11:01 am Seventh contra dance season starts with shoe drive
The Historic Jonesborough Dance Society will kick off the 2012 contra dance season on Saturday, Jan. 7, with a dance and a shoe drive for Soles4Souls.
Photo Contributed - The first Jonesborough contra dance in 2012 will feature a shoe drive.
The event will be held at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center at 7 p.m. featuring the Asheville band Hot Sonata. Calling the dance will be the ever popular Diane Silver. Admission is $7 for the general public and $5 for HJDS members and full-time students. A class for newcomer contra dancers will run from 7 to 7:30 p.m. The dance will go from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. with a Klondike Bar break at 9 p.m. Slides from a recent Soles4Soles trip to Africa will be shown during the break.
Soles4Soles is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people from all over the country. The charity distributes these shoes to people in need, regardless of race, religion, class or any other criteria all over the world. They will accept any shoe in any condition, including adult and child shoes.
“As dancers, we depend on our shoes to enjoy dancing and other activities,” said event organizer David Wiley. “We take so much for granted here in our country when many people throughout the world go without shoes. We are asking people in the community to clean out the closet and bring us shoes that you don’t wear or can no longer wear.”
Soles4Soles will get the shoes to people who need them.
“Our goal is to collect 2,012 pairs of shoes during the month of January,” Wiley said. Donations can be brought to contra dances on Jan. 7 and Jan. 21.
“Contra dance is a way for all citizens of the area to rededicate themselves to New Year’s higher ideas and ideals for diet and exercise changes,” Wiley said. “We know from the experts that most people start the year with ambitious goals for weight loss, smoking cessation or other behavioral changes during the first ten days of the New Year.
“The problem is that many of these commitments fade away in the short term,” he continued. “Our contra dance program, even though it is held only twice per month can jump start anyone toward their goals. We had 30 dances again 2011. In and of itself, 30 dances won’t make or break anyone’s fitness program, but for many, it made a difference. We have built the foundation for our own dance community in addition to starting a monthly family dance series.”
Hot Sonata unites three friends who have played for contra dances in the area for many years. The band consists Karen Gaughan on piano, Art Shuster on mandolin and Laura Lengnick on fiddle.
Caller Diane Silver has played a big part in the reintroduction of contra dance to this area. She participated in the very first workshops that were held in late 2005 before HJDS offered its first open dance on Jan. 6, 2006. During the past six years HJDS has had the pleasure of having Silver call and teach many times to the delight of all who attended. She has called the Jonesborough Days “Day of Dance,” participated in Contrathons and some of other advanced dances. She has been a die-hard contra dancer, swing dancer and kitchen-flat footer for over ten years. With a penchant for hot modern contras and a few active squares, she loves sharing high energy dancing that allows everyone to “play” with the band. Highly acclaimed for her clear, efficient teaching and calling, creative medleys, great positive energy and spirit of community building, Silver provides a sizzling evening of dance in a friendly, welcoming tone.
“We have already scheduled another year of great contra dance bands and callers,” Wiley noted.
For more information on Saturday’s dance or any upcoming events, call Wiley at 534-8879 or visit www.historicjonesboroughdancesociety.org. or Historic Jonesborough Dance Society on Facebook.
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