Description

Fabric of Life Fireside Orchestra Contra Dance

Saturday, May 17, 2025 from 7-9pm at the Buckland Public Hall, 17 Upper St, Buckland, MA.

Contra Dance featuring musicians: Eveline MacDougall, George Wilson, Becky Ashenden, Addie Rose Holland, and the Fabric of Life Fireside Orchestra.

Cammy Kaynor will be calling and music will include tunes from Quebec, Scandinavia, the Balkans, and more.

Join our Fabric of Life Fireside Orchestra’s Contra Dance!

Dance music has an important role in our communities. It brings joy not only to those who play, but also to those who listen or dance. Being a part of this process on any level helps our world become a better place.

About the Musicians

Eveline MacDougall is the founder and director of the choral group Fiery Hope—formerly known as Amandla—since 1988. Her artistic partnerships have included Pete Seeger, Horace Clarence Boyer, Wally and Juanita Nelson, Fred Small, and Martin Espada, among many others. Musical activism led to collaborations with Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez, Malala Yousafzai, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Eveline is the music teacher at the Full Circle School in Bernardston, MA.

George Wilson has played fiddle since 1971 and played guitar and bass for even longer. He probably knows close to 1000 fiddle tunes, but only remembers 300 of them. His favorite styles and biggest influences are Cape Breton and Quebecois styles, but he enjoys playing old-time, Scandinavian, Irish, Shetland, and Scottish music, which are all what make up New England Fiddling. He played with Allan Block in the 1970’s, with Fennig’s All-star String Band (featuring Bill Spence on hammered dulcimer) from 1975-2019, did lots of collaborating with David Kaynor, and has played for hundreds of contradances, concerts, and school groups with a number of other excellent musicians. He is the director of the Capital District Megaband in Albany NY and also teaches private students.

Becky Ashenden (L) and Addie Rose Holland (R) have been making music together since the early 2000’s, playing Contra dances, including Scandinavian and Balkan dance music as part of Orkestar Banitsa.

The Fireside Orchestra consists of local musicians of all levels who have been learning tunes and playing together through the winter months at the Fabric of Life Farmhouse in Shelburne, MA. This group of talented musicians has been led by Eveline MacDougall and some may be new at performing in public.

We are excited to welcome Cammy Kaynor as our caller for this dance. Cammy has performed all over the United States and Sweden as both a soloist and leader of traditional country dance bands. He began his classical training with noted experts throughout New England, including Bernard Krainis of New York Pro Musica. For the past twenty-four years he has had an extensive performing career, having founded many dance series in the Pioneer Valley of western Mass. as well as the Boston area. Many of these dances acquired national acclaim, such as The Northfield Contradance (Northfield, MA), Monday Night Contradances at the Unitarian Church (Amherst, MA), and English Country Dance Balls. Cammy has been instrumental in the spread of the popularity of Swedish couples dances (primarily from the province of Dalarna which he has visited numerous times) through the initiation of workshops, through the incorporation of Scandinavian dances into contradance evening repertoire, and through the establishment of a weekly series of turning dances in Northampton. Read More

Sliding scale:

Friend: $5 – Reduced Rate

Admirer: $12 – Covers expenses

Enthusiast: $20 – Covers expenses & contributes to DAK* scholarship fund

*David Allen Kaynor Scholarship Fund

This music series is being organized in honor of David Allen Kaynor, who spent many decades nurturing and inspiring our dance music community, and now it is our turn to carry the torch forward. The scholarship fund will help make music more accessible to those with limited resources.

Learn more about David:

David A. Kaynor: Living Music and Dance

and/or enjoy a live concert recording:

David Kaynor, Becky Ashenden & George Wilson – 2019 LIVE House Concert DVD