Brooklyn Contra Harvest Ball & Advanced Dance

Join Brooklyn Contra to celebrate fall with back-to-back dances, featuring the calling of Julian Blechner and music from Kingfisher! We’ll be starting with Challenging Contras from 3:30-6:30, then returning after dinner break for a relaxing all-levels dance from 8-11pm (7:30 lesson). Meet us at Logan’s Run for afters, including food, drinks, great camaraderie, and casual blues dancing.

Julian Blechner is a seasoned contra and set dance caller based in Western Massachusetts. Since 2011, he’s called dances of all sized, from big festival and camp stages, to dances of all sizes from Maine to the Mid-Atlantic. He has called for many years at the New England Folk Festival, was a headliner at Flurry Festival 2018, Old Songs Festival 2019, and performed at other dance festivals, special events, and weekends. He brings a cheerful, friendly attitude with clear, concise teaching and prompting. Julian has written dozens of dances, and combines this expertise with his love of dancing to provide a joyful flair to dances!

Kingfisher, the eclectic duo of Cecilia Vacanti and Jeff Kaufman, plays both traditional and modern contra dance music, and has been hailed as one of the most versatile up-and-coming dance bands on the road today. Already a mainstay in the Greater Boston area, they’ve performed to large, enthusiastic crowds on the West Coast, Eastern Seaboard, and throughout the Northeast. Jeff Kaufman, a multi-instrumentalist, anchors the duo from the piano, as well as mandolin and a number of innovative electronic instruments he created himself, providing the duo with bass and drum grooves — all of which gives Cecilia Vacanti opportunity to wow you with intense fiddling renditions of tunes across the spectrum, surprising even the most seasoned listener with a genre-bending playlist that is absolutely breathtaking.

“The first time I heard Kingfisher I couldn’t see the stage at first. I was blown away when I got to the front of the room-expecting a 4 or 5 piece band, only to find out that sound-that BIG sound-was coming from just two, albeit two very talented musicians” -J.C, Fulton, NY.

From the moment they hit the first note to the fade of the last chord, you’ll be mesmerized for the entire show!

Cost of entry:
Free for Sustainer and Sponsor members, $9 for Supporter members and students, $15 for non-members, $25 for both dances