CDSS News
CDSS News Issues
The CDSS News is published quarterly, with one issue per year only online. Below are articles and other material from the most recent issues. We hope you find it informative, thought-provoking, and entertaining. Please contact us if you have comments or questions.
To submit letters, articles, dances, tunes and songs for possible publication, send to news@cdss.org. Information about advertising is here. To receive the CDSS News in print as a benefit of CDSS membership, join here.
All material in the CDSS News is copyrighted by CDSS, the individual author or the original publication and may not be reproduced—other than for personal use—without permission. Views expressed represent those of the authors and not necessarily of CDSS.
CDSS News Fall 2013 Issue
CDSS News Fall 2013 Issue
Masthead
Letters and Announcements
Columns
Balance and Sing (Store Update)- Yoga for Dancers - Listen to Your Knees by Anna Rain
Article also references Yoga for Dancers: Next Level of Knee Care (Summer 2013) and Yoga for Dancers: Cranky Knees and Long Quads (Spring 2013)
- CDSS Sings — See, See, the Cape's in View by Natty Smith (with tune)
Articles
Web Extras:
Text: Dance Your Way Through History (Glen’s course description)
Photos: Glen and Judi through the years
Videos:
From Glen: “This video is one is of Just Friends (Lori Cleland, Judi Morningstar, Rosemary Kornacki and Cecelia Webster), performing Judi's ‘Michigan Snow Shanty’ at a concert on December 11, 1993. (Judi is singing lead.) The titles and credits in the video give the whole story.”
From Glen: “This video segment goes with the Ruffwater photo in the article.”
From Glen: “It's the October 28, 2012 special dance at Lovett Hall in The Henry Ford, Dearborn, for the 75th Anniversary of the dedication of this remarkable dance hall. Henry and Clara were there when it was dedicated on October 26, 1937, along with their son Edsel and his wife Eleanor. Edsel did the formal dedication of the Education Building, and announced that the magnificent dance hall on the second floor would be called Lovett Hall, in honor of his father's unequaled dance master Benjamin B. Lovett and his wife Charlotte. For this anniversary dance, yours truly called the first half along with the Ruffwater Stringband. We were piped in by the renowned Cawthon Brothers (Martin and Tyge) of Dearborn. The dance selected in this video is the first dance of the day, Starry Night Delight (written by yurs truly), with Ruffwater's medley of tunes being Silver and Gold Two-Step, March of St. Timothy (written by Judi Morningstar) and Ice House (a tune from Laurie Fisher). For the second half of the dance, the talented young caller Danika Murray and the fantastic band FiddleFire put the icing on the cake. We were honored that Doug Plummer was there with his 2013 Contra Dance Calendars, and taking photos for possible use in the 2014 Contra Dance Calendar. Rumor has it that Lovett Hall will be included in the 2014 publication.”
From Glen: “Well, here's a video of me calling in a casual setting, the Bayside Travelers Contra & Square Dance in Traverse City, Michigan. Aunt Lu & the Oakland County Allstars, an ensemble from Ruffwater, is playing the tunes: Brad Battey Jr on fiddle, Sharon Robinson on dulcimer, and Judi Morningstar on keyboard. The dancing crowd is about 50/50 new and seasoned dancers. Gilbert Lake Lodge is the setting. Michigan Dance Heritage helped fund the dancers ‘dream floor’ for this lodge about 10 years ago."
- Putting On "Techno" Contra Dances by Will Loving
Web Extras:
Slide show: Downtown Amherst (MA) series, photos by Will Loving
Video: Firecloud Techno Contra, Amherst, MA, 5/22/13
Video: DJ Improper Techno Contra, Amherst, MA, 8/8/13
Letter: ASCAP/BMI Clarification from Sue Songer
- Catapulting Upwards by Luke Donforth
- Outreach Reaching Out by Linda Henry
- Spreading Our Wings to Fly by Mary Wesley
Web Extra:
Dances
Obituaries
Last Page
CDSS News Fall 2013 Issue
Masthead
Letters and Announcements
Columns
Balance and Sing (Store Update)- Yoga for Dancers - Listen to Your Knees by Anna Rain
Article also references Yoga for Dancers: Next Level of Knee Care (Summer 2013) and Yoga for Dancers: Cranky Knees and Long Quads (Spring 2013)
- CDSS Sings — See, See, the Cape's in View by Natty Smith (with tune)
Articles
Web Extras:
Text: Dance Your Way Through History (Glen’s course description)
Photos: Glen and Judi through the years
Videos:
Video Extra #1 — Judi singing lead on her song Michigan Snow Shanty, with Just Friends, 1993From Glen: “This video is one is of Just Friends (Lori Cleland, Judi Morningstar, Rosemary Kornacki and Cecelia Webster), performing Judi's ‘Michigan Snow Shanty’ at a concert on December 11, 1993. (Judi is singing lead.) The titles and credits in the video give the whole story.” |
Video Extra #2 — Dancers and the Ruffwater Stringband, Lovett Hall, October 2001From Glen: “This video segment goes with the Ruffwater photo in the article.” |
