The FSGW Calendar can be viewed two ways:
CANCELLED due to COVID-19.
Melissa Running calls the dances to the music of David Knight (fiddle), Owen Morrison (guitar), and Liz Donaldson (piano).
The dance is held in the upstairs room of the Glen Echo Town Hall.
General information on our English Country Dances
April's Open Sing will NOT be at the home of Fred & Janet Stollnitz in Silver Spring
When: Friday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m.
Theme: Foolish fables, loony tunes, silly songs.
RSVP to Fred at fstollnitz@comcast.net to let us know that you plan to participate.
We will use Zoom software to host a virtual on-line sing. We will soon give everyone who wishes to participate instructions on how to join the gathering. It would be good to gather, even if it's a virtual physically-distanced event.
Singers go around the room, giving everyone a chance to sing a song, play a tune, or pass. Most songs are presented from memory, but cheat sheets often appear. Everyone is welcome. The open sings have a loose topic to encourage us to learn new songs or put the polish back on some old ones. Don’t worry if you can’t think of a song on the topic—come join in the fun anyway!
Larry Weinerwill lead an
Oldies but Goodies Night
all request evening featuring recorded music international folk dance favorites - many easy dances to just follow along -
No experience or partner necessary.
Request dancing 8:30-10:45pm.
More information: International Folk Dancing (Greenbelt)
A traditional and powerful singing of American shape-note hymns, fuging tunes, and anthems in unaccompanied four-part harmony from The Sacred Harp and The Shenandoah Harmony.
Note location change FOR BOTH DAYS to: Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Department, 3900 Lee Highway, Arlington VA 22207.https://www.cherrydalefire.org/
Get details at the Potomac River Convention website.
The storyswap for April is cancelled on account of pandemic precautions. Storyswaps will resume when it is deemed safe to do so.
General information on Story Swaps
Cancelled
Clara & The Last Stringband - Clara Garcia brings an amazing coterie of old time musicians: Rachel Eddy, Anders Fahey, and Johann Miller. The calling will be off the hook!
More information visit the DC Square Dances
Caller & Musicians: TBD
General information about the Sunday Night Contra and Square Dance
For more information see the Song Circles page.
On Tuesday, April 7, 2020, the FSGW Board will meet from 8pm to 10pm in a video conference meeting on Zoom. Use this link to join the Zoom meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/232273716
Board meetings are open to members. If you have agenda items you wish to have considered, please contact the FSGW President at: president@fsgw.org
April Blum calls to the music of Becky Ross (fiddle), Paul Oorts (mandolin and accordion), and Melissa Running (piano).
Caller & Musicians: Abigail Hobart will provide the gender free calls to the up beat music of the Bouncers - Jim Harrington (accordion), Richard Adams (Bass and horns), T. J. Crowe (Mandolin) A free dance workshop will be held at 7:00
General information on the Silver Spring Contra Dance
Ben Hole will lead, teach and organize the request dancing.
Lessons 8:30 - 9:00pm
Request dancing 9:00-10:45pm.
Caller & Musicians:
The Ballroom Annex is attached to the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park. It is on the left side (as you face the ballroom entrance). Glen Echo Park Map
General information on the Family Dance
Gospel Sings are held the second Sunday of every month at various homes. Group singing starts at 4 pm and breaks for a covered dish supper at 6 pm, with more group singing after supper until 8 pm. Everyone is welcome!
This month’s Gospel Sing has been cancelled because of coronavirus concerns. If we can figure out a way to successfully have a virtual sing, using social-connection software, we will do so, but it's been challenging to find a platform that allows people to broadcast singing simultaneously in harmony.
