• Sponsored by Hands Four Dancers of Ithaca
• Saturday, April 10
• Workshops 2:30-6:00 pm; potluck supper 6:30 pm
• Beginners’ instruction 7:45 pm; contra dance 8-11 pm
• Boynton Middle School, 1601 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca, NY

Réveillons, mes amis! Wake up! Spring is upon us, and here is a springing opportunity to spend an afternoon and evening in the company of some effervescent French Canadian musicians. Réveillons wowed the crowds at last year’s Dance Flurry with irresistible music and brisk, jolly (et jolie) dances, both familiar and with some fresh twists. Let’s greet their debut in Ithaca with a rousing response.

This multi-talented quartet from Québec features energetic rhythms and imaginative interpretations of traditional French Canadian tunes. And joie de vivre above all! They take pride in being both audacious and authentic. Réveillons includes David Berthiaume (voice, jaw harp, concertina), Jean-François Berthiaume (stepdance, bodhran, foot percussion, suitcase, voice), Richard Forest (swinging fiddle), and Marc Maziade (guitar, tenor banjo, voice, infused with jazz, blues, and Flamenco). Ithaca’s Katy Heine will be calling contras in style, and Jean-Francois Berthiaume, one of Québec’s stellar callers, will intersperse some French Canadian squares.

For dancers who are wondering about the Hands Four “Fiddlehead Frolic,” it will return next April. Meanwhile, consider April 10 a “Fiddle and Frolic” event that spans four workshops from 2:30 to 6:00 pm, a potluck supper, and dancing from 7:45-11 pm, all at Boynton Middle School.

Réveillons afternoon workshops are: fiddle with Richard Forest (2:30-4:00); step-dancing (2:30-4:00) and Quebecois social dance (4:30-6:00) with Jean-Francois Berthiaume; and the history of Quebecois music (4:30-6:00) with David Berthiaume. Workshops are $15 each or two for $25. Participation is limited, so register early by contacting Laura Taylor at LBT1@cornell.edu.

Beginners are welcome (simple steps taught at 7:45 pm). No need to bring a partner, but please bring clean, soft-soled shoes and something yummy to share for the potluck supper. Dance admission: $9 for HFDI members, $12 for nonmembers. Info: 607-539-3174 or www.hands4dancers.org

–Margaret Shepard

Mon Mar 29th — ITHACA NY — O’Shanigans play an Ivy League Dance! O’Shanigans are playing for the Cornell CONTRA DANCE with the fabulous Hilton Baxter calling dances from 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm at The Appel Commons (3rd floor), Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14850. Don’t miss them this time! This is the first occurrence of a contra dance in the CCDC’s new primary venue! Admission $7- (ONLY $4 for students!!). Bring clean shoes, a water bottle and ALL YOUR FRIENDS! All dances taught, No partner needed. Sponsored by the Cornell Contra Dance Club. On campus, but OPEN to the general public. O’Shanigans is Phil Robinson on guitar, Tim Ball on fiddle, Mike Ludgate on mandolin and tenor banjo.

BAND WEBSITE http://www.canaaninstitute.org/oshanigans.html
VENUE WEBSITE http://www.campuslife.cornell.edu/campuslife/communitycenters/appelcommons.cfm
BAND’S EVENT POSTER http://canaaninstitute.org/docs/Oshanigans_current_poster.pdf
FACEBOOK EVENT http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=476091600060

DIRECTIONS to this DANCE — Appel Commons, North Campus, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14850. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=appel+commons,+ithaca+ny+14850&sll=42.723106,-76.320057&sspn=1.085553,2.469177&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Appel+Commons,+Ithaca,+Tompkins,+New+York+14850&ll=42.453552,-76.47601&spn=0.004259,0.009645&z=17

FROM THE DANCERS AND MUSICIANS about O’Shanigans — “The O’Shanigans rocked the hall tonight! You guys sure know how to throw a party!” “I was really glad to get to dance to your music- that was tons of fun!!” “Super dance on Friday! You guys were peppy, and there were some imaginative arrangements that made even old, familiar tunes sound fresh. Hooray for the O’Shanigans!” “It was invigorating music, great company and fun caller!” “Do play for us again!” “It was fun dancing and even more so to the tunes of O’Shanigans!” “It was great!” “Mike, you and Phil and Tim were SOLID! I had a blast and my daughter had fun too! Thanks for playing, and thanks Ray for the goodies!” “We’ve heard great stuff about you guys: We’d love to have you play at our dance!” “Wow! I have not seen that kind of energy at the Friday Dance in long time, you guys were great!” “That was the most amazing medley … was there something Middle Eastern in there?” “You guys were way out there like in Hungary or somewhere? … then you brought it back home with that old-time tune … the best version of that I have ever heard!” “The band was absolutely wonderful last night!”

Cornell Contra Dance Club – This is a new club just started this semester. The dances are open to students and the general public. The purpose of the Cornell Contra Dance Club is to “Hold contra dances on the Cornell campus, and promote contra dancing as an exceptionally fun activity.” See http://sao.cornell.edu/SO/org/09-10/895 for more information.

