One of my favorite memories during my teenage years was of summer Saturday nights in Fitzwilliam contradancing to the calling of Duke Miller with a band consisting of piano (often the late Bob McQuillen), a banjo, and a couple of fiddles. I was introduced to contradancing during my freshman year at Monadnock by Katrina Royar and her mom, who took me to my first Fitzwilliam contradance. I also started going to dances in Dublin and Francestown, often called by Dudley Laufman, who in recent years received a National Heritage Award for the preservation of the art of contradancing. Later on I went to the Fitzwilliam dances on my own, and became close friends with Maureen Kennedy, whose parents sponsored the Fitzwilliam dances. Once Duke Miller passed away, the Fitzwilliam dances were not a regular weekly event during summers.
The Monday night Nelson contradances have been occuring as long as I can remember, and have been called in recent years by my former MRHS classmate Don Primrose. The dance here is not called by another caller; I think her name is Mary. Just prior to the dance, there is a contradance orchestra that rehearses. Here is an excerpt from a Swedish waltz they were playing:
Many of the dancers show up early to listen to the orchestra practice. There is usually a $3 donation for the dance that people drop in a fiddle case at the door. Often one of the "regulars" will bring brownies or cookies or iced tea.
Getting ready to dance--the caller is the woman behind the man in the blue shirt. The dance is accompanied by a piano and one fiddle on this occasion. The fiddler is a bit lazy on the pitch, I noticed, but the dancing is still fun!
It was a fun evening that brought back a lot of good memories. And I remembered the steps like I had never stopped....just like riding a bicycle.
