black liberation and our collective liberation.


Kafari and Jake have facilitated this conversation in many community settings and make decolonization practices a core part of their concert presentations. They are seen in the video below at TEDx Dirigo in a talk titled “Bones and Banjo: Confronting Cultural Appropriation.”

 
 

Kafari is a pianist, beatmaker, and bluegrass percussionist, specializing in the rhythm bones – an ancient instrument played by holding two in one hand, flicking the wrist forward and backward to create sound. He first became inspired to play the bones three and a half years ago after seeing a concert that debunked his assumptions about bluegrass and exposed him to the African-American roots of traditional bluegrass and old-time music. A resident of Portland since 2011, Kafari enjoys teaching bones to passersby on the city streets and in classrooms across the state.

Multi-instrumentalist and singer, Jake Hoffman was raised on jazz and rock n roll and spent his adulthood studying American folk musics. He has toured in 20 states and 11 countries — performing and teaching ballads, gospel and dance music from Appalachia and the American South. A community arts and cultural exchange advocate, Jake lived in the Portland area from 2009-2019 and was most recently a teaching artist and program manager with 317 Main Community Music Center. He now lives in San Francisco, CA and is a teacher and outreach director at Blue Bear School of Music.


FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION

WATCHING:

“Bones & Banjo: Confronting Cultural Appropriation” at TEDx Dirigo featuring Kafari and Jake Hoffman

“You Are Here: Exploring Yoga and the Impact of Cultural Appropriation” featuring Nisha Ahuja, who gives context to cultural appropriation through the lens of yoga, sharing Tannis Nielsen’s five stages of colonization as a framework for thinking about appropriation

READING:

Process of Decolonization’ by Poka Laenui, consulting the work of Virgilio Enriquez

Orientalism by Edward Said

The Banjo by Laurent Dubois

Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War by Dena J. Epstein

African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia by Cecelia Conway

Article featuring Rhiannon Giddens, part of which is about Frank Johnson (one of the most popular Americans and fiddlers we've never heard of)

Romancing the Folk: Public Memory & American Roots Music by Benjamin Filene

LISTENING:

Kafari's music here and here

Carolina Chocolate Drops

Uncivil podcast "The Song", which explores appropriation and structural racism through the history of the song "Dixie"

MORE RESOURCES:

The Black Banjo Reclamation Project on FB & GoFundMe

Decolonizing the Music Room

More on the members of the Carolina Chocolate Drops: Rhiannon GiddensLeyla McCallaHubby JenkinsAdam MattaDom FlemonsJustin Robinson

Jerron "Blind boy" Paxton

Jake Blount, including a latest release and an interview with Kaia Kater

Traditional Tune Archive

Addressing Racism as a Dance Community

Black Lives Matter.

Dear PICD,

It's our anniversary! We first began dancing together weekly in June 2016 and have grown over the past four years to become a lively, loving, thriving community. Thank you for all of the ways you have contributed to making that happen, and to extending this joy to more and more community members.

As we reflect on our community, we see the successes and the missteps.

We are outraged as we mourn the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, and all Black lives taken by police violence, white supremacy, and capitalism. There is a long and brutal history of racism and structural inequality in Maine and the United States that is still deeply embedded. We fail when we stay silent and do not act urgently for justice against a prejudiced system.

In contra dance, we uphold white supremacy when we continue to consume Black culture while remaining complicit in the story of its erasure in our tradition's history. We uphold white supremacy when we don't notice the inherent bias that leads to a mostly white community and act to address the barriers experienced by Black people. We uphold white supremacy when we remain complacent in our privilege, dehumanizing and harming Black and brown people through white silence, ignorance, and inaction.

We must act. We must unlearn and learn. We must do the work to dismantle racism within ourselves. We must strive for cultural equity. We must educate ourselves about how we as a dance community facilitate structural racism and how we can help to dismantle it. We pledge to listen and do the work.

We pledge to do better at continually offering context, resources, and opportunities to gather in community to address structural racism. Join us. May we use this important moment to accelerate the movement toward justice together.


The History of the Art We Love

Modern dancers new to contra dancing may not know much about the tradition outside of what we've learned attending our local series or the experiences we've had dancing.

The living tradition we participate in is uniquely American and, like most American history, understanding it more deeply requires holding and sitting with multiple, complex stories of oppression. Facing our history means broadening our view to include the carefully omitted violence that shaped, and continues to shape, the world. This is hard work, and we hope you will join us in this important and worthwhile pursuit.

