Great mix of dances at the International Dance Festival

Over 85 people came to Herman Sons Hall in Petaluma for the International Folk Dance Festival for New Dancers on October 19! Dances were taught by Marilyn Smith, Carol Friedman, Elsa Bacher, Kristalli Papadpoulos, Vince Taylor and Emma Charlebois, Nadav Nur, Susie Shof, Jill Breslauer, and Leanne Schy.

Here's Marilyn Smith teaching Ordu, a Pontic dance from Turkey:

Nadav Nur taught Odeno Oro from Macedonia, with help from Susie Shoaf:

Here I am, teaching the Urban Soul line dance Cupid Shuffle:

And mark your calendars now for our next special event: our Annual Petaluma Holiday Party with live music by Gradina on Monday, December 8, 7-9:30 p.m.

Coming up this month in Petaluma: three dances from Rumania:

• Gary Anderson will teaching Arcanul Batrinesc, an "old men's" dance from Moldova to a wistful song recalling the days when these men could still dance the fast Arcanul, that was presented by Eric Bendix at the 2006 Stockton Folk Dance Camp
• I'll be teaching Joc Batrinesc, another "old men's" dance from the village of Nicultiel near the Black Sea, as well Moldovian Hora which is a simple classic 3-part hora.

We'll continue to review and dance these three from Albania:

• Gorarce, a fun and athletic men's dance in 3/4 rhythm that was introduced by Eric Bendix
• Populli Jon, a lovely lyrical 3-part women's dance from southern Albania
• Valle Jardana, a popular 2-part Albanian wedding dance in 2/4 rhythm

And three more from Macedonia:

• Changulovo, one of my favorites that I learned from Michael Ginsberg at Balkan Camp
• Dolgoto Oro, in QQSQS (16/18) rhythm originally taught by Pece Atanovski
• Skudrinka, my latest favorite, a lively wild variation of Skudrinka that gets faster and faster

Good things come in threes! Hope to see you all on Monday nights in October (7-9:15 p.m. at Herman Sons Hall, 860 Western Avenue, Petaluma; drop-in fee $7 - beginners, newcomers, experienced dancers all welcome).