Special Events and Projects

In addition to our dance series and camps, BACDS and its performance teams have a number of special events. These range from formal and costume balls to sunrise dances to appearances in a neighborhood near you.

Playford Ball / May Day / Morris Season / Halloween Ball / Fall Ball / No Snow Ball / New Year's Eve Eve English Dance / New Year's Eve at the Palo Alto Contra / Swinging On The Gate / Waltzes Before Breakfast

You can also see what you missed from our past events.

Playford Ball

BACDS's Playford Ball, started in 1980 by Brad Foster, is one of BACDS's earliest and most popular activities. While some communities have Playford Balls that limit themselves exclusively to dances that were published in John Playford and his descendents between 1650 and the late 1700s, ours covers dances written from 1650 to today. Starting in 2010, the Ball will be held at the historic San Jose Women's Club building. The Playford Ball takes place in late March or early April.

The Playford Ball, as well as the rehearsal dance the evening beforehand (starting in 2010, held at the Hill and Valley Club in Hayward)) and additional practice dances in the east bay, Peninsula, and Sierra Foothills, are organized by a large committee that devotes a great deal of effort to making the Ball a splendid event. As a result, Ball attendees are treated to marvelous decorations, excellent food, and exquisite music. Very little dance instruction is required at the Ball, in large part because the Ball program and dance directions are distributed to west coast callers the November prior to the Ball.

Formal or festive attire is encouraged among ball attendees, with many attendees choosing to wear period costume (although hoops and panniers are discouraged due to space considerations) or outfits relating to the year's theme. Attendance has been between 100-150 for the past several years; sizable contingents from southern California and the Pacific northwest, as well as attendees from New York, Boston, and Alaska, have been in regular attendance.

May Day

From time immemorial (which is to say, since the Oxford University Morris Men first joined an existing college-sponsored May Day dawn festivity during the 1920s), morris dancers have danced up the sun on the first of May. Some say they do it because it wouldn't come up otherwise.

BACDS teams have been dancing the sun up in Berkeley since 1978, Palo Alto since 1985, Santa Cruz since 1991, and San Francisco since the late 1990s. In each of these locations, the event has become a local tradition attracting several hundred non-dancing attendees.

Morris Season

The different types of English display dance have their own distinctive seasons in their native habitat. Cotswold morris teams, with their sticks, hankies, and high leaps, are most visible between late April and late June. Northwest morris, featuring large groups, clogs, and processional dances, are traditionally found in autumn. Wintertime traditions include the precision of longsword and rapper teams; rag coats, sticks, and screaming of border teams, and Molly dancing's drag outfits and parodies of English country dance. While many BACDS teams perform these transplanted traditions year-round, performances tend to be more prevalent during the traditional seasons.

Halloween Ball

Held on the last Saturday in October, the Halloween contra is a special edition of the Palo Alto contradance, with calling by Special Ghosts. Door and costume prizes add to the festivity; costumes display the amazing creativity of the dance community.

2011 marks the 31^st annual Hallowe'en Costume Ball, featuring callers Susan Petrick, Robin Steen, and Special Ghosts, with music by The Retrospectacles [from Washington state] 8:00pm–midnight with a delightfully scary evening of contra dances, waltzes, and other couple dances.

Fall Ball

Started in 1995 as a less-formal complement to the Playford Ball, the Fall Ball is an English country dance ball with a workshop during the afternoon of the event. The program has usually had a theme, featuring (for example) a preponderance of dances by Pat Shaw, Gary Roodman, or bay area choreographers, or showing the influence of Playford in the New World.

Callers have included David Newitt, Alisa Dodson, Bob Fraley, Lise Dyckman, Jenny Beer, James Hutson, Jody McGeen, Bruce Hamilton, Sharon Green, Robin Hayden, Gary Roodman, Kalia Kliban, Brooke Friendly, and Ric Goldman. The event usually occurs on the third Saturday in November.

For 2011 we are especially pleased to have Nicolas Broadbridge as our caller. Nicolas will also be touring throughout the Bay Area with many events and workshops before and after the Ball.

No-Snow Ball

Some east coast communities have Snow Balls, festive contra balls and cotillions that take place in the midst of snowy winter. The No-Snow Ball, so-named because of the dearth of the white powder in coastal northern California, is a holiday contradance party (modeled after the Concord, MA, Christmas Cotillion) that takes place the first weekend in December, at Oakland's Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension, 4700 Lincoln Avenue (next to the Mormon Temple, off Highway 13).

