Fall Has Sprung! contradance May 3, 2013

I had a blast calling at the “Fall Has Sprung” contra dance fest in Grass Valley, California.  Held every year in early November, this dance runs 12 hours long, from noon till midnight!

There’s potluck food and comfy bleacher chairs available the entire time, so participants can dance some, have a snack or meal, rest, dance more, go outside and schmooze a bit, do a community chore like taking out some garbage, drink some water, then dance a whole lot more.  Dance, rinse, repeat.

It is a super fun event that I’ve enjoyed going to several times as a dancer, and it was an honor and a delight to be invited to call for it this year.

What a luscious combo: calling 1/3 of the day with amazing bands, and getting to dance the other 2/3 to other amazing bands and great callers, for and with a hall full of zesty dancers.

This year, the bands were Hot Cider, KGB, and Raz de Marée, a.k.a. Tidal Wave, and the callers were Joyce Miller, Frannie Marr, and me.  Many thanks to the Foothills Country Dance Society and their stellar organizers, Eric Engels and Lisa Frankel.

This particular dance you’ll see in the video is “Square Affair” by Becky Hill. It is driven by music played by KGB, a  fabulous Seattle band consisting of Julie King, Claude Ginsburg and Dave Bartley. I found them to be not only breathtakingly good musicians, but also super easy to work with.

Video by dancer John Seto.   Music by KGB.   Calling by Tina Fields.

Perpetual e-Motion contras January 3, 2013

If you love wild contra dancing, the Front Range of Colorado is the place to be this weekend. Perpetual eMotion will play Fri, Sat and Sunday. They are two guys who sound like many more, fusing old traditional tunes with electronic techno looping. Their music makes for dancing that is both rocking and super trance inducing.

I’m calling with them on Friday eve at Boulder’s fabulous Avalon Ballroom – and per the dance organizer’s request, I’ll have my disco ball in tow.

The dance runs 8-11 pm, with a beginner’s lesson/semi-beginners’ refresher course at 7. (If you’ve not contradanced much or at all, do come: you can learn the basic moves in that time and have a great evening. But please make sure to attend the lesson. It’s tough for everyone if you just try to jump in without it. Thanks!)

Two of my favorite callers in the area will call the other dances: Ed Hall in Fort Collins on Saturday, and Rick Smith in Denver on Sunday – and that one will also have ice cream. How good does it get? Hope to see you rollicking out at one or more!

Last Dance (for awhile) in Santa Rosa July 14, 2011

Soon I’ll be moving to Boulder, Colorado to begin teaching ecopsychology at Naropa University.

After having been here in Sebastopol, CA for seven years now, I’ve run the gamut of emotions about this huge impending life change, from the story entitled, “I’ll Just Apply for the Job and Then See What Happens…” to “Waah! I Don’t Want to Leave My Friends!!” to “How the Heck Did I Get Myself Into This?” (includes the sequel about moving, “OMG I Have A Lot of Books”) to “Wow, I Get to Teach Ecopsychology at Naropa!”

So many things have happened – if I get time, or feel like procrastinating from packing boxes, I may write about it.

For now, I just want to announce for those of you in the North Bay Area of CA that on Friday night I’ll be calling the Santa Rosa contra dance on Friday with my favorite band, StringFire – and beforehand, this sweet North Bay dance community is throwing me a farewell potluck. Come if you can for one last-for-now hug, twirl, tear.

Tina Fields holding a gigantic bouncing baby beet grown by Michael Martin, gardener extraordinaire

“Fare-thee-well to Tina” Dinner Potluck – Fri 7/15

Time	15 July · 18:00 – 19:00
Location	Monroe Hall, 1400 W. College Ave, Santa Rosa
Created by:	Moira Hill
For	North Bay Country Dance Society (NBCDS)
More info	♥ “Fare-thee-well to Tina” Dinner Potluck ♥Friday July 15 – 6-7 pm (just before the Santa Rosa contra dance)Monroe Hall, 1400 W. College Ave, Santa RosaCome say goodbye to our beloved Tina Fields – dancer, friend, caller extraordinaire and all around good egg!She is moving to Boulder, Colorado to accept a teaching position at Naropa University.Please bring a nice main course, salad, or appetizer dish to share.****Please RSVP to Emily with what you are bringing****Questions? Email Emily (ekshaul [at] gmail.com). PS – Go green & bring your own utensils/plate.

