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10th Annual Folk Ball

30-31, January 1998--Madison, Wisconsin

Come, join hundreds of kindred folk dancers, musicians, singers, and enthusiasts of every persuasion in the Midwest's Major Midwinter Folk Gathering, Madison's own FOLK BALL! Renew connections with old friends and familiar dances, make new acquaintances and sample something refreshingly novel, or just enjoy the outstanding music and amiable ambiance. The FOLK BALL has plenty for everyone: workshops, performances, and monster dance parties powered by rhapsodic musicians & inspired dancers.
The Folk Ball is sponsored by Narodno! International Folkdancers and the University of Wisconsin, Madison Department of Slavic Languages and Literature, and is, as always, open to the students, staff and faculty of the University of Wisconsin, and to the community. The main workshops and Saturday dancing of the Folk Ball are free, though a donation is nice.

This year we will kick off the festivities with a special Folk Ball Contra Dance on Friday night. This will be held at the Grace Episcopal Church, on West Washington just off the Capital Square. The Last Gaspe band will play the music for the evening and Tom Senior will be calling the dances. There will be a $5.00 admission charge for this one event to cover the costs of the alternate venue.
There will also be the traditional Musicians Jam on Friday evening. It will take place at the Grieg Club, 1249 Williamson Street, with plenty of space for Musicians to spread their gear and dancers to caper to the unique blend of instruments.

Every winter for the last nine years, the Folk Ball has attracted fans of folk music and dance from around the midwest for a day-long celebration of the world's music and dance traditions.

On Saturday morning and afternoon, workshops by wonderful teachers and displays of arts and crafts from around the world make the Folk Ball an excellent learning experience for experienced dancers and performers as well as beginners. An evening of dance performances and an ecletic selection of live music for dancing turns the Great Hall of the UW-Madison Memorial Union into a dance hall of world-wide proportions. For any fan of international music and dance, the Folk Ball will leave you both exhausted and asking for more.

The 10th annual Folk Ball is no exception, with a dynamite line-up of teachers and performers. Major workshops lined up for this year include Irish set dancing, Scandinavian dances, and Transylvanian (Hungarian) dances. Among other likely workshops are Balkan Singing, Western European Singing Dances, Storytelling, Middle Eastern Dance, and Folk Activities for Children.

Among the dance performances to be featured in this year's edition of the Folk Ball are the Viata Romanian Dancers doing Calusarii dances, Narodno! International Folk Dancers will perform a suite of Shope dances, The Syrena Polish Folk Dance Ensemble with a Lancers set and Oak Apple Morris prancing English fertility dances.

The main point of the Folk Ball is dancing, and there will be plenty of opportunities to get up and dance to live music at this year's edition. International folk dance music will be provided from groups such as the Twin Cities' Rakia and Indiana's Spatter Das. Far From Home will play Celtic tunes, Bruce Sagan & Friends will play Scandinavian melodies, and Szaszka will provide Hungarian music to flex what you learned in the workshops. And, the Balkan-funk from the Reptile Palace Orchestra is guaranteed to get your feet moving.
There will also be a special continuation of a Transylvanian workshop on Sunday at the Saint Francis House - 1001 University Ave.
So, if you like folk music and dance, come to Madison on the last weekend in January, for a fantastic Folkapalooza you will not soon forget.

Updates on performers, and schedules, will be posted at this site as they become available. If you have any questions about the Folk Ball, please email Tom at tdd@plantpath.wisc.edu .
We hope to see you there!!! 

generated by Tom Dettinger January 20, 1998 

Tentative list of teachers and performers