The 21st Annual Pourparler Gathering will be in San Antonio, TX, November 1-4, 2018 (http://nfo-usa.org/pourparler/). Quite a few Sharedweight folks are Pourparler veterans. The Pourparler is a gathering of several dozen dance and music leaders, who share dances, songs, games, and tips with each other in an egalitarian format (everyone is a participant and leader, without hired "experts"). Pourparler rotates around the country each year: 2017 was in Maryland, 2018 is in Texas, and 2019 will be in Minnesota.

Pourparler covers a panoply of genres, with the common theme being material that's accessible and easily taught and learned. Material presented last year in Maryland included simple longways dances, contras, circles, squares, groups of three, sword dancing, a Romanian stick dance, international folk dances from all over, a variety of songs, and an Afghani musical game involving three rolling balls and lots of jumping, among much else. At my previous times attending Pourparler, I've learned more about dance leadership, and gleaned more material to use at one-night events and community/wedding/school type dances, than from anyplace else. Additional invaluable material and strategies are shared on the Pourparler Google Group, a group for alumni of one or more of the annual gatherings.

Traditionally, Pourparler has been run under the auspices of the National Folk Organization (NFO), which is the national umbrella organization for international folk dance and other dance genres, with additional support from the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) and the New England Dancing Masters (NEDM). My fellow Steering Committee members and I are all members of NFO, CDSS, or both, as are many of you. I encourage you to consider joining us at Pourparler this November in Texas or in Fall 2019 in Minnesota!