* MIT Folk Dance Club *

The MIT Folk Dance Club sponsors three nights of dancing every week:
Sunday: International Folk *Two or three Tuesdays per month: Contra Dance *Wednesday: Israeli

Updated November 23, 2009

** Upcoming Dances

** Quick Index

Click to jump to a category.

*About The Club
* IAP Special Events
*Club Email Lists
*Special Events
yellow ballHow to Find a Room We're Scheduled in
yellow ballOrganizational meetings of the Club
*Links to related dance sites

** About The Club

The MIT Folk Dance Club sponsors three nights of dancing each week throughout the year, all of which are open to the MIT community and the general public.

Sunday night International Folk Dancing meets every week from 8:00 to 11:00 pm, almost always on the 2nd or 4th floor of the Student Center:

Sunday Dates (8-11 pm) Building/Floor Room Notes
September 13 & 20, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Beginner's Nights! Live music September 20th by the Cambridge Folk Orchestra!
September 27 - October 11, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
October 18, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Party for Marilyn Richards, with live music by Shining Moon and Rakiya!
October 25, 2009 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
November 1 & 8, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Live music November 1st by Skorosmrtnica, a new local folk dance band consisting of Yaron Shragai, Sonia Lipson, Ben Pasamanick, Grant Smith, Dan Salomon, Sandy Theodorou, and Ariel Weinberg.
November 15, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Polish Night! Workshop 3:30 - 5:30 pm in the Student Ctr 3rd floor coffee house, Party 8 - 11 pm in Lobdell. Teaching by Andrea Haber, of the Krakowiak Polish Dancers of Boston.
November 22, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Live music with the Cambridge Folk Orchestra! Sit-in musicians welcome.
November 29 & December 6, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
December 13, 2009 - January 10, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
January 17 - 31, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
February 7 - 28, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
March 7 & 14, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall
March 21 - April 4, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
April 11, 2010 Kresge Auditorium basement Rehearsal Room A
April 18, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
April 25 & May 2, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall April 25 subject to cancellation
May 9 & 16, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
May 23 - June 6, 2010 Location to be announced
June 13 - 27, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico

To see what dances we've done from July 2002 - May 2009, see the playlist archive. See our web archive for old versions of our web pages.


Wednesday night Israeli Dancing usually meets on the 4th or 2nd floor of the Student Center, from 8:00 to 11:00 pm.

Wednesday Dates (8-11 pm) Building/Floor Room Notes
September 9, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Lobdell Dining Hall Beginner's Night I, 8 - 9 pm, followed by regular dancing
September 16 & 23, 2009 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491 Beginner's Nights II and III, 8 - 9 pm, followed by regular dancing
September 30, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico Set Night
October 7, 2009 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
October 14, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico 80s Night!
October 21 - November 11, 2009 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
November 18, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
November 25, 2009 NO DANCING
December 2 & 9, 2009 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
December 16, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
December 23, 2009 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
Thursday December 24, 2009 Tentative date for all-night Israeli Dance Marathon. Details to follow.
December 30, 2009 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
January 6 - February 10, 2010 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
February 17 - March 3, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
March 10 & 17, 2010 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
March 24 & 31, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
April 7 & 14, 2010 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
April 21, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
April 28 - May 12, 2010 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
May 19 & 26, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
June 2, 2010 Location to be announced
June 9, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
June 16, 2010 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491
June 23, 2010 Student Center 2nd Floor Sala de Puerto Rico
June 30, 2010 Student Center 4th Floor Room 491

Check the Israeli email announcement archive for updated information about each week's location and teaching schedule, and special events. Light kosher snacks and drinks will be provided each week.
Israeli photo gallery
For more information about Israeli dancing, email   mitisraeli [at] gmail.com .

In addition to our folk and contra dance PE classes, some semesters there is also a separate all-Israeli folk dance class. The most recent class was IAP (January) 2009. Register with the PE Department. For more information, contact David Karger: karger [at] csail.mit.edu , or see http://people.csail.mit.edu/karger/ifd/ .


International Folk and Israeli Dancing each start with Early Teaching at 8:00 pm, followed by teaching and requests until 11:00 pm. Beginners are always welcome.

On two or three Tuesdays per month, the Contra Dance for All meets in various locations from 8:00 to 10:30 pm (check the schedule for dates and locations). Live music every time! Beginners are always welcome and are encouraged to come early.

Congratulations to our officers for 2009-10!
President Mahati Chintapalli mchint [at] mit [dot] edu, fdc-president [at] mit [dot] edu
Vice President Ira Winder  jiw [at] mit [dot] edu
Treasurer Nandi Bugg nbugg [at] mit [dot] edu, fdc-treasurer [at] mit [dot] edu

MIT students interested in running for Secretary should email fdc-request [at] mit.edu

All Club Meetings are open to the general public. We're especially interested in hearing from MIT students!

We're considered to be one of the best places for International Folk Dance in the entire country. Come and check us out!

** IAP Special Events

The MITFDC gives classes and workshops as part of IAP each January.
See our IAP offerings for January, 2009.

** Club Email Lists

We maintain electronic mailing lists used to announce dances and other events of interest. These lists are for announcements only and have very low volume.

If you have any questions, please contact the Folk Dance Club officers at fdc-request[at]mit[dot]edu.

