I am on the roster of the New Hampshire Humanities Council doing a lecture as listed
below. Last night we carried on in Stoddard in the very hall where Ralph Page called his
first dance. Dr. Charley Faulkner and his wife Charlotte were there. They used to come
to my dances in Nelson way back in the day when they were courting. Their favorite dance
was The Money Musk. They knew better than to ask me to do it last night, but Jacqueline
noted that there was another couple in the hall who knew the dance. We had a recording of
Page calling that dance so Jacqueline and I joined the other two and we did the Money Musk
a few times through. What fun.
Music History and Appreciation
Contra Dancing In New Hampshire: Then and Now
Since the late 1600s, the lively tradition of contra dancing has kept people of all ages
swinging and sashaying in barns, town halls, and schools around the state. Contra dancing
came to New Hampshire by way of the English colonists and remains popular in many
communities, particularly in the Monadnock Region. Presenter Dudley Laufman brings this
tradition to life with stories, poems and recordings of callers, musicians, and dancers,
past and present. Live music, always integral to this dance form, will be played on the
fiddle and melodeon.
Dudley Laufman
Dudley & Jacqueline Laufman
PO Box 61, 322 Shaker Rd
Canterbury, NH 03224
www.laufman.org
603-783-4719
jdlaufman(a)comcast.net
Education book & CD at
www.humankinetics.com
Performance Calendar at
www.laufman.org