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FolkWorks Blog

September 15, 2007

A QUESTION FOR VALERIE

Re: Column ...that reminds me...[Sept/Oct column]

It .made me think... when it comes to contradancing.

While contradancing (and playing music with other people too) can get dancers in a "groove" and we can all feel connected and "magical"....what is it really in the context of "real" life? I mean...while the magic is nice and certainly when the dancing and the music is all together, etc...it is a very pleasurable experience, is it really anything beyond a superficial connectedness? Once you get to know more about these very people would you even like them? What does this connection really mean? Is it related in any way to friendship?

Have you ever thought about this? Am I making the enjoyment less for you?

Something to think about

AN ANSWER

Off the top of my head, I'd say that there is more than a superficial connectedness amongst dancers and that it facilitates friendship even though it isn't the same as friendship. I don't imagine any contra dancers feel like close friends with all the other dancers but the community effort (or the magic) makes a strong bond. I don't think that it blinds anyone to undesirable aspects of other dancers but that it makes those aspects more acceptable. I've danced with people I would shy away from on the street or in the office and come to feel quite fond of many of them, sort of like having weird or obnoxious relatives that you love just because you were relatives and on the same side. That happens when the people are as involved as you are with the dancing and they work to make it smooth and fun. Some obnoxious people go on being rude and thoughtless on the dance floor and the magic does nothing either to bring them around or to make them more acceptable to other people.

It goes beyond dancing, really. Doing voluntary manual labor with another person can help a bond form, as can painting backdrops for a play. Part of it's the physical part. As our bodies strain, and our defenses break down, we become more able to feel who other people really are. Being happy makes us more forgiving and more open to friendship, love, etc.

August 13, 2007

BREAKING NEWS....

FolkWorks, now an e-zine, will be printing 2 hard copy issues in 2008 - the May/June and the July/August issue )coming out end of April and June).

We hope to have a real blog soon, but in the meantime, join the YahooGroup and post there. If there is a new group or CD that you think is hot stuff, let us know.

The Winner of the $100 Tagline Contest is Mimi Tanaka

Mimi has donated the $100 prize back to FolkWorks for the next tagline contest.

We have decided to wait with the bumper stickers, and use this first tagline for promotional postcards that will let folks know what happened with the print edition. (Though thanks to a Grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, there will be 2 print editions in the next year - so look for them next April and June.)

In the meantime ...

FolkWorks goes green ... check out our e-zine
www.FolkWorks.org

Yeah Mimi!

July 6, 2007

Dear FolkWorks Reader,

We are writing this to let you know that this is the last print edition of the FolkWorks newspaper. For the foreseeable future FolkWorks will continue as an online e-zine. The FolkWorks website ( www.FolkWorks.org ) has been entirely redesigned. We have gotten a lot of positive comments already and hope that you will enjoy it too. We anticipate that most of the current columnists that you have looked forward to, will continue to write for the new FolkWorks. We will continue to enhance the site with additional interesting content over time. And, of course, we will continue to have the calendar you have grown to depend upon. In that area, too, we are exploring ways to make it more useful for your folk explorations.

July-August 2007

EDITORIAL

This July/August issue in your hands lists a plethora of summer concerts. Look at page 3 for this summer's offerings at the Skirball, Culver City, Japan American Museum, Grand At this time each year, we search through the listings and mark in our calendar all the wonderful concerts we plan on attending. We want here to thank all the producers who spend so much time, money and passion in searching out, negotiating, coordinating and presenting to us new and exciting artists from all over the world. FolkWorks is here to let you know about all this terrific music...along with the usual ongoing local events, dancing, singing, storytelling and folk-related art exhibits. In case you hadn't noticed, the Los Angeles Times and the L.A. Weekly (and other local "rags") hardly mention what we cover, from Queen Ida on the Santa Monica pier, to the Southern California Ukulele Showcase at the Japan American Museum to Vieux Farka Toure at both Grand Performances and the Skirball Cultural Center. Performances, the Santa Monica Pier and the Levitt Pavillion.