Update as of 11/18/22. Ball registrations are now closed.
FOURTH ANNUAL BALL: SATURDAY NOVEMBER 19, 2022
Yes, we know, we've only actually held one ball so far! But this would have been the 4th if we'd not had to cancel two!
NEW HOME BALL 2022
Dance Leaders: Joanna Reiner Wilkinson & Brad Foster
Evening Music: Karen Axelrod, piano; Eric Martin, violin & viola; Anna Patton, clarinet
Afternoon Music: Eleanor Lincoln, violin; Pat MacPherson, piano
Sound: Dereck Kalish
Practice Session: 2:00pm to 4:30pm
Evening Ball: 7:00pm to 10:30pm
Location: Town Hall, Orange MA
Ball Chair: Brad Foster
For more information contact: FosterBradR(at)gmail(dot)com
COVID PROTOCOLS
In a word, we are cautious. Because of close proximity while dancing, we follow a higher standard than the CDC Covid rules.
- Pre-registration is required.
- Every individual must register separately.
- All participants must be fully vaccinated with: two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson or Novavax; PLUS at least one booster.
- All participants must show proof of vaccination.
- Well-fitting N95 or equivalent masks are required; masks must be worn at all times while inside the hall except while drinking water, and except for callers while calling and musicians while playing wind instruments.
- Please bring your own water bottle; no refreshments will be served.
- If you have the itch, the cold, the Covid or the flu, please stay home, we don't want to catch it too.
- If you have had COVID in the last 10 days, please don’t come.
- Please do a rapid antigen test just before the dance. Please do not come if any of the following are true:
- you test positive
- you have symptoms, even if you test negative
- you have had exposure to someone with COVID in the past 10 days.
If you have registered and cannot attend, please let us know as soon as possible. Full refunds will be given for any Covid related cancelations.
If you test positive for Covid within one week after the dance, please let us know.
BALL DETAILS
Due to continued transmission of the Covid virus, we will follow the Covid protocols listed above. We will also have a slightly shorter and easier ball with 15 dances, ending earlier, at 10:30. There will be no refreshment break this year; there will be breaks for water and socializing. Dinner is on your own; a list of local restaurants will be sent to all registrants. The hall will be emptied and closed during the dinner break. The hall will open early for the Ball, providing some time to change, but please note that space for changing (in the three small bathrooms) will be very limited; we suggest everyone change before they arrive. Most dances will have a walk-through. One dance, The Fandango, will be done "for those that know" with no talk- or walk-through. Two dances, Gambols and Beautious Grove, will be slightly different -- for each of those we will do one walk through only, meant as an aid to memory; this will be insufficient to learn those two dances on the spot.
BALL PROGRAM
Dance notes will be sent to all registrants.
- Barham Down [rec. Tom Cook (the quick AAB version); Come Let's Be Merry; The Playford Assembly] video link
- Beautious Grove [rec. Andrew Shaw; Elephants Stairs] video link
- Bellamira [rec. Douglas & Helen Kennedy; Country Dance Book — New Series; The Playford Assembly]
- The Bonny Cuckoo [Gail Ticknor; Gail's Maggots; Dances for Volume 2; tune: Si Bheag, Si More, by Turlough O'Carolan] video link
- Companions [Victor Skowronski; CDSS News #183; Roby's resource of Victor's dances; tune: Rhone II, Mon Amy, by Tielman Susato] video link
- The Fandango [rec. W.S. Porter; The Apted Book; The Playford Ball] video link
- Gambols [Jenna Simpson; Under the Influence; tune: The Shepherd and Shepherdess, published by Thompson 1799] video link
- The Hole in the Wall [rec. Douglas & Helen Kennedy; Country Dance Book — New Series; The Playford Ball; Dances for Volume 3] video link
- Key to the Cellar [Jenny Beer; Key to the Cellar; tune: traditional] video link
- Midwinter Maggot [Gary Roodman; A Group of Calculated Figures; Dances for Volume 15; tune by Jonathan Jensen] video link
- New Map [Margaret & Jeff Bary; unpublished; tune by Anna Patton] video link
- The Ragg [rec. Rich Jackson & George Fogg; The Neal Collection; Dances for Volume 3; The Playford Assembly] video link
- Sapphire Sea [Christine Robb; on the CDS Boston Centre Dance Collection; tune Tom Kruskal's, by Amelia Mason & Emily Troll] video link
- Shandy Hall [George Middleton; Still Not Quite Playford; Dances for Volume 4; tune by George Middleton] video link
- Well Donne [Jenna Simpson; Revelations; tune: Poet Laureate, undated] video link
New Evening Format (as of Sunday, November 6th)
Walk-Throughs and Calling for Selected Set Dances
Calling for the first full round [the first 3 times through for three-couple dances; the first 4 times for four-couple dances]; dances continued for another round without calling.
Beautious Grove
Gambols
New Map
Shandy Hall
Walk-Throughs and Calling for Selected Longways Dances
Calling for the first three or four rounds or as needed.
Barham Down
Bellamira
Companions
Midwinter Maggot
Well Donne
Walk-Throughs But No Calling for Very Familiar and/or Easy Dances
We think you will know these. If you don’t, you’ll figure them out quickly.
The Bonny Cuckoo
The Hole in the Wall
Key to the Cellar
The Ragg
Sapphire Sea
No Walk-Through, No Calling
The classic For Those That Know
The Fandango