The Bay Area Country Dance Society Website

This page is: www.bacds.org

COVID Safety Info

COVID safety policy is evolving. Details might change minute-by-minute.

As of June 1, 2023 BACDS COVID policy no longer requires up-to-date vaccination. Masks are still required while dancing, with N95-equivalent recommended. Masks are optional for callers and musicians. For details check the COVID Safety Guidelines page.

Today's Dance:

Tuesday, 6 June, 2023: ENGLISH at All Saints Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Lise Dyckman with Patti Cobb, Robin Lockner, Ben Jackson More Info

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, 6 June, 2023: ENGLISH at All Saints Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Lise Dyckman with Patti Cobb, Robin Lockner, Ben Jackson More Info

Thursday, 8 June, 2023: ENGLISH at Christ Church Berkeley in Berkeley. Ric Goldman (Portland, OR) with Anne Goess, Craig Johnson, David Mostardi - English dancing for all - newcomer lesson at 7:15; dance 7:45-10:00 More Info

Friday, 9 June, 2023: REGENCY/ENGLISH at St. Mark's Church in Palo Alto. Louise Siddons with Divertimento: James Langdell - Accessible English country dances not limited to Jane Austen's lifetime, called without gender reference More Info

Saturday, 10 June, 2023: Berkeley Morris (MORRIS) - S.F. Embarcadero Tour: We will be performing around the Ferry Building in multiple sets during the afternoon. More Info

Saturday, 10 June, 2023: ENGLISH at St. John's Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. Louise Siddons with Craig Johnson, Richard Page, Linda Game More Info

Sunday, 11 June, 2023: ENGLISH at First Unitarian Church of San Jose in San Jose. Cin Barnes with William Allen, Paul Kostka - dance 2:30-5:00 More Info

Sunday, 11 June - Sunday, 18 June, 2023: Hey Days ( ENGLISH/CAMP ) at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park. - Brooke Friendly, Louise Siddons, Dave Macemon, more with Anna Patton, Betsy Branch, Dave Wiesler, Roguery (Shira Kammen, Jim Oakden, Dave Bartley, Anita Anderson) Sound engineer Brian Lindsay -- Hey Days (BACDS English Dance and Music Week), a residential camp in the North Bay with English Country Dance, display dance (Dartmoor Step Dance, rapper sword), singing, a music track, and more, put together by program director Bridget Whitehead. Advance registration required, postmark lottery deadline February 1. Camp is June 11 - 18 More Info

Thursday, 15 June, 2023: CONTRA at Christ Church Berkeley in Berkeley. Tanya Merchant with Green Gates: Jon Berger, Roxanne Oliva, Todd Silverstein More Info

Sunday, 18 June, 2023: Santa Cruz Day of Dance with Mrs. Prunely's Pride, and Seabright Morris (MORRIS/BORDER/MOLLY) - Multi-team morris performance beginning at noon in the Mission Santa Cruz Courtyard (including a land acknowledgement and collaborative performance with a local indigenous group). Then tour on Pacific Ave.

Tuesday, 20 June, 2023: ENGLISH at All Saints Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Bruce Hamilton with Bill Jensen, Renata Bratt, Valerie Rose More Info

Wednesday, 21 June, 2023: Berkeley Morris, Deer Creek Morris, and Goat Hill Morris (MORRIS) - Performing at Land's End in San Francisco as the sun sets for the Summer Solstice. More Info

Thursday, 22 June, 2023: ENGLISH at Christ Church Berkeley in Berkeley. Kalia Kliban with Anne Goess, Charlie Hancock, Michelle Masek - English dancing for all - newcomer lesson at 7:15; dance 7:45-10:00 More Info

Saturday, 24 June, 2023: CONTRA at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Susan Petrick with Persons In Black: Clark Smith, Sue Jones, David Wright More Info

Saturday, 24 June, 2023: ENGLISH at Christ Church Berkeley in Berkeley. Lise Dyckman with Bill Jensen, Ben Jackson, Valerie Rose More Info

Upcoming Special Events

Sunday, 11 June - Sunday, 18 June, 2023: Hey Days ( ENGLISH/CAMP ) at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park. - Brooke Friendly, Louise Siddons, Dave Macemon, more with Anna Patton, Betsy Branch, Dave Wiesler, Roguery (Shira Kammen, Jim Oakden, Dave Bartley, Anita Anderson) Sound engineer Brian Lindsay -- Hey Days (BACDS English Dance and Music Week), a residential camp in the North Bay with English Country Dance, display dance (Dartmoor Step Dance, rapper sword), singing, a music track, and more, put together by program director Bridget Whitehead. Advance registration required, postmark lottery deadline February 1. Camp is June 11 - 18 More Info

