Story Archives of 'Contra dance'

When he raised the roof at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 with his country orchestra, Dudley Laufman energized the youthful crowd and helped re-light the torch for traditional country dancing that had been carried at the time by a few old-timers. He helped create a movement of contra dancing and contra music that has played out in the churches and barns of small town New England for more than a quarter of a century. Our 25 in 25 series continues with the man who has been called the “pied piper of Canterbury”, New Hampshire’s own king of contra-music, Dudley Laufman.

Guest

• Dudley Laufman: musician living in Canterbury, who has been playing and calling dances for over fifty years. Since 1986, Dudley Laufman and his wife, Jacqueline, have been playing for dances as Two Fiddles. Prior to that, he has been the leader of the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra, the first dance band to make an LP recording, in 1971, of the New England jigs and reels most often used for dancing.

For more than 45 years, Marianne Taylor has been dancing and teaching people to dance. She's taught people of all ages in this country and around the world. And she teaches the folk dances of cultures from every corner of the globe. We find out what keeps her going and she tells us why everyone should give folk dancing a try.