Chgo Trib: Couple Who Found Love Later In Life... on the Dance Floor

 

Article begins:  "Sanna Longden and Clint Seely were in their 70s when they met in 2016 at a dance at the annual Door County Folk Festival..."

Here's the link if you have a subscription:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/14/seniors-find-love-later-in-life/ 

Here's a shareable link that hopefully lets you read the article without being stopped by the paywall, at least for a while:  https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/14/seniors-find-love-later-in-life/?share=cie0pteioma2wecipioi

 

Folk Dancing appeared twice in Sunday Chgo Trib

 

Reading yesterday's Tribune, I came across the words "folk dancing" not once, but twice!  Here are links to the articles:

Downsizing? Take Your Hobbies With You - Chicago Tribune Special Advertising PrimeTime

and

 Folk schools want to be more inclusive. Here’s how the 1st one in Illinois plans to make it happen. – Chicago Tribune

In case either of those links doesn't work, for paywall or adblock reasons, here are the relevant clips (the photo above is from the "PrimeTime" special advertising section, as is the following highlighted clip):

 And the next clip is from the article about The Farms Folk School, which will be opening at Allerton Park, in Monticello, IL, west of Champaign:

Chicago Summerdance returns Aug-Sep 2021

 https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/chicago_summerdance4.html

Select dates, August 18 – September 15, 5:30–7:30pm except where noted, Citywide, Free Admission

Dancers of all ages and skill levels are invited to take part in family and creative activities from 4:30–5:30pm and introductory dance lessons by professional instructors followed by live music and dancing from 5:30–7:30pm except where noted. Schedule, parks, and themes are:

• Wednesday, August 18 at Willye B. White Park, 1610 W. Howard St. (Reggae)
• Wednesday, August 25 at Ogden Park, 6500 S. Racine Ave. (Steppin’)
• Wednesday, September 1 at Palmer Park, 201 E. 111th St. (Line Dancing)
• Wednesday, September 8 at Davis Square Park, 4430 S. Marshfield Ave. (Cumbia)
• Sunday, September 12 (Note the time: 1–6pm) at Rainbow Beach Park, 3111 E. 77th St. (House) — presented as part of the House City series
• Wednesday, September 15 at Portage Park, 4100 N. Long Ave. (Salsa)

Chicago SummerDance In Place on Youtube

In July there was a stay-at-home version of Chicago SummerDance, now available to watch on youtube, with some episodes also available on the WTTW website.  Despite being so close to Chicago, I'm embarrassed to say I was unaware of this until I saw an item about it on Dale Adamson's blog.

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/chicago_summerdance.html
https://www.youtube.com/ChicagoDCASE
https://schedule.wttw.com/series/31262/Summerdance-In-Place/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ9kKRKc1Y--3rDqKK7FpTGNgVRKYfOeq

MSI Chicago Xmas Around the World

Charles will be performing Welsh dances with the Fermilab folk dancers as part of the Museum of Science & Industry Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light celebration, on Saturday Nov 23.  The detailed schedule isn't posted yet, as far as I can tell.

https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/christmas-around-the-world/

WBEZ: Chicago-invented dances Aug 24 Cloud Gate Plaza

Curious City on WBEZ 91.5 FM public radio is sponsoring a dance event of dances invented in Chicago, such as Polka Hop, el Pasito Duranguense, and Footwork.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

4:00pm – 6:00pm

Free Admission

The City of Chicago's SummerDance Celebration - Cloud Gate Plaza 201 E Randolph St 60602 Chicago , IL 

https://www.wbez.org/events/chicago-moves-learn-chicagoinvented-dances-with-wbezs-curious-city/6069

 https://www.facebook.com/wbez915/posts/join-curious-city-on-august-24-for-a-fun-and-free-afternoon-of-dance-at-cloud-ga/10157328818026000/

https://www.facebook.com/events/436731873547400/

Chicago Summerdance June 27-Aug 24, 2019

The Summerdance schedule is up on the City of Chicago Website:

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/chicago_summerdance.html

Here are a few of the more folk-y listings:

Wednesday, June 26, 6–9pm – Contra & Square Dance

• Golden Horse Ranch Band (Contra & Square Dance)  

• Annie Coleman (Square & Contra Dancing, Line Dancing, Polka, Waltz)

Sunday, June 30, 4–7pm – Folk Dances & Music from India

• Ishti presents Pulse of India: An Evening of Folk Dance and Music
• Ishti Dance (Bhangra, Raas-Garba, Kalbelia, Ghoomar, Sambalpuri)

Sunday, July 7, 4–7pm – Eastern European Folk Dancing

• Dardania (Albanian Folk Music)
• Altin Naska (Balkan & Eastern European Folk Dances)

Saturday, August 24, 1–8pm
SummerDance Celebration – The Grand Finale!
Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph St.
A full day of participatory and professional dancing throughout Millennium Park on the Great Lawn, Cloud Gate, Wrigley Square and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

MidEast Dance Party Thur Jun 13, 2019 Chicago

Raqs Hafla: Free MidEast Dance Party
Date & Time: Thu, Jun 13, 2019 from 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Location:

Green Briar Park

2650 W. Peterson Ave., Chicago, IL 60659
https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/events/raqs-hafla-mideast-dance-party-green-briar

Where Rivers Meet: Arabic music Sun Apr 28 Chicago Cultural Center

Sunday, April 28 • Free Admission • 2-4pm
Chicago Cultural Center, Preston Bradley Hall, 3rd Floor South

Chicago Folklore Ensembles explores the music and stories of three master musicians from Iraq, Egypt, and Palestine.

