If you have not already gleaned this from my list of interests, well, I enjoy dancing and country western line dancing is high on the list of dances that I enjoy. In Wisconsin I dance with a bunch of cowboys and cowgirls and we have tons of fun cutting the rug or stomping on the hardwood floor.
Last fall we had another very successful Fall Barn Dance up in a rural farm in Wonewoc, Wisconsin. The town is a couple miles west of Wisconsin Dells and Baraboo on Highway 33. The biennial event had an impressive geographical diversity of attendance that proved its popularity and also wove an amazing web of community camaraderie and fun in a pleasurable rural setting. Folks came from as diverse locales as Jamestown, North Dakota, Omaha, Nebraska, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and central Florida. Others came from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul in Minnesota, Hope Springs, Arkansas and neighboring northern Illinois. Locally in Wisconsin folks attended from Briggsville, Portage, Richland Center, Beloit, Janesville and good old Madison environs.
A coterie of early birds arrived on Friday to help clean up the barn, polish the dance floor, groom the tent sites, as well as prep ingredients for the sumptuous food and desserts that have been the tradition at the barn dances. We make it a full weekend of hiking, dancing, camping, campfires and star-gazing.
As usual, the food spread spanned four long tables, with huge cavernous refrigerators lined along the wall paneling holding assorted booze; beer, wine, soda and bottled water. We ate to our hearts content in several rounds as the dancing and easy lessons proceeded with much pomp and fun. Watching the crowd you would be convinced every worry was checked at home, as the cowboys and cowgirls (who are generally urban professionals and some young enterprising farmers still tilling the land and raising livestock in rural Wisconsin) had pure unadulterated fun, with gusto as they rhythmically shuffled their feet and swayed their hips to famous country and popular line dancing songs.
The highlight on the dance floor was a synchronized collaborative dance by the Wisconsin and Minnesota dancers to the song, “Hold Your Horses” choreographed by A.T. Kinson and Tom Mickers. While the Wisconsin group danced to one of our signature couple dances choreographed by Pierre Mercier called ‘Billy’s Dance’ to a song by the Olsen Brothers in a circular formation, the Minnesota group did an energetic and quite dramatic groove to the same song in the middle of the Wisconsin circular formation to the delight of everyone. The symmetry and synchronization were amazing even as both groups were doing different dances to the same song.
Dancing continued till midnight, when the conviviality relocated to a fire pit in front of the farmhouse for a bonfire. The bonfire was as exotic as it was romantic. Our fireman for the night Matt, ably assisted by myself kept stoking the blaze with steady supply of dry wood till 3am. The banter, ghost stories, beer swigging, fire jabbing and friendly ribbing were all complemented with Steve of Florida, armed with his guitar kept regaling us with great rock and roll songs, most of which were his original works. He knocked our socks off with his rich, robust mellifluous voice and his mastery of the guitar. And guess what, he is also a polyglot who speaks seven languages. We were impressed to learn that we had such talent, who has cut his own CDs among us.
When Mark from Omaha realized he locked his keys in his car, with all his belonging inside, Edna, one of the cowgirls that has a wide repertoire of ghoulish ghost stories quickly offered her Triple A service and arranged for a service truck to come up to the farm about 2am. A young Triple A service mechanic clambered up the hill to the farm in a huge truck and unlocked the car doors for Mark at 2.15 am. The mechanic recalled having come out to the farm three years ago for a similar service. I guess too much fun makes folks forgetful. He was cheerful and excited as we were for Mark who was not sure how he could have coped if Edna had not been so magnanimous. The next morning, all 30 of us who camped over night trooped out to the diner in the two-block downtown Wonewoc for breakfast, overwhelming the staff. We continued our banter amidst rural folks emptying out from church into the restaurant while the restaurant staff whipped up omelette, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage, toasts, muffins that assuaged our appetite and readied us for the drive back to our respective cities.
On all scores, the Barn Dance as always was another success and a good Wisconsin Fall season fun.
Ike
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Barn Dance: The Fire Pit
If you have not already gleaned this from my list of interests, well, I enjoy dancing and country western line dancing is high on the list of dances that I enjoy. In Wisconsin I dance with a bunch of cowboys and cowgirls and we have tons of fun cutting the rug or stomping on the hardwood floor.