In the meanwhile, if you're missing your gospel "hit," Rick Morgan and Arlene Rodenbeck have compiled a list of favorite gospel song links:
Favorite Gospel Song Links
From FSGW Gospel Sings, 2020
The Murphy Beds
The Old Churchyard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YZHEEqeWh4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UurYtz0Dqw (w/ Anna & Elizabeth)
E.C. & Orna Ball
Give Me Just a Little More Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auhYwXVEJMc
Tribulations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxaGiXQ-EtA&list=RDEM5dW4h0uYMw3OiqmzBYuL9A&start_radio=1
Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdMjWvyD8u4
Iris DeMent
Fifty Miles of Elbow Room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3szGFypvJZU
Red Clay Ramblers
Anchored in Love, etc.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwZS4MSyH7I
Daniel Prayed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ30ungqOc0
The Original Carter Family
Meeting in the Air: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbZxuAvfHwo
Ginny Hawker & Kay Justice
Look Away from the Cross to that Glittering Crown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU-dXOW1SS4
Joseph Spence & Pinder Family: The Real Bahamas
I ain't got long to stay on this island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icSN-nvQx8I
I Bid You Goodnight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMmXBavPlNY
Chuck Wagon Gang
He Will Set Your Fields on Fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4veKngkj3jQ
Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin
We Shall Meet Someday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-mOCCQlur8
General information about Gospel Sings
Andrew Finn Magill and Alan Murray
Sunday, April 12 • 8 pm
Seeker’s Church • Takoma, DC
Andrew Finn Magill grew up immersed in music, and by the age of 10 had begun learning fiddle from some of the finest folk musicians in the world. By age 16, he was a two-time finalist at the All-Ireland Championships. He is also a master of the low whistles and mandolin and is equally proficient in American idioms such as old-time and bluegrass. Finn has toured with Scotland’s Paul McKenna Band and with the popular Celtic music and dance revue Celtic Dances, and in 2016 released two acclaimed albums of Irish music, Roots and Branches. He is currently touring with guitarist/singer/bouzouki player Alan Murray, who hails from Glasgow, Scotland. Both Finn and Alan have performed, toured and collaborated extensively with the best contemporary names in Celtic music.
Magill is also known for skillful old-time fiddling and Brazilian choro traditions, but tonight’s gathering puts the emphasis on Celtic. Seeker’s Church, 276 Carroll St. NW, Takoma DC 20012, just across the street from the Takoma station on Metro’s red line. Admission: $20, FSGW Members and students: $15.
More about Andrew FInn Magill at his website: https://www.andrewfinnmagill.com/
General information on Concerts
Montgomery County senior centers will be closed at least through April 24. We are considering the possibility of using a software platform to host a virtual on-line sing. If/when we decide to do this, we will give everyone who wishes to participate instructions on how to join the gathering. It would be good to gather, even if it's a virtual socially-distanced event.
If you would like to receive a notification of our plans, please send an email message (Subject: Song Circle Notices) to Fred Stollnitz <fstollnitz@comcast.net>
If you would like to be a song leader and/or instrumental accompanist, or an on-line host and/or moderator, please send an email message (Subject: Song Circle Planning) to Fred.
This monthly family-friendly song circle is about the joy of singing, not about talent. Come for informal group singing or just to listen, but do come to enjoy delightful songs! Words will be provided; no need to read music.
Wendy Lanxner will be a song leader and guitar accompanist. Other song leaders and instrumental accompanists welcome.
UPDATE: In addition to the clever text about April showers (see below), pandemic precautions also are upon us. Accordingly, the April Grapevine is planned to be online via Zoom. More information will be forthcoming on how to connect.
The showers of April are upon us, and there's nothing better to do while sheltering from the rain but to listen to a great story. The Grapevine is spoken word performance for adults and teens, celebrating the timeless art of the story, hosted this month by storyteller Renée Brachfeld.
Our featured tellers this month are Cooper Braun, formerly of Boulder, and Suzie Afridi, formerly of Jericho. The show opens with up to three open-mic storytellers, followed by our featured tellers. Put your name in the hat to be one of our open-mic tellers! Traditional or true, happy or blue, tell the story that you have in you to tell within five (5) minutes(-ish). Donation of $15 requested to support our featured tellers.
General information about The Grapevine (Storytelling)
Tom Spilsbury calls the dances to the playing of Tina Chancy (fiddle), Tom Wright (10-string mandolin), and Ralph Gordon (cello).
Gathering Sparks
Musical Friends from Ontario
Friday, April 17 • 6 pm
Alexandria After Work series • Alexandria, VA
Gathering Sparks is the graceful collision of Eve Goldberg and Jane Lewis—musical friends who blend tight harmonies, finely crafted songs, and a love of participatory singing. Their inclusive approach embraces folk, pop, blues and gospel influences tastefully played on acoustic guitar, piano, accordion, and ukulele. Whether they are belting it out a capella style, tugging on your heartstrings with a folky original, crooning a jazzy swing tune, or getting into the spirit with a gospel-inflected singalong, Gathering Sparks performances make fans out of listeners with their stellar harmonies and fine musicianship. For more about the duo, visit their website at https://gatheringsparks.com/.
Co-sponsored by the Office of Historic Alexandria and FSGW, this is part of the Alexandria After Work concert series held in the heart of Old Town Alexandria at 6 pm on second Fridays (but postponed a week this month to avoid Good Friday). Take the free trolley that runs every 15 minutes from King Street Metro station! At Lloyd House, 220 N Washington St. 22314. (Indoors or outdoors depending on weather.) $15 suggested donation; cash bar.
