In view of the rapid spread of coronavirus around the world — and now in Maine — the board of Folk Dance Brunswick has decided to cancel Friday-night dancing through the balance of March, starting tonight (March 13), and through April, and even longer if needed, for everyone’s safety.
We’ll get back to you with an update about our next dance.
We’ll miss you! Hope to see you soon. We’ll post virtual opportunities to get together.
Folk Dance Brunswick will present “Balkan Bash III,” a dance night open to the public, with live music by the celebrated Balkan band Bulgarika, on Friday, September 20, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the People Plus community center, 35 Union Street, one block west of Maine Street, in downtown Brunswick, Maine.
All are welcome. Donation $10.
Bulgarika is a group of five master musicians with decades of performing experience, steeped in Bulgarian music and rhythms from a young age, who have delighted audiences and dancers throughout North America.
The band features Donka Koleva on vocals, Nikolay Kolev on gadulka (a string
instrument played with a bow), Temelko Ivanov on kaval (a chromatic end-blown flute),
Nikolay Kodzhabashev on tambura (a string instrument played with a plectrum), and
Marin Shalamov on tapan (a double-headed drum).
The music of Bulgaria is known for its hauntingly expressive melodies,
fascinating irregular rhythms, and fiery dance tempos.
We’re happy to start another year of international folk dancing here in Brunswick. Shake off the winter doldrums and come join us.
Folk Dance Brunswick will host a special Greek Dance Workshop and Dance Party led by internationally known folk dance teacher Joe Kaloyanides Graziosi of Massachusetts.
The nonprofit event will be held on Saturday, November 3, in two parts — a teaching session from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. and an evening dance party from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. — at the People Plus community center, 35 Union Street, one block west of Maine Street, in downtown Brunswick. All are welcome for both parts of the event. Suggested donation $10.
“Joe is an exciting teacher — fun, easy to understand, and very energizing,” says Solange Kellerman, chair of the Folk Dance Brunswick entertainment committee that organized the event. “These Greek dances are beautiful, with beautiful music — and people love learning them. It’s going to be a great event!”
Joe was born and raised in greater Boston. Of Greek and Italian ancestry, he was exposed Greek music and dance at an early age. He began his formal study of traditional Greek dance in 1975 during a semester-abroad program in Athens. Since then he has done extensive independent research in Greek folk music and dance and has compiled an exhaustive library of scholarly research, video recordings, and musical archives. He has danced for and advised several Greek American performing groups. In 1982, under the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ethnic Folk Arts Center, he directed the Greek Music Tour, composed of highly esteemed practitioners of traditional music from both Greece and the U.S. immigrant community who performed throughout the northeastern U.S.
Today Joe teaches at major dance camps, weekend seminars and retreats throughout the U.S. He has also taught in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, England, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan, and Japan and been a guest lecturer for the ethnomusicology departments of the Universities of California Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. He serves as advisor and judge for Greek folk dance festivals across the country and has produced numerous anthology CDs.
Folk Dance Brunswick 