Sunday, 25 June - Saturday, 1 July, 2023: BACDS Family Week ( SPECIAL ) at Monte Toyon Camp in Aptos. - A weeklong camp held in the redwoods 12 miles east of Santa Cruz. A camp for families of all ages and sizes—contra, English, Québécois, and family dance classes, as well as lots of music (tutorials and performance!), singing, crafts, stilting, and games. It’s our 30th year of camp! Staff this year: Yaelle Azoulay (French Canadian dance); Kelsey Hartman (contradance, teen dance, improv); Sharon Green (English country dance); Kalia Kliban (“mischief”); Julie James (emcee); Rhonda Cayford (rapper sword, programmer); Kelly Graham (kids’ dance, improv); Anne Goess (fiddle, singing); Nicolas Babineau (fiddle, guitar); M’Gilvry Allen (fiddle, teen tunes); Erik Hoffman (callers’ workshop); David Brown (fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, concertina); David James (fiddle, guitar, mandolin); Jeffrey Spero (keyboards); Craig Johnson (accordion, piano); Lorraine Kostka (handcrafts); Emily Janssen (handcrafts); Bethany Ewers (Waldorf-inspired preschool, storyteller); Andy Wilson (stilting); Courtney Tolhurst (preschool and stilting); Stan Fowler (ropes course); Nick Cuccia (sound). Registration opens March 20! More Info

Join in the fun!

The Bay Area Country Dance Society promotes, preserves, and teaches traditional English and American music and dance in the San Francisco Bay area.

BACDS welcomes people without regard for age, race, color, national origin, religion, gender expression, or sexual orientation.

BACDS is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Your tax-deductible donation will help us perform our mission. Thank you!

Calendars for Current and Past and Future Months / Acrobat Printable Calendars / Flyers from current mailing / About BACDS / Code of Conduct / COVID Safety Guidelines

Want a customized listing of dances at a given location or featuring a particular style, caller, band, or musician? Want to see all scheduled events? Use our convenient dancefinder tool!

About BACDS

The Bay Area Country Dance Society has been promoting, preserving, and teaching traditional English and American music and dance since the early 1980s. Our activities include:

  • Week-long and weekend music and dance camps in lovely SF Peninsula, Sierra foothill, North Bay Wine Country, and Santa Cruz locations.
  • Dance series featuring lively community dances and wonderful live music.
  • Occasional and seasonal special events, ranging from formal balls to workshops for dancers, musicians, dance leaders, and sound technicians.
  • Performance teams that bring lively and raucous English folk traditions to the streets, classrooms, farmers' markets, and festivals.

BACDS's activities are made possible through the efforts and contributions of our members. Please join us!

Newcomers are welcome! Follow this link to learn more about our dances, or this link to find out what to expect at your first BACDS dance evening. We welcome first-timers at all our regular series dances except the Berkeley 4th Saturday experienced English (which is open to all on Thanksgiving and Christmas weekends).

Sign up for Electronic Flyers and help save paper! Check out the current electronic mailing for links to flyers, website pages, and Facebook groups.

Want to get the latest news on BACDS events, performer changes, or hall updates? Join the bacds-announce email list.

Looking for folks to carpool to dances or events with? Interested in discussing BACDS activities with fellow dancers and musicians? Join the bacds-discuss email list.

Looking for community social dance, BACDS or not, contra/English or not? Join the ba-community-dance email list.

Looking for where your favorite morris team is dancing in the near future? Join the ba-ritual-dance email list.

The next Board meeting is scheduled on Zoom for Monday, June 26, 2023, starting promptly at 5:00pm.

Board meetings are all held online, generally fourth Monday of the month from 5:00-7:00pm (but occasionally a different day/time depending on availability). Meetings are only scheduled at the previous meeting (when people's calendars are more filled in and it's possible to determine whether there'll be quorum) so we can't publish a full calendar, but the next scheduled date will generally appear right here.

Most of the board activity is in effectively enabling volunteers to run things (dances, camps), centralizing some policy decisions, and stewardship of organizational resources. Board meetings appoint people to positions, approve budgets and so on. For example, it needed a whole organizational overview and multiple policy and procedural changes to effectively implement electronic payments for regular dances. Most decisions about how dance series or dance camps are run and most responses to emergencies belong to the volunteers running the event.

Board elections for one-year terms are held at the May meeting; if you're interested please write to
bacds-president at bacds.org or
bacds-boardchair at bacds.org

BACDS community members may request an invitation to attend any given meeting, especially if you have business for the board, for which you should request an agenda spot as well as an invitation. If the board needs to go into executive session you may have to leave the meeting. To request an agenda spot and invitation, write to bacds-boardchair at bacds.org

If you must send us some spam, please send it here.

If you must send us some spam, please send it here.