Linda Mansdorf will lead, teach and organize the request dancing.
Sara Grey & Kieron Means
Sunday, April 19 • 8 pm
With her unique voice, frailing banjo style, and rhythmic stomping foot, Sara Grey brings attention to both traditional songs and songs written in the tradition. Sara is known for teaching folk from ballads to banjos, at places like the Youth Trad songs weekend, TradMad, or the John C. Campbell Folk School. She is originally from New Hampshire, but lived in Scotland and briefly in England for some 40 years. She has always been interested in the migration of songs across the Atlantic and it was as a result of a collecting trip to Scotland in 1970 that she moved to the UK, and song collecting became a lifelong obsession. Sara has returned to our shores to live in Maine. Her son Kieron Means, who now lives in upstate New York, draws his material from the deepest wellsprings of North American culture, from the old-time music of the Southern mountains to the blues — which he sings with startling conviction — and the work of latter-day songwriters steeped in the old traditions. Where so many young folk musicians of today dazzle us with their instrumental virtuosity or flatter our ears with their vocal purity, he delivers a much rarer virtue: a true passion for the music he plays, just like his mother.
For more about Sara or Kieron, visit https://www.saragrey.net/.
Seeker’s Church, 276 Carroll St. NW, Takoma DC 20012, just across the street from the Takoma station on Metro’s red line. Admission: $20, FSGW Members and students: $15.
Ann Fallon calls the dances while Jeff Steinberg (fiddle), Dan Gillespie (recorders and pipes), and Liz Donaldson (piano).
POSTPONED until the COVID-19 situation is under control
Kim Capps
Folk, Country, Blues & Gospel
Kim Capps is a singer-songwriter who has written and performed folk, country, blues, and gospel; she believes in building bridges, and creating community with her music. Kim found her true voice when she dove head first into the acoustic blues in the Barbershop jams sponsored by the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation. Her mentors there were Michael Baytop, Eleanor Ellis, Gaye Adegbalola, and Resa Gibbs, who produced her latest EP, “Together We Rise.” She has performed in a variety of local venues and festivals over the years.
At this concert, Kim will be joined by guitarist and singer Eleanor Ellis, known far and wide for her powerful vocals and Piedmont guitar skills, and by Bob MacDonald on guitar, as they share a mix of old and new tunes that touch on a variety of roots traditions, woven together by the common themes of love, struggle, community and hope.
For more about Kim, go to www.Kimcapps.net For more about Eleanor Ellis go to www.eleanorellis.com
Suggested donation: $15. For reservations and more information, contact Kathie Mack at 301-270-5367 or kpmack2@gmail.com. (Note: Cats are in residence and there are six steps up to the front porch.)
John Robinson will lead, teach and organize the request dancing.
Andrea Nettleton calls the dances to the music of Carrie Rose (flute), Sophie Chang (cello), and Melissa Running (piano).
May's Open Sing would have been at the home of Linda and Carl Zebooker in Silver Spring
When: Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Cancelled because of coronavirus concerns. If we can find a good virtual platform, we can have an on-line sing.
Dances will be taught using recorded music, followed by live music with Lyuti Chushki for dancing during the remainder of the evening.
Free Admission! (Celebrating the dance group's annual anniversary)
Lessons: 8:30 - 9:15pm
Dancing with live music: 9:20 -10:45pm.
On Tuesday, May 5, 2020, the FSGW Board will meet from 8pm to 10pm at Glen Echo Park in classroom 201, in the building with the POPCORN sign on it.
The DC Square Dance Collective
LP Kelly
Becky Hill
Big Possum Stringband
For ALL the details and to register visit: Dare To Be Square DMV website
FSGW has cancelled the 2020 Spring Ball in accordance with government guidance about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please visit the 2020 Washington Spring Ball (34th) page for details (music, program, cost, etc.)
The days grow long, the air is warm but still gentle, the nights are... just right. A perfect time to hear some stories! The Grapevine is spoken word performance for adults and teens, celebrating the timeless art of the story, hosted this month by storyteller Tim Livengood.
Our featured tellers this month are the absolutely unbelievable Kevin Kling and the entirely credible Noa Baum. The show opens with up to three open-mic storytellers, followed by our featured tellers. Put your name in the hat to be one of our open-mic tellers! Traditional or true, happy or blue, tell the story that you have in you to tell within five (5) minutes(-ish). Donation of $15 requested to support our featured tellers.
