Happy Pride Month, day 5, folk dancing

[sonia]

5. I am proud of my knowledge and skill at Balkan folk dancing. This is less complicated than feeling proud of singing. I was lucky to be introduced to folk dancing as a child, both in terms of acquiring skills young, and in terms of it being a life-saving anchor to community. Since then I've joyfully put in the hours of practice and hours of volunteer service running groups and festivals, and I am proud of all of that. I'm proud of teaching others and bringing them into the community and showing them how to lead.

Here I am summoned to lead Bulgarian dance Bičak at the 2024 Hoolyeh Reunion and Friends party in Corvallis. This one is leader-called, which means not only remembering all the steps and doing them in rhythm, but listening to the music and deciding when to switch to the next one.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[silveradept]

Looks like a solid leader call there. Did the participants have to learn the step patterns beforehand?

[sonia]

It was a reunion party for people who danced together in high school 50 years ago (and friends, like me), but there wasn't an entry requirement to already know the dances. Many of the people already know the steps, or at least have done the dance before so that they can follow it better than if they had never seen it. And it helps to be familiar with the building blocks of steps that show up in these dances. You can see people following behind the line if they don't already know it.