WBEZ: Jane Austen Ball

 

WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio) did a story on the Chicagoland West ECD Jane Austen Ball held this past weekend:

 https://www.wbez.org/books/2025/12/16/jane-austen-250th-birthday-regency-ball-chicago-suburbs

Chicagoland English Country Dancers | An account of our Jane Austen 250th birthday ball aired on public radio station WBEZ this morning | Facebook 

 

Looks like it's also on the Sun-Times website:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/books/2025/12/16/jane-austen-250th-birthday-regency-ball-chicago-suburbs 

 

WBEZ Curious City: Square dancers are trying to get more Chicagoans to do-si-do

WBEZ radio story about square dancing:

 https://www.wbez.org/curious-city/2025/09/24/square-dancers-are-trying-to-get-more-chicagoans-to-do-si-do

 "Square dancing was once so popular that the Chicago area had a dedicated center. It’s waned in popularity, but local clubs are keeping it alive. 

...

In Chicago, you could find square dances throughout the week. Paul Collins, a sought-after caller for square dancing and folk dancing, remembers learning to dance in the 1950s by watching his parents..."

 

9/30/25 UPDATE: a second episode about square dancing:

https://www.wbez.org/curious-city/2025/09/25/friendship-set-to-music-curious-city-goes-square-dancing-on-the-south-side

 "...square dancing’s African and African-American roots often get lost in popular accounts. Some of the first callers and musicians were enslaved Black people..."

NPR: The right way to 'Slavic spin'

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/30/nx-s1-5429574/the-right-way-to-slavic-spin Here are some examples from TikTok videos:

https://www.tiktok.com/@arius.s/video/7499600640516066578

https://www.tiktok.com/@zpitaghkrakus/video/7509523740204551446

https://www.tiktok.com/@mearinas/video/7507332050219715848

NPR/WBUR World Music Story

Around timestamp 3:45 they talk about Eastern European and Roma music

Listen to radio stations from all over the world

 If you like to listen to world music, and are looking for a way to fritter away some time, check out  this website that was referenced in Dave Barry's Blog, of all places, that lets you listen to radio stations streaming from countries around the world:  https://radio.garden/search

Some of them have nice ethnic music to listen to (or dance to), and of course the ones with spoken words could be good if you're working on comprehension of another language...  You can search for a country, or a keyword like "folk" .

 

Chicago Barn Dance 100th Anniversary events

Update: If you missed the live radio broadcast, you can listen to it online here:  https://www.wfmt.com/programs/folkstage under the "List to Recent Episodes" heading.

Update: WLS Barn Dance Centennial Recorded Live at The Hideout will be broadcast on WFMT radio FM 98.7 on Sat May 11, 2024 at 8:00pm  https://www.wfmt.com/2024/05/11/wls-barn-dance-centennial-recorded-live-at-the-hideout/

Update: Here's youtube clips of the Apr 15 WGN Spotlight Chicago segments with Paul and some other dancers you might recognize:

Paul Collins' weekly email for the Virtual Dance Room included the following special events celebrating 100 years of country music in Chicago and the 100th anniversary of premier of the Barn Dance radio program:

• Apr 15 (Mon) - 3:00pm - to 4:00pm CDT
• "Spotlight Chicago" WGN-TV celebrates 100 years of country music in Chicago
• The theme of this "Spotlight Chicago" show is timed to coincide with 
• The centennial of the broadcast of the first episode of the WLS Barn National Dance   
• The WLS Barn Dance re-creation shows sponsored by the Chicago History Museum to be held at The Hideout in Chicago on Saturday afternoon and evening April 20
• The release of Mark Guarino's book "Country and Midwestern" which tells the story of Chicago's role in county music - who points out that without Chicago and the National Barn Dance, there might not have been a Nashville or Grand Ole Opry today.
• A group of Chicago Area Folk Dancers and Traditional Square Dancers will demonstrate a dance as part of this program
• https://wgntv.com/spotlight-chicago/

• Apr 20 (Sat) - 5:00pm & 7:45pm CDT
• A re-creation celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1st broadcast of the WLS National Barn Dance produced by the Chicago History Museum and WFMT-FM-98.7
• At the Hideout, 1354 West Wabansia Ave, Chicago, IL 60642, 773.227.4433 - Tickets: https://hideoutchicago.com/
• Two performances recorded for broadcast in May by WFMT
• 5:30pm - First Performance
• 7:00pm - Audience participation Square Dancing called by Paul Collins
• 8:30pm - Second Performance

NPR: Science Magazine's 2024 Dance Your PhD: Kangaroo Time

"Science magazine's annual contest "Dance Your PhD" invites grad students to present their research through dance. This year's winner, Weliton Menário Costa, showcased his work on kangaroo behavior." 

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/05/1236075487/a-dance-contest-let-this-grad-student-share-his-research-and-celebrates-his-iden

NPR: Syrian Cassette Archive Online

 https://www.npr.org/2022/10/03/1126589744/the-syrian-cassette-archive-preserving-a-disappearing-history

 

 

WFMT: Classical Music to Dance To

 https://www.wfmt.com/2022/07/06/classical-music-to-dance-to-playlist/

WBEZ: Aztec dance group

Drawn by drums and incense, Pilsen residents are finding strength and joy through Aztec dance

https://www.wbez.org/stories/an-aztec-dancing-group-in-pilsen-finds-strength-and-joy/48e5006f-18cd-47c8-b22c-affaca2d504b

NPR: Return to Tango After Lockdown

 

NPR: Altin Gun's New Album 'Yol' Reimagines Old Turkish Folk Songs

 https://www.npr.org/2021/03/16/977928961/altin-guns-new-album-yol-reimagines-old-turkish-folk-songs

 

NPR: 2021 Dance Your PhD Contest Winners

Not exactly folk dance, but still...

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/10/975338555/watch-the-winners-of-the-dance-your-ph-d-contest-make-cloud-formation-catchy

 

 

 

More from other categories in this link:  https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/watch-winners-year-s-dance-your-phd-contest

NPR: Kitka

NPR: Bulgarian Choir

http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/08/07/bulgarian-female-choir-boocheemish

NPR: The Folk Music Festival That Started With A Spider Bite

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' 

 

Mayim-Mayim, Ricky Holden, and Japanese video games

Listening to PRI's The World on the radio, I heard familiar music and an interesting story -- it starts at about time 40:25:

It refers to this article "How an Israeli Folk Song Became A Hit on Japanese Video Game Soundtracks":
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/242738/jewcy-mayim-mayim

"...Seriously, everyone in Japan knows “Mayim Mayim.”
"How did this happen? It began in the post-WWII occupation of Japan, led by General Douglas MacArthur. As part of the (admittedly somewhat forced) cultural exchange, the United States decided to teach the youth in Asia folk dances. They enlisted the aid of Rickey Holden, a prominent square and folk dance-caller, scholar, and educator..."

If you search for "Mayim Mayim Anime" in youtube, you find an amazing number of clips:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mayim+mayim+anime 
Who knew?

PRI's The World: Remembering Esma Redzepova

Just heard this sad news on the radio:

Esma Redžepova, the prominent and versatile Roma singer dubbed the "Romany music queen," has died at the age of 73...

http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-12-12/remembering-esma-red-epova-romany-queen-song

PRI "The World": Bhangra Nova Scotia Style

http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-09-28/check-out-bhangra-beach-nova-scotia-style