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/folklore_ensemble.html
 http://www.chicagofolkloreensemble.org/repertoire/where-rivers-meet/

EDC Romanian dancing Summerdance Sun July 22

Received from Paul:

Chicago SummerDance Program of

Romanian Folk Music & Dances

Sunday, July 22, 2018 – 4pm to 7pm

A Taste of Romanian Folk Culture

• Dance Lesson: 4–5pm
• Dance lesson by Paul Collins - Ethnic Dance Chicago (EDC)
• Romanian & Balkan Folk Dances

• Live Music & Dancing: 5–7pm
• Music by Laurentiu Feraru and his Gypsy Fusion Band
• Romanian Folk Music

• Chicago SummerDance
• Spirit of Music Garden – Downtown Chicago (Michigan Avenue & Balbo Drive)
• 601 South Michigan Avenue - Chicago, IL 60605
• www.chicagosummerdance.org

A Free Event, sponsored by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE)

Check out EDC’s Online Regional Events Calendar

• Details of upcoming events always available at the click of a mouse:
• www.ethnicdance.net/calendar/

Join and Follow EDC in Social Media Networks

• Group Page: www.facebook.com/groups/ethnicdance/
• Fan Page: www.facebook.com/ethnicdance/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/ethnicdanceguru/
• Meetup: www.meetup.com/ethnicdance/
• Blog: https://ethnicdance.wordpress.com/    

Greater Chicago Jewish Festival - Sun June 10

Greater Chicago Jewish Festival
Sunday, June 10, 2018 • 11:00am to 6:00pm •
 St. Paul Woods, Cook County Forest Preserve in Morton Grove, IL •
 Suggested Donation $5
Schedule is here: https://jewishfestival.org/festival-day/
Includes lots of music, and community Israeli dancing at 5:15 Sunday
 

Chicago Summerdance 2018 Schedule available

Chicago Summerdance starts Thursday, June 28 -- complete schedule (subject to change) is posted here:

https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/chicago_summerdance0.html

Looks like EDC is doing Romanian Sunday, July 22, at the Spirit of Music Garden

Sunday, July 22 - Romanian Folk Music & Dances

• Lorenzo Feraru and his Gypsy Band (Romanian Folk Music)
• Ethnic Dance Chicago (Eastern European & Balkan Folk Dances)

www.ethnicdance.net/  I  www.facebook.com/ethnicdance  I  twitter.com/ethnicdanceguru

Xmas Around The World, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

The Annual "Christmas Around The World and Holidays of Light" at the Museum of Science and Industry is coming up, with loads of ethnic dance performances throughout.  Here's a link to the schedule of events:
https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/christmas-around-the-world/events/december-events/
Charles will be performing with the Welsh dancers on Saturday, December 16.

WBEZ Curious City: Dances invented in Chicago

WBEZ Curious City feature about dances invented in Chicago - click on first link below to listen to it, the rest of the links are videos.

Which Dances Were Invented In Chicago?

 

Polka Hop

Cha-Cha Slide 

Pasito Duranguense 

Footwork

Steppin' 

 

Summerdance - EDC Balkan dance - Sat Aug 26 Millenium Park

From Paul:

Chicago SummerDance (21^st Edition) Invites You To an Hour of Balkan & S.E. European Dancing
with Ethnic Dance Chicago

Circle/Line Ethnic Dance-Off Celebration

Saturday, August 26, 2017
3:00pm-4:00pm

Great Lawn – Jay Pritzker Pavilion - (Downtown Chicago)
201 E Randolph St  –  Chicago, IL 60602

Free and Open to the Public

(Less expensive parking lots on State St between Balboa and Congress and on Wabash Ave)
(More expensive Parking lots on Michigan Ave – Millennium Park & Grant Park Underground Garages)
(Convenient for travel to Downtown on CTA’s Downtown Stations on Wabash, State and Dearborn)

Balkan and South East European Circle & Line Dancing

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) has invited Ethnic Dance Chicago to lead an hour of Circle and Line Dances as part of Chicago SummerDance’s big celebration called the Summer Dance-Off, which will feature many types of dance events throughout Millennium Park on Saturday, August 26th.

While this event is open to the public, the targeted audience is the International Folk Dance Community (IFD) and Balkan & South East European Ethnic Communities from all over Chicagoland and the Midwest.

