Why wasn’t square dancing part of this: Baltimore Folk Music Society Folk Festival? Here’s a list of the dance events:

• Swing Workshop
• Cajun Workshop
• Waltz Workshop
• Open Swing dance
• Contra workshop
• English Country
• Tango Workshop
• Family Dance
• Irish Workshop
• Contra Medley
• Open Waltz/Tango
• Balkan Workshop

Square dancing is supposed to be the “official” folk dance of Maryland? Where were the square dances in this folk event? Why weren’t MWSDers involved? Could it be that they’re not really part of the folk dance community in Baltimore?

There are lots of other folk festivals that don’t included MWSD. The DownEast Country Dance Festival includes:

• Contras
• Squares
• International
• Swing
• English
• Cape Breton
• Cajun
• Scottish
• French Canadian
• Scandinavian
• Zweifachers

(The squares are definitely traditional.)

Philadelphia’s 16th Annual Heritage Dance Festival features a variety of dance forms including:

• Contra
• Swing
• International Folk
• Cajun
• Square
• English
• Latin
• Clogging
• Argentine Tango
• Vintage
• Japanese
• Waltz
• Country Western
• Scottish
• Scandanavian

From looking at the schedule, the squares are all traditional, although Sunday morning’s “Allemande Alphabet Squares” with Ridge Kennedy calling is somewhat related to the MWSD form. But why no “Intro to MWSD”? Could it be that MWSDers are not a part of the folk dance community in Philadelphia?

I could go on and on with festivals that present a variety of different dance forms (including Swing, which I would consider less of a folk dance than even MWSD). I could talk about Albuquerque, where the MWSDers have virtually no contact with the folk dancers and are not listed in their publications or included in their events. To me, it’s obvious…the MWSD and folk dance communities are totally separate. There are a few people who bridge the cultural gap, like Al and Yona Chock, for example. There are some dancers who do both. But the crossover is miniscule. Why?