One Small Step for Dancerkind
Newsletter of the Friendly FolkDancers	Vol. 3, No. 1 Fall 1995

The theme of the FCNL annual meeting is "The Friends, the Congress, and the Media: World-Mending in New Times." Our witness to folk dancing as an unifying element for all the peoples of the world fits exactly with this theme. The plan is, in fact, to present some of the demonstration medleys that highlight dancing as a common element to countries that have a history of conflict with each other.

Rosemary Coffey and David Houghton are the coordinators. They are dealing with the challenge to put together a group that can come together from great distances for just a single program and with little time for rehearsal. A questionnaire was sent to FFD members this past summer to help locate participants. Another challenge is to design a program that shares an evening with a special speaker for the annual meeting, Scott Simon, who is the host of the Saturday Weekend Edition on National Public Radio. FFD has a long history of operating in all types of settings!!

At this year's FGC gathering in Kalamazoo, Michigan, we attempted a different method of organizing the dancing in the International Folk Dance room, and I think it was quite a success. We did a mixture of types of dances and dance leaders that shared the work and enriched the diversity wonderfully. A few nights were a pretty typical range of international dances as presented by the FFD on tour. One night was dedicated to Swing Dancing, another to Meditative Circle Dances and Dances of Universal Peace. Louise Brill led a night of dances targeted towards the Balkan regions as well. Sandra worked with a couple new (to us) teachers on the meditative dances, Bob Janes and Elizabeth Cave. Eric Wolf and Hannah Branson did the swing evening. All in all, there was lots of energy and lots of taste treats from around the world!

Next year's FGC gathering will be in Canada, a bit south of Toronto. We have the momentum in our favor and hope to organize an equally rich program of international dance for our Canadian Friends. That, of course, depends on you, me, and all the other Friendly FolkDancers. Look for your opportunity to contribute your gift of dance elsewhere in this newsletter.

While the planning continues on the Kenya side, we still have a good deal of preparation to do from this side. More so than most tours, this one will ask a high level of commitment from its participants. In addition to our contacts in Kenya, we've been in touch with Thomas Taylor, General Secretary of the FWCC world office. In addition to the helpful pointers he has given us, he has some cautions. For instance, he notes that they "are aware of considerable feeling among third-world Friends that 'Christians (Quakers) don't dance'". Lack of transportation is one issue, as is the lack or undependability of electricity. He also calls to our attention the need for cultural sensitivity, including such things as "the need to have a previously discussed policy about how to deal with the heart-rending requests for personal financial aid...". I am thankful for the care that Thomas and his wife, Nancy, have extended to us. They are dear to me not only for the care they've shown in their letters to us, but for the fond memory of them in the course of our England tour. Sandra and I stayed with them in the Meetinghouse where Nancy is warden (caretaker).

Just a few more, very important, notes. We need funds. The steering committee has committed to providing at least $2000 in scholarship funds for the tour, a level we met and exceeded for the England and Scotland tours, but aiming much higher. Since round-trip air fare can reach nearly $2000 per person, the need could clearly be great. When coupled with the lack of fund raising possible on the Kenya side (the England & Scotland tours got major contributions from British Funds, in addition to the contributions in the course of our programs), it is clear we need to really stretch. This clearly implies major fund-raising, BY ALL OF US! No individual alone can do this, so please consider the ways you can help raise funds for this tour. For starters, think about the individuals and groups who have been touched by the FFD over the past ten years.

1. FFD members - Almost 40 people have traveled with our tours over the past 10 years. These FFD members could contribute, but they could also seek contributions from the more than 18 Monthly Meetings and 9 Yearly Meetings of which they are a part.

2. Meetings we have visited - I'm fuzzy on the numbers, but I know we've danced with well over 100 Monthly Meetings, part at least 14 Yearly Meetings, touching multiple thousands of individuals! Our "interested in future tours" list includes almost 150 names, by itself!

Please pick up your pen (or keyboard) and ask for help from the above groups. A request to your Monthly or Yearly Meeting by you carries more weight than a solicitation by an "outside" organization. If you can help with fund raising to the other Meetings, please step forward. Or maybe just pick up your checkbook and write out a check to The Friendly FolkDancers.

Addendum to Annual Meeting ‘95 Minutes

There were several non-dancing highlights of this trip! One was sharing a gourmet vegetarian meal at a restaurant called Seva in downtown Ann Arbor. Another was visiting the Sharon Temple, north of Newmarket, a building erected in the late 1800s by the Children of Peace, followers of a charismatic Quaker preacher who intended to glorify God by replicating Solomon’s temple; the FFD felt some kinship with this dissident sect which used music, in the form of a choir and a band, in its celebrations, in contrast with Quaker practice of that day as well as this. Touring Niagara Falls was a source of pleasure and excitement to all, while discovering that no one at Cleveland Meeting had a key to the box into which donations to FFD had been placed provided a somewhat different sort of excitement. (The Treasurer, who lived out of town, ultimately unlocked the box so that the proceeds could be forwarded to FFD.) We also managed to eat (and even to appreciated) vegetable lasagna four times in five days.

In terms of the programs themselves, the group continued to find the linking of dances from peoples and regions which are, or have been, at war a powerful symbol of FFD’s desire to build bridges of understanding and caring as part of the healing necessary for peace. Closing each performance with the Peace Dance confirmed the intention that the tour be perceived as a prayer for the well-being of all people, going beyond taking sides to embrace all parties to a conflict.

This group of Friendly FolkDancers was composed of Rosemary Coffey, Zig Dermer, Mark Judkins Helpsmeet, Alethea Sandra Helpsmeet, Preston Henke, Joseph Kieltyka, and Denise Madland. 

Wanted: Experienced Friendly FolkDancer to Travel to England.

The college is offering free room (and perhaps board, but we’re unclear about that), so the major expense would be travel to and from England. FFD has started a scholarship fund (donations accepted) to help defray the cost, should we find someone who has the time and enthusiasm to take advantage of this opportunity. It is expected that this person would stay for one semester. Eric suggested that this person could also help get a FFD British Isles Group started.

Please contact the steering commitee for more information.

Woodbrook College, 1046 Bristol Rd, Birmingham, England B29 6LJ.

All gifts are welcome.