We are asking you to help spread the news of this event by word-of-mouth, email, telephone, etc. (and by any means possible) so that we can get a huge turnout. This is the only opportunity for our communities to join together and do circle and line dancing as part of this year’s SummerDance Program, so let your families, friends and colleagues know about this and ask them to help us get a large crowd of dancers and observers for this event.

We’ve been asked to run this event like a SummerDance program in Grant Park, so there will be some basic dance instruction (for new dancers) mixed in with open dancing (for experienced dancers) throughout the hour.

NOTE: This event is the same weekend as the Greektown Festival, so plan to attend this hour of Circle & Line Dancing at Millennium Park before or after you go to “A Taste of Greece”.

Other Dance-Off Events (at various times that afternoon) include:

·     Dance-Off Finale Competition, from contestants who showed off their footwork and steppin’ skills at a series of amateur competitions conducted in Eight Neighborhood Parks throughout the City this summer.

            ·        Millennium Park Dance Village, featuring various local dance companies and advocacy groups with performances and booths For Additional Chicago SummerDance Info visit: www.chicagosummerdance.org

Chgo Tribune: SummerDance article

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/dance/ct-summerdance-dance-card-ent-0712-20170711-column.html

"...The 21st edition of SummerDance is also getting a significant upgrade as the popular evening event including instruction in a variety of partner dances accompanied by live music expands from its longtime home in Grant Park's Spirit of Music Garden to include satellite events in neighborhood parks all over the city. Also new this year is the SummerDance Celebration, to be held Aug. 26 in Millennium Park. The all-day dance festival boasts cultural dance lessons, an expo of local arts organizations hosted by Audience Architects/SeeChicagoDance, and the final rounds of the first-ever SummerDance-off, a competition featuring amateur performers of two homegrown dance styles: footworking and steppin', which is a Chicago-style evolution of West Coast swing...

 SummerDance continues through Sept. 10, Fridays through Sundays in the Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park, and Thursdays and Saturdays at eight neighborhood parks throughout the city. The SummerDance Celebration runs noon to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 26 in Millennium Park. All events are free. For more information and the full schedule of all SummerDance-related events, visit www.chicagosummerdance.org."

NOTE: The Aug 26 Summerdance Celebration includes this event, among many others:

Paul Collins, Circle Dance Lesson on the Great Lawn, Jay Pritzker Pavilion
3–4pm
This circle dance lesson, led and DJed by Paul Collins on the Great Lawn of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, will encompass Central and Eastern European folk dances and will be a family-friendly, all-ages experience.

Fortune Cookie, Chicago Summerdance

Had lunch today at an Asian restaurant, this was in my fortune cookie:

Speaking of which, here's the link for Chicago Summerdance:  http://chicagosummerdance.org/
The details aren't up yet, but here are the dates:
Fridays-Sundays, June 23-September 10, 2017 • Grant Park, Spirit of the Music Garden Saturdays & Thursdays, July 13-September 14, 2017 • Eight Neighborhood Parks throughout the City

Update: The schedule is up now: https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/chicago_summerdance6.html

A few that look interesting:

• July 5, 6-9pm Irish Folk Music + Dancing Bua(Irish Folk Music) Trinity Irish Dance (Irish Folk Dancing) Part of Taste of Chicago
• July 16, 4-7pm Italian Folk Music + Dancing Newpoli(Italian Folk Music + Dance) Newpoli will teach Pizzica, a traditional tarantella from Apulia called “Salento”
• Sept. 3, 6-9:30pm Contra + Square Dance Volo Bogtrotters (Country and Square Dance) Paul Tyler (Caller)

Chicago Sun-Times: 'Therapy Tuesday' polka party dies after 23 years

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/therapy-tuesday-polka-party-dies-after-23-years/

"...Almost every Tuesday since 1993, a group of polka fans has met in Chicago for a morning of lively dancing. They’re so fond of it, members call their get-togethers “Therapy Tuesdays.”..."

Chicago Turkish Festival Aug 24-27, 2016

Chicago Turkish Festival
Aug 24-27, 2016, 10am-6pm
Daley Plaza
50 W Washington St
Chicago, IL 60602
http://www.chicagoturkishfestival.com/events.php

Chicago Summerdance 2016

June 24 - September 11, 2016 • Spirit of Music Garden, Grant Park, Chicago • FREE
chicagosummerdance.org

The detailed schedule isn't up on the official website yet, but we've heard about the following events so far:

July 10 -  4pm-5pm: John & Galia, Balkanske Igri will be teaching, followed by Romanian music with Nicolae Feraru, free event associated with Taste of Chicago

Friday Aug 19 -  Chicago SummerDance features Joe Kirin's KGB Band with EDC Teaching 6:00-7:00, Dancing 7:30-9:30 - Free  Spirit of Music Garden, Michigan Ave & Balbo Dr, (601 S Michigan Ave) Chicago IL 60605 EDC may meet at the Latvian Center after this event