About the DANCE CALLER, Hilton Baxter: Hilton started contra dancing around 1992, and founded Contradance in Binghamton! in 1997, based in Binghamton, NY. The organization has come to include English Country Dance and Scottish country dancing as well, and is now officially known as Binghamton Community Dance. He has been calling contradances since 1999, and has worked with some wonderful musicians in addition to O’Shanigans: Great Bear Trio, Contrapasso, George Wilson & Selma Kaplan, The Contra Rebels, Confluence, Rosie’s Ready Mix. He has called dances all around the northeast, especially in upstate New York (Binghamton, Ithaca, Fayetteville, Milford, Syracuse, Olean, Oneonta, Owego) and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. http://www.binghamtondance.org/hiltonbaxter/

About Contra Dancing: WHAT TO EXPECT AT YOUR FIRST DANCE Contra dancing is easy to learn. It’s so easy to learn that you don’t take lessons. Just show up at a dance and by the end of the first night you’ll have learned all the dance moves and you will be able to enjoy the next dance even more. People are friendly and welcoming to beginners. The age range is from kids to folks that have been around for a while. Both singles and doubles come to contra dances and women as well as men ask people to dance. It is usual that you change partners after every dance. You will meet people in a relaxed, pleasant, smoke and alcohol free atmosphere. The patterns of the dance can be a tad confusing at first but remember everyone had a first time and that other dancers will help you. Listen to the caller and the music and go with the flow of the dance. Some people find they get dizzy at first. Looking directly at the person you are dancing with eliminates this sensation. For many, the music is what keeps them coming back as it is exciting and lively. People come to dance, hear the music, socialize and have a good time.

WHAT TO WEAR? Wear smooth soled shoes and comfortable light weight clothing. Some halls require non-street shoes so make sure the soles of shoes aren’t bringing grit onto the dance floor. Most people bring a bottle of drinking water. Contra dancing is joyous so it’s important that you bring a smile. Adapted from http://www.greatmeadowmusic.com/music.html

More information About Contra Dancing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_dance
http://tedcrane.com/DanceDB/DisplayDance.com/US_NY_ITH_TCCD
http://hands4dancers.org/
http://www.syracusecountrydancers.org/
http://contra.binghamtondance.org/contra_calendar.htm
http://www.thedancegypsy.com/
http://www.contradancelinks.com/

###

MapleFest2010 Presented by the Cayuga Nature Center
Annual Maple Sugaring Event Held March 27 & 28 at the Cayuga Nature Center.

ITHACA, NY (March 23) - MapleFest, the Cayuga Nature Center’s (CNC) annual maple syrup celebration will take place on Saturday, March 27 & Sunday, March 28 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Visitors will have the opportunity to see the entire process, from maple tree tapping to a working sugarhouse, to syrup tasting and pancake eating. There will also be crafts and games for children, live music, self-guided sugarbush hikes, animal programs, and more!
“This is one of our biggest events,” stated Tom Trencansky the executive director of the CNC.  ”It’s  a great way to educate and show our community how food sources, that are uniquely part of our North American culture, are harvested and brought to your dining table.  Everyone has had pancake syrup, but you really haven’t lived until you’ve had the real thing — there is nothing like fresh maple syrup!”

Making maple syrup is a great Northeastern United States tradition that began among the Native American nations of eastern North America, including the Finger Lakes region. This tradition was passed on to the settlers and made its way into the efficient systems we use today. Come out to the Cayuga Nature Center and learn about maple sugaring.

Cayuga Nature Center (CNC) was incorporated in 1981 to provide environmental education to area schools and the general public. The only residential nature center in the Finger Lakes region of New York, CNC is comprised of 120 acres on two adjacent sites (Main Property and Farm). The main property overlooks Cayuga Lake and includes foot trails that take visitors through deciduous climax forest, along gorges and streams, and close to habitats of a variety of native plants and wildlife. The historic lodge (a 1938 WPA Project) houses an exhibit hall, live reptiles and birds, and serves as CNC’s primary year round program site and residential facility for camps, programs, and group rentals. Cayuga Nature Center offers five miles of trails, open 365 days a year for walking, birding and nature interpretation. In addition to public programs and camps, local schools and researchers from Cornell University and Ithaca College regularly utilize CNC’s properties.

