In the Summer Heat, it is Cool to Square Dance in Andes

ANDES - Back in the early days of the 1970s, I found myself at the High School of Music and Art, one half of the Fiorello Laguardia High School,  the school from the movie "Fame". Lunch time, we'd meet, flutes, guitars, banjos and bagpipes and trade our folk music traditions. I grew up gathering long form ballads from Ireland, Cumbria, Yorkshire, and Scotland, Roberta Newman medieval English and Appalachian ballads, Kathy Kurs who was a talented protege of Joan Baez had her musical tradition. The last year we were in high school  there was this nice freshman kid, who hung out with us folkie seniors. He was learning the banjo, Bela Fleck. So how could I resist a really wonderfully antique looking sign on a number of light poles proclaiming Catskill Old Time Music Square Dance. July 11th 5:30 to 8PM. I knew that no matter what emergencies arose, I'd likely be looking through a lens, and listening, recorder in hand to some music of my soul that night in Andes.

I expected a few squares of folks. To my joy between 225 and 250 people began to line up for tickets for the dance and tickets for a generous and grand feed, provided by Derek Curl of the Andes Hotel. When I say generous, my diet went joyfully out the window that night. Derek also serves on the Board of the Andes Society for History and Culture, so he wore several hats tonight.

This wonderful evening may have deep roots in the music and dancing of the generation of Carson Kelly and Hilton Kelly and Stella, but it took a bit of gardening to coax these roots into full bloom. The gardeners, or "The Ladies" as Derek Curl called this powerhouse of organizing ability, are Monica-Lisa Mills who calls dances and plays guitar, Becca Wintle a fiddler, and Katrina Anderson who plays the banjo. I'd not suggest calling these three "the ladies" unless they invite you to do so, or you have the open, genuine, friendly, I'll help carry the load personality of Derek, and not many do. These cultural cultivators came to the Catskills, countering the computer craving current craze,  and found homes in the peace and warmth of Andes.  

Traditional music can go through times of being isolated, an ember burning in a few hearts, and then along comes someone to fan that ember into a strong blaze. I recall how in the early seventies, a friend with whom I played traditional Irish was brokenhearted when the Chieftains were hired by Stanley Kubrick to play on the soundtrack of the film, Barry Lyndon. "Now you'll be able to hear our music on the radio and it won't be anything special." He was right and he was wrong at the same time. Traditional Irish music became heard in the mainstream and it grew. It took folks with vision and with a generous spirit to grow the culture. We see that with Monica Lisa, Becca and Katrina. They didn't simply come to these mountains to learn to play, and keep the music close to their hearts, they share it with a greater community and are fanning the embers of this venerable old blaze. They hold monthly Jams, playing slowly to pass along tunes. The next one is going to be held in August. The time, date and place will be posted at  "Catskills Old Time" on Instagram or Facebook. Folks can also join their mailing list to find the schedule by writing to catskillsoldtime@gmail.com   . Their spirit of generosity reaches beyond sharing the music. The yearly square dances are community fundraisers, for such causes as the food pantry and the fire department. The community comes together to meet each other, meet the visitors and make the town stronger, healthier and happier. 

The band was great. Ilan Moss on banjo, Sally Freund on bass, Tyson Graham on guitar, Jenny Monforte on fiddle, Becca Wintle also on fiddle and Monica Lisa Mills calling. The evening started with a quick few lessons. The couples learn the difference between a do se do and a see-saw, Do se do, passes on the right, a See-saw passes on the left, the Right Allemande and the Left Allemande, Promenade, an elbow swing, a ballroom swing, a Quebecois two handed swing.

Then the dancing began. They began with a mixer, so everyone got to dance with other people, other than their partners. A square dance is always a good way to meet the neighbors or the folks visiting.  The second dance gave folks a chance to show off a bit, as the birdie in the cage or owl. In each square, a birdie in the cage entered the square and got to freestyle any dance move. And so the evening went.

There is literally every age dancing, folks carrying toddlers, children dancing with adults and we seniors. Not a tear or sour face all night. The admission and food tickets went for the best of causes, the exterior of the fire house of the Andes Volunteer Fire Department and two new furnaces. One for the fire house and one for the Andes Historical Society Museum. The raffle benefited the Andes Historical Society. They were represented by the president of the Historical Society, Joanne Kosuda-Warner, who I had met a few weeks before at one of our occasional visits to their wonderful museum. She had been to the dance twice before this, this being their fourth year. "Last year they had 150, each year it is getting bigger" Joanne tells me.The two movers and shakers of Catskill Oldtime who got this all started, Monica Lisa Mills and Katrina Anderson came to Joanne in March and asked if the Historical Society could be the beneficiary of the event. Then Derek stepped up and said, "I can do the food." Truer words were never spoken. "It brings people to the Catskills," Derek comments about the great turnout. And then he turns to the charm of the event. "When you live in the Catskills, once a year you want something like this to happen.The ladies do such 

The dances aren't all Catskills Old Time does. They hold jams, playing slowly to pass the music on to new generations to keep the culture and living sounds of these mountains alive. More, the music and dance will keep new people coming to build the heritage tourist economy.

 I asked a lot of families and couples where they had come from. Quinn, seven years old, had come with his family from Brooklyn's Fort Greene. It was their second time in Andes, his mother Jody Myrum told me. Queenie was there with her human, Ellen Crawford of Ellen Crawford Designs at the Carriage House in Andes.

Katherine Buckles started coming to the Catskills after she and her husband got married in Big Indian. They now have a place in Walton. Their kids go to a farm camp and are loving the culture of the mountains. There were happy people wishing to share their experience with me, an older couple who live in Utica, with a summer house in Andes. She was a ballet dancer, and their age did not keep them from dancing almost every set. I meet Katti Williams from Oneonta and her friend Lauren Henerson from Walton. Katti describes the dancing as being a camera spinning in a room of circling people. It is a great quote, and the next day going over my notes, I feel I may have reversed their names. If I have, drop me a line and I'll correct it on the substack version. The evening was so rich and wonderful and the people so warm, the evening was a blur, like being a camera in the center of a circle of dancers swirling around me.