Karen Sandler

Category: Unusual Hobbies

  • Dance Camp – Last Thoughts & Talent Show

    For some reason, the first few days of dance camp seem to go by more slowly, maybe because there are so many days ahead, it seems to be wonderfully endless. We’ll just keep dancing and dancing, learning new steps and styles, twirling and spinning, grapevining and circling with our friends, old and new-found.

    Then with an unexpected suddenness comes Saturday and we’re near the end. We’ve learned twenty or thirty or even forty new dances, and are charged with taking those pieces of culture back to our “villages,” our own dance groups back home.

    Imagine a time when folk dancing was an everyday experience, when this village or that would have a certain special dance, or several that were passed down from parents to children. They might do the same dance as in another village, but with a twist–two turns instead of one, a grapevine that starts with a forward cross instead of backward. They might travel to another village and bring with them those variations or even entirely new dances. Their unique twist on an integral part of their lives–dancing–would be shared beyond their small world, from one village to the next, down the generations.

    I like to think that those who attend dance camp–this one in Stockton and other camps and workshops around the world–have an opportunity to send out into the world new ways of thinking about things (and not just dance) in the same way that a villager from the past shared with others and thereby shared their culture. As I said in a previous post, if we’d only dance together, we wouldn’t have time to argue, we wouldn’t have time to fight. We’d just dance.

    Here is a video and a few photos from this afternoon’s talent show:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVFSjC_68vI]

  • Dance Camp – Once-a-Year Friends

    Stockton CA, where Folk Dance Camp takes place, is fairly close to where I live (about an hour-and-a-half drive). That means that many of my local dance community also attend. It’s nice to see at camp the familiar faces of those I dance with on a regular basis. But even more special are the friendships I renew with those who I see only for a week, once a year at camp.

    There are several in particular I feel a special connection to. First, there’s Tony. My first year at camp, my husband couldn’t attend. That left me without a ready partner for the couples dance classes.

    Not only did Tony pair up with me in several classes, he’s such a great dancer that he pulled my fumbling feet through many a tricky step. His wife, Lynn, is a delight too and it’s great to see her at the Saturday party each year.

    Next is Valerie, who started attending Folk Dance Camp the same year as me. She would sometimes partner with me, taking the man’s part so I could learn the ladies part.

    She was such a friendly face for me that first time and it’s really great to see her, if only once a year.

     

     

    Karen (left) and Nila (right) are two more lovely ladies who I renew friendships with each year at Stockton. My connection with Karen is pretty obvious (same first names). But she’s also such a friendly, happy & generous person (obviously a trait of all Karens).

    I haven’t known Nila as long, but she is a love. She’s Thai, but lives in Japan. Since my son lives in Osaka, whenever I see Nila I feel a little bit of a connection to him.

    Last, but certainly not least, are Randi & Murray from New Jersey. First of all they’re great dancers and love folk dance. Second, they’re glad to share their joy of dance. Since they teach folk dance in New Jersey, they can offer tips and assistance when I’m having trouble with a step. Third, they’re hysterically funny. The skit/song they regularly perform at the Saturday night talent show is not to be missed.

    It can be sad saying goodbye to all these folks I only see once a year, but I’m grateful to know them. And if I’m ever in Japan, or New Jersey or Spokane, WA, I know I’ll always have someone to dance with.

  • Dance Camp Traditions

    Yeah, dance camp is about dancing. Like yesterday’s dances–a smoking hot Israeli dance I barely kept up with (Orot Ve Ashan), or the cool Bulgarian during the afternoon workshop or the tricky English Country dance, Chocolate for Breakfast. The delightful Canon Polska Schottische and the challenging Vira Cruzada. Plus the always frantic fun squares.

    But Stockton Folk Dance Camp also has its traditions. The picture day on Tuesday night where we all shared our finest costumes. The Wednesday night live auction, which always includes a chocolate Kahlua cake that this year went for something like $175. Our squares caller, Jerry Helt, runs the auction with his trademark patter.

    Then there’s Hat Night on Thursday. We all don our most beautiful, most outlandish, craziest and just plain ugly headwear and proudly dance around the room showing them off. What a great opportunity for a bunch of adults to just plain get silly.

    Here are a few of my favorites:

  • Dance Camp International

    One of the coolest things about international folk dancing is that it’s, well, international. Not only are the dances from all over the world, but the dancers themselves, both the instructors and the campers, are from all over.

    The picture at left depicts people who came here from outside the US to dance this year. Countries represented are Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Italy, Japan, China and Canada. In other years, we’ve had Taiwanese instructors teaching fabulous Taiwanese dances. One of our favorite instructors lives in Canada, is originally from Romania and teaches wonderful Roma dances. We’ve had Dutch instructors teaching Russian dance, a Japanese instructor teaching Macedonian and one year one of our workshop instructors taught some Indian (Punjabi) and African dances.

    And I have to tell you, folk dance people are the nicest people in the world. I don’t know if the dancing attracts nice people or if all the endorphins make people feel so good they can’t help but be nice. They’re just so much fun to be around.

    I also love the fact that folk dance pulls young people in and they often become lifelong folk dancers. It’s so much fun to see their energy on the dance floor, but it’s also very cool that they interact so easily with a wide range of ages. The young men ask older women to dance, the young women gladly step out on the floor with older men because they love dance so much and wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity.

    Here’s a photo of my daughter-in-law enjoying a line dance with my baby granddaughter. This is my granddaughter’s first dance camp and I hope there will be many more. There’s a precedent she can follow. In the photo above, the young man in the red shirt has attended camp every year since before he was born 🙂 . He’s a fantastic dancer and one of the nicest guys you could ever meet.

    I think if everyone started folk dancing, we’d have much less trouble in the world. Dance allows us to learn about each other’s cultures, to interact with each other, to see “the other” as someone very much like ourselves. We should make dance, not war.

  • Dance Camp – Costumes!

     

    The general schedule of classes here is four sessions in the morning from 8am to about 12:30, then lunch, then cultural assembly and workshops from 1:30pm-5pm, then time for dinner (or naps if you haven’t gotten one earlier). Some nights after dinner there are lawn parties with dancing and special activities, then one more class from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. Old Favorites with the live band starts at 8:45pm, then OOL (Once Over Lightly) where we review everything we thought we learned for the day but probably forgot.

    Tuesday has a particularly fun lawn party. It’s Picture Day, so everyone dresses in their most fabulous costumes and everyone takes everyone else’s picture. There’s also an official photographer who takes photos of the various groups. Campers from other countries, campers from back East, campers from Southern California & Northern California. Pictures of the staff/instructors, campers who got scholarships, pictures of the band. The photographer has to stand on a 15-foot ladder to get everyone into the image.

    So I took pictures left and right. Here they are.