Last fall we had another very successful Fall Barn Dance up in a rural farm in Wonewoc, Wisconsin. The town is a couple miles west of Wisconsin Dells and Baraboo on Highway 33. The biennial event had an impressive geographical diversity of attendance that proved its popularity and also wove an amazing web of community camaraderie and fun in a pleasurable rural setting. Folks came from as diverse locales as Jamestown, North Dakota, Omaha, Nebraska, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and central Florida. Others came from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul in Minnesota, Hope Springs, Arkansas and neighboring northern Illinois. Locally in Wisconsin folks attended from Briggsville, Portage, Richland Center, Beloit, Janesville and good old Madison environs.
A coterie of early birds arrived on Friday to help clean up the barn, polish the dance floor, groom the tent sites, as well as prep ingredients for the sumptuous food and desserts that have been the tradition at the barn dances. We make it a full weekend of hiking, dancing, camping, campfires and star-gazing.
As usual, the food spread spanned four long tables, with huge cavernous refrigerators lined along the wall paneling holding assorted booze; beer, wine, soda and bottled water. We ate to our hearts content in several rounds as the dancing and easy lessons proceeded with much pomp and fun. Watching the crowd you would be convinced every worry was checked at home, as the cowboys and cowgirls (who are generally urban professionals and some young enterprising farmers still tilling the land and raising livestock in rural Wisconsin) had pure unadulterated fun, with gusto as they rhythmically shuffled their feet and swayed their hips to famous country and popular line dancing songs.
The highlight on the dance floor was a synchronized collaborative dance by the Wisconsin and Minnesota dancers to the song, “Hold Your Horses” choreographed by A.T. Kinson and Tom Mickers. While the Wisconsin group danced to one of our signature couple dances choreographed by Pierre Mercier called ‘Billy’s Dance’ to a song by the Olsen Brothers in a circular formation, the Minnesota group did an energetic and quite dramatic groove to the same song in the middle of the Wisconsin circular formation to the delight of everyone. The symmetry and synchronization were amazing even as both groups were doing different dances to the same song.
Dancing continued till midnight, when the conviviality relocated to a fire pit in front of the farmhouse for a bonfire. The bonfire was as exotic as it was romantic. Our fireman for the night Matt, ably assisted by myself kept stoking the blaze with steady supply of dry wood till 3am. The banter, ghost stories, beer swigging, fire jabbing and friendly ribbing were all complemented with Steve of Florida, armed with his guitar kept regaling us with great rock and roll songs, most of which were his original works. He knocked our socks off with his rich, robust mellifluous voice and his mastery of the guitar. And guess what, he is also a polyglot who speaks seven languages. We were impressed to learn that we had such talent, who has cut his own CDs among us.
When Mark from Omaha realized he locked his keys in his car, with all his belonging inside, Edna, one of the cowgirls that has a wide repertoire of ghoulish ghost stories quickly offered her Triple A service and arranged for a service truck to come up to the farm about 2am. A young Triple A service mechanic clambered up the hill to the farm in a huge truck and unlocked the car doors for Mark at 2.15 am. The mechanic recalled having come out to the farm three years ago for a similar service. I guess too much fun makes folks forgetful. He was cheerful and excited as we were for Mark who was not sure how he could have coped if Edna had not been so magnanimous. The next morning, all 30 of us who camped over night trooped out to the diner in the two-block downtown Wonewoc for breakfast, overwhelming the staff. We continued our banter amidst rural folks emptying out from church into the restaurant while the restaurant staff whipped up omelette, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage, toasts, muffins that assuaged our appetite and readied us for the drive back to our respective cities.
On all scores, the Barn Dance as always was another success and a good Wisconsin Fall season fun.
Ike
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Boy oh Boy! Never in my widest dream would I have associated Ike with linedancing. Not to talk of dancing with cowgirls. Having said that though, I cannot wait for the opportunity to be a part of it. But that is only if Ike himself will be calling the dance. And only if he would promise to include some Akataka, Mkpokiti, Igba Eze, and Ekere Mgba calls.
ReplyDeleteJAK.