U.C. Folk Dance Club
Unofficial Website
|
The U.C. Folk Dance Club flourished from the mid-1960s til the 80s or 90s. It started out as the Hiking Club, and became a sponsored activity at the University of California at Berkeley, by Sunni Bloland in the Physical Education Department. We danced in beautiful spaces with wooden floors at Hearst Gym. Every Friday night was request dancing to records. In addition, there were classes two evenings a week, typically Monday night was a Beginners class and Wednesday was an Advanced night. Hundreds of people came and went each week, year after year.
Some landmarks: performing groups (Rusali, Parast), scholarships to camps, Sunni's Fullbright Fellowship to Romania, the spring Folk Dance Festivals (starting in 1971), I-House, folk dance weekends at Camp Gualala, Reconstitution in Spring 70, founding of the Ashkenaz, marriages, divorces, births, deaths, careers.
Note to the Aging But Still Game: I believe we are the keepers of the flame. This website is a whim, conceived and constructed a few hours after visits with Sunni, Bill Griffiths and Erik Schutter. Thanks to Susie Shoaf for the perennially amusing and amused Dancing Bears. Who would like to write a bit more of the history, and of the comraderie, which still exists today? We can take any number of stories, bios, photos and links, representing different eras of the Club, and who we were then and are now. How bout it? If you would like to take over this website, or add to / repair this one, please get in touch with me (see below). I'm a beginner html-er, so what you see is about my limit. -- Regards to all, Barbara (Turner) (Bouwsma) McOwen
A Few Links and Photos
Web Page Created: December 14, 2004 |
