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Shelburne Free Press https://shelburnefreepress.ca/?p=8302 Export date: Tue Jul 23 15:26:52 2024 / +0000 GMT |
There’s gonna be a barn dance! A big announcement back on the farm was often comically received with a “Hee Haw” style chorus of “there's going to be a barn dance tonight!” We were gently mocking the old tradition, which, in our parent's youth, was a treasured and highly anticipated occasion. Because barn dancing started its decline early in the 20th century and fell hard in the 1960s and 1970s, when our baby boom generation favoured the twist and disco, we simply had no idea what we were missing. These great community gatherings brought families together from miles around to enjoy excellent local musicians and young people learned the art of dancing with a partner – real dancing. People talked to each other, sharing tough times and good laughs; finding, for a few hours, an escape from the endless days of hard work. This grand old community tradition returns to Shelburne this summer. There's gonna be a barn dance and jamboree August 6th to go along with the 64th Canadian Old Time Fiddle Championship. The history of western barn dancing goes back centuries to the courtly dances held by the nobility in the lavish ballrooms of Europe. In England and Scotland, peasants used the floor space in barns to imitate the dancing of their wealthy landowners. Barn dances celebrated, not only the raising of a new barn, but special family occasions, such as a wedding, when the whole town would be invited to the event. Peasants migrating to the New World brought the dances with them, but their dances tended to be a much rowdier version as these poor peasants rarely knew all the right steps. This is how the position of the “caller” came about in square dancing. The caller brought large numbers of dancers together with predetermined steps to create a structured dance. The Shelburne Rotary Club is organizing the barn dance, with help from volunteers like Greg and Heather Holmes, who say the event is formatted as an “open mic jamboree.” All country musicians are welcome to sign up for a performance spot on arrival at the barn dance. Each person will be asked to do two songs, unless there are a large number of performers, and then it may be cut back to one song each. “The back-up band will be prepared to entertain all night,” the Holmes' assure us, “so there will always be dance music playing throughout the evening. Response at this point tells us we will have vocals, fiddling, guitar playing, square dancing and other old time music.” The organizers are hoping for a CKNX Radio announcer to emcee for the evening; a tip of the hat to CKNX's popular radio show “Barn Dance” started by Wingham Ontario's Doc Cruickshank who founded CKNX in the 1920's. “Barn Dance” came on the air in 1937, and went on to be one of the longest running radio shows of its kind in Canadian broadcasting history. The return of the barn dance is proving to be a popular idea in the area, and those who enjoy the event in Shelburne will have another opportunity to attend a Barn dance (and a pie auction) at the Dufferin County Museum on Sept. 20th. This old time fiddle, family event will not be held in a barn, but the ice surface of the Shelburne Arena will provide lots of dancing room. The old fiddle stage backdrop will be set-up ready for the photographs. Light refreshments are available for purchase. Admission is $5 per person (kids under 12 free) tickets are available at the door of the Centre Dufferin Recreation Centre on Wednesday, August 6th, 7 – 10 p.m. Everyone is welcome. By Marni Walsh |
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Post date: 2014-07-02 15:47:18 Post date GMT: 2014-07-02 19:47:18 Post modified date: 2014-07-10 08:20:56 Post modified date GMT: 2014-07-10 12:20:56 |
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