by Keith and Heather Nicol
On Saturday, March
18 we attended a contra dance at the Big Yellow Merville Hall for St Paddy’s
Day. The Funtime Fiddlers seem to
attract a large following since we had also attended their Robbie Burns Dance
in January and in both cases they had to set up more tables and chairs for the
100 plus people that showed up. What we really appreciated about the evening
was the wide range of ages that attend from young children to teens to adults.
You change partners during lots of the dances and people don’t necessarily come
as a couple or paired up.
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| Heather heading to the Big Yellow Merville Hall |
The dances are
either circle or line dances and June -
the dance caller- had a great way of explaining the steps needed to do each
dance. The night usually starts with a
15 minute warm up period when June goes
over the basic steps that most dances will use. So don’t feel that you have to
be a Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers to attend since learning the dances is easy
to do on the spot. The Funtime Fiddlers play
a range of lively jigs and reels as well as waltzes and polkas in between sets.
If you are looking for a family friendly event or want a chance to learn some
new dances we recommend checking out the next contra dance in Merville since they
offer several throughout the year.
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| The Funtime Fiddlers played lively jigs and reels |
Merville is located on the
old island highway just 12 km north of Courtenay, B.C. For more information on
the next contra dance contact: seabankmars@shaw.ca or www.mervillehall.ca
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| The contra dances attract a wide range of ages |