Video Extra #3 — Special dance at Lovett Hall, October 2012: Glen calling his dance, Starry Night Delight, to Ruffwater’s playing a medley (including Judi’s tune March of St. Timothy)From Glen: “It's the October 28, 2012 special dance at Lovett Hall in The Henry Ford, Dearborn, for the 75th Anniversary of the dedication of this remarkable dance hall. Henry and Clara were there when it was dedicated on October 26, 1937, along with their son Edsel and his wife Eleanor. Edsel did the formal dedication of the Education Building, and announced that the magnificent dance hall on the second floor would be called Lovett Hall, in honor of his father's unequaled dance master Benjamin B. Lovett and his wife Charlotte. For this anniversary dance, yours truly called the first half along with the Ruffwater Stringband. We were piped in by the renowned Cawthon Brothers (Martin and Tyge) of Dearborn. The dance selected in this video is the first dance of the day, Starry Night Delight (written by yurs truly), with Ruffwater's medley of tunes being Silver and Gold Two-Step, March of St. Timothy (written by Judi Morningstar) and Ice House (a tune from Laurie Fisher). For the second half of the dance, the talented young caller Danika Murray and the fantastic band FiddleFire put the icing on the cake. We were honored that Doug Plummer was there with his 2013 Contra Dance Calendars, and taking photos for possible use in the 2014 Contra Dance Calendar. Rumor has it that Lovett Hall will be included in the 2014 publication.” |
Video Extra #4 — Glen calling, at a Bayside Travelers Contra and Square Dance, Traverse City, MI, 2013From Glen: “Well, here's a video of me calling in a casual setting, the Bayside Travelers Contra & Square Dance in Traverse City, Michigan. Aunt Lu & the Oakland County Allstars, an ensemble from Ruffwater, is playing the tunes: Brad Battey Jr on fiddle, Sharon Robinson on dulcimer, and Judi Morningstar on keyboard. The dancing crowd is about 50/50 new and seasoned dancers. Gilbert Lake Lodge is the setting. Michigan Dance Heritage helped fund the dancers ‘dream floor’ for this lodge about 10 years ago." |
- Putting On "Techno" Contra Dances by Will Loving
Web Extras:
Slide show: Downtown Amherst (MA) series, photos by Will Loving
Video: Firecloud Techno Contra, Amherst, MA, 5/22/13
Video: DJ Improper Techno Contra, Amherst, MA, 8/8/13
Letter: ASCAP/BMI Clarification from Sue Songer
- Catapulting Upwards by Luke Donforth
- Outreach Reaching Out by Linda Henry
- Spreading Our Wings to Fly by Mary Wesley
Web Extra:
Dances
Obituaries
Last Page
CDSS News Summer 2013 Issue
CDSS News Summer 2013 Issue
Masthead
Letters and Announcements
Columns
- Balance and Sing (Store Update)
- Yoga for Dancers: Next Level of Knee Care, by Anna Rain
- News from Canada: Fiddling in BC, by Rosemary Lach (with Out the Buckhorn Way, a tune)
- CDSS Sings (new column!), with the song Sail Away Ladies
Web Extras:
Sail Away Ladies:
(regular tune notation is already part of the article)
Extra: video of Lorraine Hammond singing the song with Linnea Bardarson and Amanda Lapham
Extra: Uncle Dave Macon playing the tune
Extra: banjo notation (courtesy of Lorraine Hammond)
Jubilee (web only):
Extra: audio of Jean Ritchie singing the song
Extra: tune notation (courtesy Lorraine Hammond)
Extra: notation for fretted dulcimer (courtesy Lorraine Hammond)
Articles
- CDSS Annual Board Meeting 2013, by David Chandler
- Empty Bowls Contra Dance
- Contra Dancing at the University of Oklahoma, by Miranda Arana, with quotes from her students
- Teaching English Country Dancing in China, by Grigsby Wotton
- What’s in a Name, by Jody Kruskal
Dances
Obituaries
Last Page
CDSS News Spring 2013 Issue
CDSS News Spring 2013 Issue
Masthead
Letters and Announcements
- New Lifetime Contribution Awardees
- CDSS Is Looking for Stars!, by Bev Bernbaum, CDSS Nominating Committee
- Donor Thanks for 2012 Now Posted, by Robin Hayden, CDSS Director of Development
- New Membership Benefit: Fractured Atlas, by Jeff Martell, CDSS Store and Services Manager
- Youth Intern Morphs into Education Associate, Pat MacPherson CDSS Education Department Director
- Speaking of Mary, by Mary Wesley
- Outreach Outlook, by Linda Henry, CDSS Outreach Manager
Columns
- Balance and Sing (Store Update)
- Yoga for Dancers: Cranky Knees and Long Quads by Anna Rain
- News from Canada: Contra Dancing Has Blown Downwind to Nova Scotia, by Dottie Welch and Eliza West
Articles
- Catalyst and Confluence: Director’s Report, by Rima Dael
- CDSS Exec Travels, by Jill Allen (Huntsville) and Jenny Beer (Sacramento)
- A Feast of Song: Attending the First Annual Youth Traditional Song Weekend, by Emma Schneider
- Talking About…Money, by Brendan Taaffe
- Growing the Dance Community via a Wiki, by John Nash
- The Mountain Dance Trail Preserves Appalachian Square Dancing, by Becky Hill
- Country Dancers of Rochester Teach History with Pleasure, by Lisa Brown
Dance
- Chinese New Year, by Chris Page