As we inquire into the tradition, we uncover the Black authorship of fundamental and emblematic modern music and dance practices. We uncover that our roots are in slavery. 
 
Modern contra dance is a result of a cultural mosaic that began in the 1600s through colonization of America by Europeans. Longways set dances and the jig and reel musical repertoire of New England seem to originate from English, Irish, and Scottish colonists. Many of these people faced forms of oppression in their countries of origin and sought freedom from that by searching for a new home. These same oppressed Europeans came to America as oppressors, murdering Native tribes and erasing their histories to create their own. Black Africans brought music and dance traditions to America that constitute some of our most beloved elements of our favorite pastime, which we will cover in more detail below. They were brought here through chattel slavery by white settlers. 
 
This work of inquiring, uncovering, and facing our history allows us to understand our tradition more deeply and celebrate the people who contributed to our tradition more fully.

Contributions by Black artists include, but are not limited to:

Music: 

Black musicians were a mainstay at early balls and social gatherings, playing for both white and Black dancers of all classes. "As early as 1690, [en]slave[d] fiddlers played for dances on plantations in Virginia... and, by the mid-eighteenth century, [en]slave[d] musicians were common at white social functions, both urban and rural, throughout the American colonies." (Jamison, "Square Dance Calling: The African-American Connection")

Slavery was the mechanism that brought African musical traditions in contact with European musical traditions in the United States: "[T]he predominance of music in [B]lack African culture made the assimilation of new and different musical styles nearly as natural as drawing breath. Thus, despite slaveholders attempts to regulate against it, cultural exchange between [B]lack [African]s and whites was occurring throughout the colonies, undeniably changing the American cultural landscape." (Morgan. “Rock and Roll Unplugged: African-American Music in Eighteenth-Century America.”)

Black composers created new music for dancing, adapted non-dance tunes for dancing, led bands and orchestras, and introduced stylings like syncopation to the music that are, to this day, many of our favorite stylings of dance music. Waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, schottisches, contredanses, reels, jigs-- are all styles in which we can see authorship by Black artists alive in today's musical stylings and repertoire.

Fiddles were incredibly popular among early Black musicians and enslaved musicians and it has been noted that in the 18th and 19th century, "even where fiddle melodies may have been purely European-derived, fiddles were often played "African"-style: for examples, a second player- a straw-beater- was sometimes used to add rhythm to the melody..." or percussive techniques were used on stringed instruments.

Additionally, the practice of having a "set" of tunes rather than simply one tune played during a dance selection was a creation of these early Black musicians and callers. "[T]hese European dance forms were more flexible and open to transformation and improvisation, at least within the performance of African Americans." (Szwed & Marks, “The Afro-American Transformation of European Set Dances and Dance Suites.”)

Instruments & Instrumentation:

Many of the instruments we recognize as staples in the contra dance hall either have their origins in Africa or were played by Black musicians in ways that white colonizers had never experienced. A few examples include:

  • The banjo came from the African instrument the banjar. The earliest American versions were made from dried gourds, sticks and thin strips of dried animal gut.

  • The tambourine came from the African instrument the toombah.

  • Though the fiddle has its origins in Western Europe, it was common for enslaved Africans in America to play fiddle at early dances. These musicians' way of playing was different from that of Europeans, creating a new form of folk instrumentation still popular today.

  • Many slaveholders banned enslaved Africans from playing African drums. This led to Black musicians seeking portable orchestral-style drums, which they then compiled to create the novel "drum kit", a collection of percussion instruments brought together in front of one player. Needless to say, this transformed American music!

(Johnson, "How banning the African drum gave birth to American music." & Morgan, “Rock and Roll Unplugged: African-American Music in Eighteenth-Century America.” & Szwed & Marks, “The Afro-American Transformation of European Set Dances and Dance Suites.”)

Calling: 

The earliest English-style "country dances" in which contra finds its roots did not have callers; rather, dancers would be provided lessons, memorize the dances, and then be instructed on the floor by a "Dance Master." "The earliest reference to dance callers, all of whom were African American, date from shortly after the introduction of the French cotillions and quadrilles in America [following the War of 1812]. This suggests that calling might have evolved in the [B]lack culture as an alternative to the formal instruction that white dancers received at dancing schools. In the call and response tradition of African music and dance, calling may have evolved as slaves called out the figures of the European dances at their own plantation frolics... [C]alling is 'at least partly rooted in the older tradition in which African Master drummers signal and direct dancers...' ...At some point dance calling was adopted by white musicians as well though exactly when is hard to determine." By the mid-1800s, dance calling was common. (Jamison, "Square Dance Calling: The African-American Connection")

 

We celebrate these Black artists for their contributions to this folk tradition. We acknowledge that Black African culture was brought to this land through slavery by white colonizers. The complexity of being forced to give up one's own cultural objects and practices and being forced to consume and promulgate another group's culture was met by these individuals with creativity and artistry. The injustice of the erasure of these contributions to the tradition is a painful part of this dance's history and present.


