Emerald City Contra Dance

with the Seattle Folklore Society present

Contra dancing nearly every Friday at the

Phinney Neighborhood Center

6532 Phinney Avenue North, Seattle (98103)

in the Community Hall of the brick building, near the lower parking lot

Beginner’s workshop at 7:00 pm (or thereabouts). Dance from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm.

Based on feedback from the community, we decided to pause our transition to a mask-optional environment. We will keep the following practices in place:
– Sign a registration form (for contact tracing) and waiver upon entry. If you have attended a dance elsewhere, you’ll still need register at this dance as well.
– Bring and wear a well-fitting mask with no exhaust vent.

We also recommend that you keep up-to-date with vaccinations. We may reinstate vaccination requirements at a later date, if COVID conditions change or we receive more reports of illness within the community. As always, we suggest you check Public Health – Seattle & King County for more information about COVID. For information about community-level transmission in King County, check here. For information about COVID practices and cases from earlier dances, check here.

Admission prices (cash, check or Venmo only):
– Sliding scale $10-$20.
– Students $5 with a school ID.
– Free for people under the age of 16.

Admission limited to 125 people. This total includes paying & non-paying dancers, musicians, callers, children, and adults acting like children. (In short, everyone.)

If this is your first contra dance ever you’ll get a coupon for free admission to your next dance.
Coupon redemption limited to first five coupons on any single night.

Follow us on Facebook. There’s a Lost and Found “Featured” file on that page where you can find items that you left behind at the dance.

Please help the PNA achieve their sustainability goals. Consider carpooling, walking, biking, or riding the bus to the dance. If you drive, please park in the PNA parking lots.

All dances taught. No partner necessary.
Light, comfortable clothing recommended.
Please join us without perfumes, colognes, aftershave, scented lotions, etc.

More information for dancers.
Information for bands and callers.
Past caller set lists.
Bands and callers: we’ll have an online booking form available soon.

For information not already posted here: 206-440-9839 or emeraldcitycontra@pobox.com

Enough of the suggestions, disclaimers, and notifications. Here is what you really want to know…

Schedule of bands and callers:

Callers will use the terms “larks” and “robins” for dance roles.

May 17 (Masks required) Nimbus is a new trio in which the PNW’s own Brian Lindsay and Alex Sturbaum (Countercurrent) join forces with New England mainstay Cedar Stanistreet. Nimbus specializes in traditional Irish tunes played with vigor and lyricism, played on guitar, fiddles, and tenor banjo. Susan Michaels calls.
May 24 * * No dance here * * Go to Northwest Folklife instead. Enjoy music, dance, and more for 4 days at Seattle Center.
May 31 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required)
The Légers + WB Reid: Focusing on the fire-breathing dancefloor fiddle tunes of French Canada, The Légers (Devon Leger on fiddle and podorythmie and Louis Léger on accordion) will be joined by ace contradance guitarist WB Reid for a set featuring tunes from Québec, New Brunswick, Eastern Canada, and Franco America. With Acadian New Brunswick roots, The Légers have spent years digging up super rare and surprisingly powerful tunes from Acadian sources especially. Penelope Weinberger calls.
June 7 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) Leah Wollenberg, Ida Hoequist, and Alex Sturbaum met at Oberlin College ten years ago, and the trio display a musical fluency and verve borne of long friendship coupled with disparate influences. Anchored by Bay Area native Leah Wollenberg’s driving and dancing fiddle, Virginia flutist Ida Hoequist’s smooth-as-glass woodwinds, and the northwest’s own Alex Sturbaum’s powerhouse rhythm guitar, the sound of these three musicians draws inspiration from a wide array of sources; both traditional and contemporary Celtic music, as well as the folk music of England, Sweden, and Newfoundland. With tender waltzes, mighty jigs and reels, and the odd full-throated labor song, Wollenberg, Hoequist, and Sturbaum have created a sound that is both rooted in tradition and firmly of the moment. Listen to their music here: https://leahalexida.bandcamp.com/album/chance
June 14 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) Bandwidth brings together three of Portland’s contra dance music veterans, Gordy Euler (fiddle, whistle, piano), Keith Moe (fiddle), and Carl Thor (piano, mandolin). Be ready for an exciting, full spectrum of contra dance music when these gents take to the stage. They’re having fun up there, and it shows! Joe Micheals calls.
June 21 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) Veterans of the band Jigsaw, George Penk (fiddle) and Heather Pinney (piano, fiddle), have paired together with Jesse Schafer on cello/guitar and gone feral. Their new band, Peter and the Wolf Tones, meld the lyrical and driven with occasional songs to power the dance. Amy Wimmer calls.
June 28 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) The Sage Thrashers are Hayden Stern on fiddle, Patrick Gunning on guitar, and Jesse Partridge on fiddle as well.
July 5 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) Corwin & Grace is a London-based duo that plays traditional Irish, Scottish and old English tunes. They bring an evening of fiery fiddlin’ and foot stompin’ piano and play with a passion that will get you up and dancing! Koren Wake calls.
July 12 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) Dale Russ on fiddle and Nell Russ on fiddle.
July 19 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) Anita Anderson on piano, Hayden Stern on fiddle, & Elise Snoey on fiddle. Kelsey Hartman calls.
July 26 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) Rufous is Nick Leininger (guitar), Manda Brown (fiddle) & Melissa Coffey (fiddle, whistle, & spaceship). Victoria Fox calls.
August 2 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) To Be Determined.
August 9 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) Countercurrent – Brian Lindsey on fiddle & banjo; Alex Sturbaum on guitar & accordion. This powerhouse acoustic duo features fiddle, guitar, harmony vocals, and foot percussion. When dancers and listeners experience the blend of lyrical melodies, groovy chords, thumping percussion, and vocal harmonies all simultaneously, the reaction is invariably “How does so much music come from just two people?!”
August 16 (Masks strongly recommended, but not required) RiffRaff

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