** Special Events

*Bulgarian Folk Dance Workshop and Party, with Ivan Dimitrov and Rakiya
Sunday June 21, 2009.
Workshop with Ivan, 4-6 pm, Lobdell Dining Hall
Folk dance party with Ivan and Rakiya, 8-11 pm, Sala de Puerto Rico
MIT Student Center, 2nd floor
Free for MIT and Wellesley students.

Beginners welcome!

Ivan Dimitrov graduated from the National Academy of Dance Arts in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He was a lead dancer and soloist with the famous Bulgarian State Folklore Ensemble, Trakia, in Plovdiv. His DC-based professional dance group, The Ivan Dimitrov Dance Ensemble, has been warmly received at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Cherry Blossom Festival opening ceremonies, and the Greater Washington International Folk Festival.

Rakiya is a fiery 8-piece Balkan Rom (Gypsy) band, based in the Boston area. They perform electric, very danceable songs and dance tunes. 		A picture of Ivan A picture of Rakiya

*Annual Israeli Dance Marathon
The Christmas Eve Israeli Dance Marathon takes place every year on or about Christmas Eve.

We start at 6 pm and dance until 4 am. It is usually held in Walker Gym on the MIT Campus. This year's marathon took place on Wednesday December 24, 2008. (Check back for the location and exact date of the December, 2009 marathon.) People come from all over the continent (and even from Amsterdam!) to dance at MIT! We'll start with simpler dances and move progressively to harder dances as the night goes on, so be sure to come earlier rather than later...even beginners will have fun if you show up at six!

*Beginner's Nights Beginner's nights are for people who haven't done much dancing before and want to learn some and for more experienced dancers who want to practice the basics. In other words, they are for everyone. You need no prior experience and you don't need a partner. Beginner's Nights for all 3 nights of dancing occur in September and January each year.

*The Israel Folkdance Festival of Boston takes place each year in March, in Kresge Auditorium on the MIT campus. The next festival will be on Sunday March 14, 2010. The show includes performances by dance ensembles from far and near. Call MIT Hillel at (617) 253-2982 or visit http://www.bostonfestival.org for more information and to order tickets.

** Where We Meet

These are the locations where we usually meet. Click on a location to see it on a campus map.

1. The Stratton Student Center (Building W20). It is located at 84 Mass. Ave., directly across the street from the main entrance to MIT. La Sala de Puerto Rico and Lobdell Dining Hall are located on the second floor. Rooms W20-407, W20-491, and our club office W20-437 are located on the fourth floor.
2. Lobby 13. Can be accessed from either Vassar St. or the Infinite Corridor (go in the main MIT entrance at 77 Mass Ave and turn north at Lobby 10).
3. Kresge Auditorium. Kresge is the triangular dome with a turquoise roof, set back on a plaza at 48 Massachusetts Avenue (across the street from the main MIT entrance). Rehearsal Rooms A and B are located in the basement.
See a Google map and get driving directions

See a schedule for the #1 bus which runs along Mass Ave.

Parking

Free parking is available in the West Annex Lot (on Vassar Street west of Massachusetts Avenue, next to the West Garage), or on the street. The lot behind the Bank of America ATM at Mass Ave and Vassar Street is closer, but it often fills up on weeknights.
No parking permit is required at these lots after 5 pm or on weekends. Metered street parking is free after 6 pm.

Update: As of 10/19/09, the N10 Lot on Albany Street is no longer available for people without MIT parking permits.

** Club Meetings

Organizational club meetings usually take place once a year in late May or early June.

Contact the club officers at fdc-request[at]mit[dot]edu to find out about upcoming meetings.

** Links to other folk dance resources

International Folk, Contra Dancing, and Other kinds:
* The Folk Arts Center of New England home page, including their calendar Folk Dancing 'Round Boston.
* New England Folk Festival Association (NEFFA) runs a folk festival each April in Natick, MA, as well as a contra dance each Thursday night at the Scout House in Concord, MA. (This dance was formerly located at the VFW in west Cambridge, and hopes to move back there once the city rebuilds it as a youth/community center.)
* Country Dance Society, Boston Centre (Contra and English Country dancing.)
* contradancelinks.com, a comprehensive page of links to other Contra Dances around the world.
* Larry Denenberg's Beginner's Catechism page
* The Cambridge Folk Orchestra plays at various folk dances in the Boston area, and occasionally plays at MIT at our Sunday night international folk dances.
* The MIT Folk Dance Club Songbook, a compilation of lyrics of the songs in our record collection.
* Arthur Saltzman has posted FDC photos and movies from the 1960s.
*Our own Neil Rosen has written a Folk Dance mp3 Player which can be used along with a database of dances.
* The Tuesday Night Revival is an advanced Balkan dance group that used to dance at MIT, and now holds dances about once a month in Arlington on a Friday or Saturday.
* Balkan Music Night is a concert and dance which occurs each year in March, in Concord, MA.
* The Dance Gypsy is a calendar of contra and other folk dances throughout New England.

Israeli Folk Dancing:
* israelidance.com, which includes a test to see if you are a true folk dance addict and a session-finder, in case you're thinking of moving and want to see if there's dancing there first.
* Ken Avner's Israeli Folkdance page
* Sunday night Israeli Dancing at Temple Emanuel in Newton (formerly located at Harvard Hillel). This page also includes links to other Israeli dancing sessions and classes in the Boston area.
* Monday night Israeli dancing in Brookline with Raphael and Ronnie.

Comments on this home page and other subjects are welcome.
Send mail to fdc-request[at]mit[dot]edu .

Web page maintained by Daniel Salomon d a 1 8 1 2 5 [at] mit [dot] e d u