Festive dress is encouraged for the event, which in 2011 is on Saturday December 3 and runs 7:30-11:30 pm, with delicious potluck fare awaiting the dancers at break. There's a newcomer's lesson at 7:00 pm. Callers this year will be Charlie Fenton, Erik Hoffman, & Susan Petrick. Music by Ratnip (Caroline McCaskey, Cole Ingraham, Howard Booster, Alan Snyder).

Admission is $25 for non-members, $22 for members, $20 for students, Ages 5 and under FREE. A limited number of work exchange discounts are available in the areas of (decorations, food preparation, setup, cleanup, etc.); email nosnowball@bacds.org for information. Please bring a potluck contribution to share; "special diets" items are especially welcome!

DIRECTIONS (or see our Yahoo Map Link)

From 580 Freeway in Oakland, take Fruitvale Ave exit Northbound. Turn right onto MacArthur, left onto Lincoln. Cathedral is on the right about 1 mile up Lincoln.

From 13 Freeway in Oakland, take Joaquin Miller / Lincoln Ave exit, take Lincoln down the hill. Cathedral is on the left just past the Mormon Temple.

The Cathedral has a parking garage.

New Year's Eve English Dance

This all started with the turn of the Millenium. December 31, 1999 was a fifth Friday, and a regularly-scheduled Palo Alto English dance. So, we had a New Years' Eve dance to welcome in the year 2000. We liked it so much that we keep doing it a again, and again! This is a low-key holiday party. Lots of dancing, great music, potluck food, and good friends.

NOTE: No New Year's Eve for 2011! Instead we're going to celebrate New Year's Eve Eve (December 30th) at our 5th Friday regular dance. New Year's Eve is on Saturday night, so this year check out the special Contra dance events.

New Year's Eve at the Palo Alto Contra

Finish out the year with good cheer and good dancing at the Palo Alto Contra, with calling by Tina Fields (just back from Colorado) to the music of Star Thistle (Cheryl McKinney, Dave Kistler, Lonna Whipple, David Wright. Join us at our special location: the Masonic Temple, 461 Florence St, Palo Alto. The fun starts at 8p and keeps on going until 12:15a, 2012! Price is $20 ($16 for members, $10 for youth).

Please bring a potluck contribution to supplement the provided refreshments

More information on our flyer, the Palo Alto Contra web page or our Facebook group

Happy New Year!

Swinging On The Gate

Swinging On The Gate, BACDS's first recording, features tracks by fourteen of the bay area's finest dance bands. Made with the generous assistance of the Country Dance and Song Society's May Gadd/Phil Merrill Endowment Fund, many of the tracks are typical of what you would hear at bay area contra dances, with a few English country tunes mixed in. Performers on the CD include the Hillbillies From Mars, Shira Kammen & Jim Oakden, The Contrabandits, Stump Tail Dog, and Tipsy House.

The CD is available for fifteen dollars from many of the musicians on the recording, as well as at most BACDS dances, or online.

Waltzes Before Breakfast

Musician and composer George Paul has established a wonderful tradition at the BACDS American Week Dance & Music Camp. For the past few years George, along with various camper musicians, has enchanted early risers by playing waltz tunes, mostly his own compositions, for the dancing and listening enjoyment of those waiting for breakfast to be served. Traditional old-time music has Whiskey Before Breakfast; we have Waltzes Before Breakfast.

In 2011, American Week moved to a new location in La Honda, where the dining hall is also our main dance floor. This meant that George, joined by staff and camper musicians, could continue to play right through breakfast, much to our pleasure and delight!

On the last two mornings of camp in July 2011, Marty Brenneis recorded the early morning waltz music. No special setup, no studio silence, no meticulous rehearsals, no retakes. This recording captures the magic of the moment, complete with the sounds and ambience of the camp dining hall before and during breakfast. Join us as we float spell-bound, enraptured by the beautiful waltz tunes composed by George and Laura, and played with haunting beauty by musicians who dance with their fingers as well as their feet.

This CD has three purposes: to capture and disseminate several new waltz tunes never recorded before; to provide AmWeek campers with a memory they can share with family and friends; and to help raise money for the camper scholarship fund.