A Toast to the Contra Community January 25, 2011

It doesn’t feel like winter in Sonoma County right now, with glorious 60-degree sunny weather and the hyacinth buds shyly considering peeping out. But as we know the wet is only on pause temporarily, the warmth feels even more sweet.

In winter, even a warmish one, pleasures grow smaller. We sit by the hearth (or far-lesser equivalent, the DVD player) and take in stories, go for walks, clean our homes of old cobwebs, and eat delicious fattening things – an ancient strategy to ensure our survival through the cold dark times of little food.

There are still mushrooms to be had. The other day I enjoyed a breakfast of wildcrafted Elfin Saddles scrambled up in butter with garlic, green onions, eggs and misc herbs, o yum. I found them along the irrigation ditch near my cottage. They’re black and gnarly and easily hidden in the dried grasses, so you’ve got to use sharp eyes to spot them.

And we gather together to dance. I especially love contradancing, both to dance it and to call the dances. I love the tunes too, and someday will get past the mediocre stage of playing musical instruments enough to play for dances. For now, though, it’s all about the feet and the voice and the deep connection to others through shared joy.

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Here’s a toast written specially for the contra dance community, delivered at midnight on New Years Eve 2010.  The North Bay Country Dance Society asked me to give it. You likely didn’t, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

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A NYE Toast to the Contra Community

by Tina Fields

 

Gather together – the time is nigh,

The old year it comes to an end.

And we have could certainly done much worse

Than to spend it here, dancing with friends.

 

The skirts they flew; the notes danced too

As the fiddlers raised a tune –

It’s the dark of the year, but as luck’s with us here,

Our spirits feel bright as in June.

 

As we think on our lives, and all we’ve survived

We may notice some new aches and pains.

Seems with every year passing there’s some treasure lost,

But the joy that sustains us remains.

 

So let’s toast to the dance and this circle of joy

And the company gathered here – wow!

Raise your glass high; bid the old year goodbye

And the New Year, come in: Welcome Now!

 

(Everyone: Welcome Now!)

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Bright blessings to you in 2011. May this year bring you wonderful food, friends, and fun.

And may you continue to receive such good wishes, even long after the official giving-new-years-blessings time is past.

Queer Contra Dance Camp April 7, 2010

I’m the lucky songleader for the Queer Contra Dance Camp this year.

Excellent talent, super friendly people, dancing dancing dancing, redwoods, fabulous outfits – who could ask for more?– oh yeah, singing!

Saturday:  EnChantMent! Soul-uplifting chants and rounds. All songs will be led by ear.  Everyone welcome; you do not need to be a “good singer.”

Sunday: Community Choice Singing. More easy chants and rounds, plus rousing and funny chorus songs. (We will go around and each participant will choose a song for the group to sing. Some lyrics provided.)

There may still be room at this very fun weekend camp if you want to attend… click the link above. Or plan ahead for next year: April 8-10, 2011; same place, same channel.

Square Dances of the 1950s Rural West February 26, 2010

The book of my father’s square dance calls that I’ve been working on for the last six years or so is coming together. I suppose I really should wait till it’s actually out to talk about it, but I just finished the cover mockup and am excited now!

Hank Fields taught hundreds of people to square dance in rural Modoc County, CA in the 1950s, the heyday of western square dance. The book’s main purpose is to share the calls he did (including breaks, patter, and singing squares. It also includes stories gleaned from numerous interviews with Hank and other dancers from the time about their experiences.

One of my favorites, told by an older cousin, is about winter dancing in Idaho. Folks would sometimes get snowed in while on their way to a dance, but would that stop them? No! They’d just stop, set up sawdust fires, and dance anyway – right in the middle of the road!

I hope this book will be of interest to modern western square dancers and others interested in how dance can forge community, and that it will help contemporary callers keep these old dances alive. It ends with the exhortation to “Please use these good old dances to make good new memories.”

This book is not done yet, but please let me know if you’re interested in getting a copy when it is! Inspired by my friend Birrell Walsh’s delight with his poetry book, I plan to self-publish it through Lulu.com.