Put aside your lobster and dance!

My first contradance at Bates was at the Freshman Lobster Bake a few years ago, on one of my very first college evenings.  Freshman orientation tends to be a little tense; it’s not easy to feel totally comfortable right away after having been thrown overboard into an ocean of new people, left alone to swim aimlessly, searching for a few folks to call friends. I remember arriving at the lobster bake with some of my new housemates, nervously finding a spot on the grass before getting into the giant line to wait for our lobster dinners.

The band was just getting set up on stage, and soon enough, New England-style folk music was being played by a fiddler, a guitarist, and a keyboardist. Before college, I had played the violin for several years, and was keen on learning the fiddle once I got to Maine, so the live music was a welcome surprise. Close to the stage, two upperclassmen were dancing in a way that could have been ballroom-style had it not looked so free and fun. The two were constantly smiling and laughing as they danced, but my freshman class as a whole seemed to be much too self-conscious to join them on the grassy clearing that was the dance floor. (Side note from the future: the fiddler playing, Greg Boardman, would soon become my fiddle teacher, and the two dancers, Blaise and Kate, became two of my closest friends at Bates!)

The music quieted down and a woman with a microphone welcomed everyone and told us that the contradance was starting. As she spoke, a few brave souls ventured down to the grass where the two older students had been dancing. Soon, there were about 30 people from my class, including myself, on the floor, listening to the woman call out a series of dance steps. The steps were not difficult by any stretch of the imagination; most involved walking around in a circle and taking hands with the person next to you, occasionally stopping to “swing” with your partner. The music started up again, and on we danced!

A contradance at the Bates Community Folk Festival, held last winter in Chase Hall. (Photo: Kate Webber)

That night, my fate as a contradancer was sealed. I proceeded to dive head-first (I’m sorry for all of these water-themed metaphors. I swear I’m not doing it on purpose) into the folk scene at Bates and in Maine. I joined Freewill Folk Society, Northfield, and Chase the Fiddlers, all in one week.

Chase the Fiddlers, performing at the Bates Community Folk Festival! (Photo: Kate Webber)

I’m grateful that there is such a presence of folk musicians and dancers in Maine; it’s continued to be one of the things I like best about New England!

Youth Dance Weekend in Vermont (Photo: Kate Webber)