Music line up …

Saturday
10:00 PJ and G. Willey
11:00 Your Friends and Neighbors
12:00 Your Friends and Neighbors
1:00 Jimmy Lawler
2:00 Technicolor Trailer Park
3:00 Mutsu

Sunday
10:00 Uncle Joe and the Rosebud Ramblers
11:00 Technicolor Trailer Park
12:00 Native Earthing Band
1:00 Drew Minson
2:00 Mutsu
3:00 Judy Stock

Saturday, March 13, 8:00 PM
165 McGraw Hall, Cornell Arts Quad

By mid-March, some softly radiant perennials will be emerging from the chilly mud (or snow), and Ithaca will be similarly warmed by the singing of perennial friend Priscilla Herdman. In over 30 years of performing and recording, from her 1977 debut Water Lily to her 2008 album, Into the Stars, she has won a devoted audience. Priscilla Herdman is known for having the richest female voice on the folk circuit: sumptuous, limpid, and spell-binding. Scott Alarik of the Boston Globe calls it “…miraculously pure and effortlessly beautiful, a voice that immediately draws people in.” New York Times, Rolling Stone, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Dirty Linen critics have lauded it as “elegant, pitch-perfect,” “opulent,” “spiritually luminescent,” and “enrapturing.” Sing Out! compares her vocal quality to that of a fine mature wine that intoxicates deeply.

Priscilla Herdman puts her remarkable voice to use interpreting first-rate, wide-ranging material, from Australian outback poetry to Dr. Seuss, from traditional British and Appalachian Child ballads to gritty, funny Utah Phillips and Cheryl Wheeler, from insightful, contemporary “issue” songs to sweet lullabies and love songs, many original. She has an unerring ability to find lasting, wonderful songs and a chameleon’s skill at fitting herself to them perfectly, giving them graceful, powerful expression. She chooses “significant material from the finest writers (including herself), made even more special through her performance: … good songs sung right,” declares Sing Out! For 17 years, she joined with Anne Hills and Cindy Mangsen as The Trio; their remarkable harmonies, high spirits, and diverse material made them the most-requested performers for the Cornell Folk Song Society. In addition to her many solo and group recordings, Priscilla has made three remarkable family albums, which have received Parents Choice Classic and Gold Awards and have been named by the American Library Association as Notable Children’s Recordings.

Priscilla Herdman has excellent taste in the musical company she keeps, being joined on stage, in the studio, and in friendship over the years by the likes of Abby Newton, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Artie and Happy Traum, Guy Van Duser and Billy Novick, Scott Petito, Bill Staines, and the aforementioned Hills and Mangsen. On this current tour, she’ll be joined by a fine accompanist, Max Cohen on guitar, who appears on her two most recent recordings. It’s been nearly four years since Priscilla Herdman last graced Ithaca. Please join her, and Max Cohen, for an evening of heartfelt music: silly, sad, and passionate. You will be moved.

Tickets: $15 advance/$17 door; $3 rebates at door for CFSS members, seniors, teens; children 12 and under free. CU students $10/$12. Tickets at Ludgate Farms, Ithaca Guitar Works, GreenStar, Bound for Glory, and online <http://www.cornellfolksong.org/>. Info: website or 607-279-2027.

–Margaret Shepard

Benefit: Trumansburg Farmers Market Pavilion Project

March 13, 2010, 4–8 pm

Cayuga Nature Center, 1420 Taughannock Blvd. (Rte. 89)

Admission: $10 donation appreciated; $20/family

Free valet parking available

Contact: Deirdre Cunningham (607-387-3892, Deirdre@McLallenHouse.com); full program and listing of auction items at: www.Trumansburg-NY.gov

This event is to raise the remaining $12,000 in matching funds required for a NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets grant to the Village of Trumansburg to build two timber-framed modular pavilions (20 booths), a gazebo, and a pedestrian walkway in the Village Park. The Village and many dedicated community volunteers have pledged to match this grant with labor and equipment. This community-build will support the Trumansburg Farmers’ Market during the market season (Wednesdays, 4-7 pm, June-October) and other community events. Pavilion construction is scheduled for two weekends in mid-April (4/16 and 4/25).

March 13^th Schedule:

Join us for music, auctions, and great food. The silent auction is 4:00-7:00 pm; the live auction with Peggy Haine is 6:35-7:00 pm. Musicians generously donating their time are: Nate and Kate, the Trumansburg High School Jazz Band, the Yardvarks, and Jeb Puryear & Friends.

A sampling of auction items: Birthday party & field guide from Cayuga Nature Center; gift certificates from: Cayuga Compost, Island Health & Fitness, Black Diamond Farm, Hazelnut Kitchen, Juniper Hill B&B, Grassroots Festival 4-day passes, The Piggery, The Pourhouse; Cornell Basketball season passes; artist pieces by: Durand Van Doren, Jim Hardesty, Jack Katz, Kim Schrag, Salmon Pottery, Lowe Designs, and Hillary Gifford. Overnight accommodations at: La Tourelle/August Moon Spa, a Cayuga Lake cottage, and a La Mer Condo in Daytona Beach.

Food Preparation and donations by: High Point Farms, Ithaca Bakery, Regional Access, Trumansburg ShurSave, Simply Red Lakeside Bistro/Sheldrake Point Vineyard, and Word of Mouth Catering. Trumansburg Farmers’ Market vendors have also donated produce for the dinner.

Show your support for local farmers and craftspeople at a small, community-friendly Market! $10 for dinner, entertainment, and a good cause: what a deal!