On the day after Labor Day we’ll share the work of making music! All musicians are welcome to join the open band. John Teskey will call. Open band has a long history in contra dancing, and it’s lots of fun, in part because people can play all sorts of instruments! Making music together is a community activity, just like dancing together. Here’s the fabulous open band in Washington, DC:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4417mNpdiMA

Indy Contra, effective immediately, has new start and end times for our weekly Tuesday night dances.  First contra is at 7:45 and waltzing must end by 9:45! We need to have all cleanup done (chairs stacked, fans and sound equipment away, floor swept, and everybody out the door) by 10:00pm or we turn into a pumpkin. Or worse. Trust us, it won’t be pretty!

August 28th, for those who didn’t dance enough at Sugar Hill, we have guest Brian Hamshar calling.

August 21st, we have Emily Ann Thompson playing Celtic and Old Time fiddle, and Bob Duffy calling.

Wouldn’t 50 be a great temperature? Yes! Also a great band. Heather Robinson and Vickie Stohl will call to them August 14th.

Join Us on the Ford Stage, shown on this map (click for a bigger version). Wear Black & White in celebration of the Year of the Dairy Cow, and get your $2 admission coupon courtesy of Turkey Hill Dairy. (Are there dairy turkeys?)

Meet at 6 if you want to share greasy fair food, or to just sit & watch the dance group before us.

And don’t forget your BIG BOTTLE OF WATER. (or milk?)

What’s the biggest excitement of the Indiana State Fair? No! Not finding out what this year’s trendiest fried food is! It’s when the Indiana contra dancers gather on the Dance for Health Stage, 8 p.m., Tuesday August 7th, and dance to music by Hoosier Hill Boys with David Ernst calling!

We hope to see lots of friends from other contra dances in Indiana, including Bloomington, Goshen, and Vincennes.

Just three months to Gypsy Moon Ball 2012!

Saturday evening’s a costume party (feel free to change back to regular dance clothes after the grand march & costume judging). If you’re an Indiana resident, you can find costume making ideas in the Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center, which is one of the databases in INSPIRE.in.gov. (It also has recipes, for things like cookies & bars, hint, hint.)

On July 31st we’re going to try dancing in the basement, where there’s air conditioning. There’s also a hard, terrazzo floor, which isn’t as comfortable to dance on as the wood floor in the gym. So, in addition to a water bottle and clean/dry shirt, dancers might want to bring a pair of clean sneakers or running shoes, or something with a little spring in them.

We’re also not sure how the acoustics downstairs will work out. After the dance the board will want opinions on whether to try and dance down there until it cools off, or to stay in the gym. (Except for August 7th, when we’re at the State Fair.)

Trevor’s calling to the fiddler & the guitar player, on Tuesday, July 31st: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB-2n-drRN0