Caller & Musicians: Megan Wilson provides the gender free calls to the wonderful music of Triple Helix - Keith Gillis (guitar), Colleen Reed (flute), Alexander Mitchell (fiddle) A free dance workshop begins at 7:00.
Memorial Day Weekend - no dance
Steve Cormier
Cowboy and Western
Saturday, May 23 * 8 pm
Steve Cormier comes to us from New Mexico, where he has been a musician, a cowboy, a film actor, and a college professor. He sings of cowboys and the other colorful characters who made up Western American history and myth. He has learned both from research and from practical experience with the ranch-hand's craft--how to throw a lariat, how to brand a calf, and how to use songs and stories to deal with the boredom that's the bulk of a cowboy's life. His songs and stories are about real people and real situations, much of the time. He'll like as not open with a set of pre-WWII cowboy work music. His sources range from Woody Guthrie to Powder River Jack Lee. He sings about farmers, cowboys, factory workers, horses, and homes on the range. Steve Cormier's concerts provide an insight into people and a way of life that is far removed from the reality of most of us. Join us in the front parlor of Kathie Mack's Craftsman bungalow. It may be only three blocks from the Takoma Metro Station on the Red Line, but expect to spend most of the night with your mind transported to the American West.
The 40th Washington Folk Festival is postponed to June 2021 due to COVID-19.
The 40th Washington Folk Festival will be full, as usual, of fabulous musicians, storytellers, and artisans, plus plenty of time to dance! All sorts of American music styles as well as International genres. It's always an amazing event, and FREE. Family friendly. Rain or shine.
On Tuesday, June 2, 2020, the FSGW Board will meet from 8pm to 10pm at Glen Echo Park in classroom 201, in the building with the POPCORN sign on it.
The last day of the storytelling season is upon us, and the best possible way to mark the occasion is by hearing some great stories. The Grapevine is spoken word performance for adults and teens, celebrating the timeless art of the story, hosted this month by storyteller Noa Baum.
Our featured tellers this month are the hilarious Willa Brigham and a founding mother of the modern storytelling Renaissance, Barbara Freeman. The show opens with up to three open-mic storytellers, followed by our featured tellers. Put your name in the hat to be one of our open-mic tellers! Traditional or true, happy or blue, tell the story that you have in you to tell within five (5) minutes(-ish). Donation of $15 requested to support our featured tellers.
For the fifth summer, Friends of Peirce Mill and the DC Square Dance Collective are joining forces to bring you a free evening of outdoor music and dancing in Rock Creek Park! On Saturday, June 27 we’ll fill the meadows and grounds of Peirce Mill with old-time music and dance ’til the stars come out.
Tunes will be provided by a fantastic band of local musicians:
Members of the DC Square Dance Collective will call the figures. As always, no lesson, experience, partner or fancy clothes needed. Everyone is welcome!
And a bonus: This dance is free! But donations to Friends of Peirce Mill are much appreciated. You can donate at http://www.friendsofpeircemill.org/give-now/ or if you really enjoy what they do, you can become a member at http://www.friendsofpeircemill.org/membership/
This dance is sponsored by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington and Friends of Peirce Mill. Peirce Mill is the last remaining 19th-century gristmill in DC, one of several that used to grind the wheat, oats and corn for our city using waterpower from Rock Creek. It’s been lovingly restored and will be open late into the evening so you can see how it all went down. Back in the day, the mill was also a community hub and meeting place — and even hosted dances — though we’ll be dancing outside on the grass. See https://www.nps.gov/places/peirce-mill.htm for more info.
Address: 2401 Tilden St. NW, Washington, DC Directions: http://www.friendsofpeircemill.org/hours-and-directions/ Parking: across Tilden St. from the mill
More information visit the DC Square Dances.
Summer Vacation - no Friday night folk dance in Greenbelt during August.
Online registration will not open until the 2020 prices are set and ratified. Any prices shown on this page were for 2019. Unfortunately, prices will need to be raised for 2020, although the scholarship fund can help offset the increases for those who can't afford them. Contact Dean Clamons at 703-980-2853 or dclamons@cox.net.
This dance will be called with non gendered role terms
Bands: THE MEAN LIDS; UNCLE FARMER; BUDDY SYSTEM
Callers: Will Mentor, Gaye Fifer, Sarah VanNorstrand
When: October 4, 2020 from 1pm to 11pm. There is a break between 6pm and 7pm for the contra dance world's best potluck.
The 10th annual full day of dancing will feature three amazing bands and callers, with hours and hours of blissful dancing!
Please use fragrance sparingly or not at all. Contrastock is being called with non- gendered dance role terms
