In only few short weeks we’ll be making our way back to Berea, KY for the 75th Annual Mountain Folk Festival. On Saturday-the dancing started-as we learned some of the dances that will be performed at the festival this year. Marguerite Butler Bidstrup, from the John C. Campbell Folk School right here in Brasstown, helped start the Mountain Folk Festival to encourage and promote the preservation of folk dances, games, and songs in the youth of the mountains. I’m still blown away by the fact-that 75 years after she helped start it-there is a group of kids from Brasstown that attend the festival. I think she succeeded don’t you?
Tipper
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
B.-I bet you can guess who’s boots are in the floor : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Music, Giveaways, Mountain Folk
All at http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Elithea-yep you’re right : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Music, Giveaways, Mountain Folk
All at http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Sandra-yes I dance too : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Music, Giveaways, Mountain Folk
All at http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Yep-you’re right : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Music, Giveaways, Mountain Folk
All at http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Jim-the dances at the folk school-and in Berea always have a piano player. You’ll have to come and dance with us : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Music, Giveaways, Mountain Folk
All at http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
What a great way to preserve regional traditions and a nice tribute to its founder. 🙂
Nice picture, Tipper!
that’s the community room in the keith house at the folk school, can’t fool me! i’ve stood right there videoing often enough 🙂
Tipper,
Sounds like lots of fun to me!
Take lots of pictures…Would love to go to the festival…
I think it is certainly a success…sure wish my Grandchildren could get involved in something like this…
Thanks Tipper,
Who took off their boots?
Tipper,
I hope you can video the event when the girls do their dance.
Good luck on your trip…Ken
She sure did succeed! Music and dance are two of the best ways to involve the young people in preserving our culture. My daughter was in a square dancing club when she was little, it was good for her on so many levels. This is fabulous!
Tipper–One of my fondest memories of my teenaged years links to square dancing. It was a much bigger thing then than now, with there being a big dance virtually every Friday night during the summer in Cherokee and even bigger ones over at the Stompin’ Grounds in Maggie Valley on Saturday.
It’s good to know that the tradition continues, although one thing I notice is that today a piano never seems to be part of the music for dances. It often was in the late 1950s and 1960s, and a local woman, Vera Parton was her name (I think), could flat-out tear up “Under the Double Eagle” and “Down Yonder.” Just thinking of it makes my toes twitch, although passing years guarantee they don’t twitch all that long (when I was the age of Chitter and Chatter I could dance for hours without even thinking about being tard (to use the pronunciation which has been mentioned here of late).
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
Yes, she definitely succeeded!!
Have fun in KY!!
I see cowboy boots in that picture. I wonder who those belong too? LOL
that will be a ton of fun for all of you, i know chitter and chatter will dance, will you?
I would say an amazing success!
I am so sorry to miss this event! I love to watch Chitter and Chatter dance and sing!