A Space for Reflection & Action

 
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Each month starting in July, PICD will host a reading group focused on anti-racism. To participate, simply buy or borrow the book of the month, read it while using the reading guide for reflection, and participate in the Zoom call. There is no cost to attend, but pre-registration is required.

July's book will be White Fragility by Robin Diangelo. Reading guide and Zoom link are available when you register. The Zoom gathering will be Thursday, July 30 from 7-9pm. Join us!

 
 

Written by Dela Murphy, with contributions by Dana Parkinson and editing by Kristen Planeaux, Gabrielle Lanza and Dugan Murphy.

Sources from Above:

Burchenal, Elizabeth. “Folk Dances of the United States: Regional Types and Origins.” Journal of the International Folk Music Council, vol. 3, 1951, pp. 18–21. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/835765.

Jamison, Philip A. “Square Dance Calling: The African-American Connection.” Journal of Appalachian Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, 2003, pp. 387–398. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41446577.

Johnson, Chris. "How banning the African drum gave birth to American music." TEDxHudson. Findable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLG871tKZUM.

Morgan, Michael J. “Rock and Roll Unplugged: African-American Music in Eighteenth-Century America.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 27, no. 4, 1994, pp. 649–662. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2739445.

Szwed, John F., and Morton Marks. “The Afro-American Transformation of European Set Dances and Dance Suites.” Dance Research Journal, vol. 20, no. 1, 1988, pp. 29–36. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1478814.

Support for Contra Performers During the Pandemic

 

On March 19 we posted about performers who were not able to perform for PICD when we canceled the first 8 events after the outbreak of the coronavirus this year. Events are now canceled through the end of June 2020 in compliance with the Maine governor’s tentative timeline (released April 28) for reopening the economy statewide.

Please support these folks who are unable to perform for us because of these cancelations in May and June!

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Don Roy of Gorham, Maine offers CDs, tune books, and handmade string instruments via his website: www.donroyonline.com.

Don was scheduled to play May 14 with the Don Roy Ensemble.

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Glen Loper of Portland, Maine offers CDs of his band, Riptide, through that band’s website: www.riptidedanceband.com. He also offers online lessons on mandolin and tenor banjo, taught by ear, with a focus on traditional fiddle music including Irish, Old Time, and New England Contra tunes. For more information on that, visit his website, www.glenloper.com.

Glen was scheduled to play May 14 with the Don Roy Ensemble and on May 21 with Riptide.

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Owen Marshall of Portland, Maine offers CDs of his band, Riptide, through that band’s website: www.riptidedanceband.com. He also offers online guitar lessons. For more information on that, visit his website, www.owenmarshallmusic.com.

Owen was scheduled to play May 21 with Riptide.

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Alden Robinson of Bowdoinham, Maine offers CDs of his band, Riptide, through that band’s website: www.riptidedanceband.com. He also offers online fiddle lessons. For more information on that, visit his website, www.aldenrobinson.com.

Alden was scheduled to play May 21 with Riptide.

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Dugan Murphy of Portland, Maine offers online classes in contra dance calling. He offers both an introductory class as well as classes for active callers with a little or lots of experience. Class offerings are listed at www.portlandintowncontradance.org/workshops.

Dugan was scheduled to call and mentor new callers on June 4.

THANK YOU if you are able to financially support any of these performers.

 

Oh, you!!

Right now, we’re at 132% of goal. Incredible! In two days, you surpassed our $2,500 goal and, as of now, you’ve fundraised $3,298!

THANK YOU, DONORS!

We’re incredibly grateful. You’ve made it possible for us to pay our basic expenses through the end of 2020, and be sure we’re ready to open the doors again to dance when it’s safe to do so. <3

The fundraiser will stay up until May 9, so that folks who wish to grab a limited edition t-shirt, mug or some gift cards for future dances can still get in on the action. If that’s you, get in there! ;)

If you donated (wow-yes!-thankyou!!), look forward to an email from us in the coming weeks to confirm your gift and shipping information. You’re the BEST!!