Fox Valley Folk Festival CANCELLED

Posted this morning on the Fox Valley Folk Festival website:

--- 2007 FESTIVAL CANCELLED!! ---
Island Park Is Under 6 Feet of Water From Record Rains! We Have
Desperately Tried To Relocate, But All Viable Options Are Flooded,
Unavailable At Short Notice, Or Don't Have Parking. On August 24
We Were Reluctantly Forced To Cancel The Festival For This Year.
Please Help Spread The Word & We'll See You in 2008.

Oconomowoc camp Sept 14-16 - no Fri. dance here Sept 14

Since so many of us will be going to the folk dance camp in Oconomowoc Sept. 14-16, we will NOT be dancing in Downers Grove that Friday night, Sept. 14. Other than that, we will be dancing every Friday in the foreseeable future, including the Friday before Labor Day Weekend (Aug. 31). Teaching at Oconomowoc will be: Dit, Edie, Darice (from Racine), and our own Jay. I scanned the flyer into the computer and I'm going to try to attach it to this post, but I'm not sure how well it will work, I'm guessing not too well - you should be able to pick out the basic info, though.

September Camp in Oconomowoc Sponsored by Lake Geneva Folk Dancers

JOIN US FOR A FUN-FILLED WEEKEND OF FOLK-DANCE, WORKSHOPS & EVENING PARTIES including programmed dancing, request sessions, with workshop review on Sunday morning. ALL LEVEL DANCERS ARE WELCOME! No partners needed!

WHERE: OLIN-SANG-RUBY UNION INSTITUTE (OSRUI) in Oconomowoc, WI.

(It is located2-1/2 hours from downtown Chicago or approximately 45 miles west of Milwaukee, WI)

WHEN: September 14-16, 2007 Check-In Time: Friday 4:30 p.m ... on? Dinner: 6:00 p.rn.; camp concludes Sunday after lunch.

COST:

$150.00 PER PERSON i[paid in full by August 24 -- $160 after August 24.

The camp facilities are located on beautiful grounds situated next to Lac La Belle. Dancing takes place in a large gymnasium in the Sang Sports Center. Six (6) meals are served in the Dining Hall (dinner Friday through lunch Sunday). Accommodations: Double occupancy rooms with private bath -- kitchen facilities and lounge are in the same building for our use.

CANCELLATIONS: Prior to August 30, 2007: $150. less $25.00 (non-refundable registration fee).

After August 30, 2007: no refund will be given unless a suitable replacement is available.

*** I[you need to cancel- call Jill Carlson- 1(708) 748-5108 or Dit Olshan - 847/966-9888***

*** We reserve the right to cancel the September Camp in Oconomowoc weekend. In such case, all payments will be refunded in full. ***

CONTACTS: COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON:Jill Carlson 1(708) 748-5108 email:angelajillcarlson@hotmail.com Dit Olshan (847) 966-6888 email address-dit32l@aol.com

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --(cut here)

REGISTRATION FORM - September Camp in Oconomowoc September 14 -16, 2007

Please do not put more than one person or couple on this registration form. You may duplicate this form NAME(S)

Street

_

City

State

Zip code

_

Phone Number: Home (

)

. Work/Cell (

Email Address

E-mail address in the syllabus? Yes

1

No

Housing: I would like to room with:

Special Needs?

_

Fee Schedule:

1. Prior to August 24th: Number ofpersons __ ~ x $150.00
2. After August 24th Number ofpersons x $160.00

3. Grant and/or music donation:

$--­ $--­ $---

4. TOTAL AMOUNT OF CHECK ENCLOSED

$

Mail the registration form and check for full payment to the address provided.

Make your check payable to:

Mail to:

LAKE GENEVA FOLK DANCERS Darice Griffin

2901 Washington Ave. Racine, WI 53405

Sad News - Sue Lofton

I didn't know the Loftons, but perhaps some of you do:

> From: Carey S
> Subject: Re: News from Paul C

> For those that don't know, Nate and Sue Lofton led the Francis Parker
> folk dance group for many years, a very friendly dance that was IMHO
> probably responsible for more new international folk dancers (at that
> time) than any group outside the University of Chicago.
>
> My apologies if this is a duplicate message.
>
> Paul C wrote:
> > Dear Carey:
> >
> > I'm sorry that I was not able to reach you by phone and had to give
> > you this information via email
> >
> > I'm sorry to bring you the sad news that Shizu "Sue" Lofton passed away
> > quitely on Sunday, August 5, 2007.
> >
> > Sue had been under care for the last 2+ weeks for breathing difficulties
> > and was in hospice care. Sue was with Nate, family members and close
> > friends when she died at approximately 4:05pm on Sunday.
> >
> > There will be a memorial service for Sue from 1:00pm to 3:00pm [Sat. Aug 11]
> > at the United Methodist Home, 1415 West Foster (5200N), Chicago 60640.
> >
> > In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to the
> > White Crane Wellness Center in her name - Shizu "Sue" Lofton:
> >
> > White Crane Wellness Center
> > 1355 West Foster
> > Chicago, Illinois 60640
> >
> > Please pass this information on to those you think might want to know.
> >
> > Sincerely,
>
> --
> Carey 

Fri Aug 3 dance list

Above is the dance program from last night, as photographed by my real camera, which has a viewfinder and flash and everything.

In case anybody is curious about what came out of my $10 toy camera with no viewfinder or flash, a couple of those photos are below:




The difference in resolution is much more obvious on the computer, where the photo from the real camera is 1163x866 pixels even after cropping it down some, vs. the supposed "high resolution" setting on the tiny toy camera, 352x288 pixels. The process of posting the photo to the blog reduces the size/resolution considerably. I must say, the toy camera did pretty well in terms of exposure, though perhaps at the expense of a too-long shutter speed, assuming the blur in the second photo is due to camera shake rather than focus. Well, this isn't supposed to be a photography blog, I just wanted to learn how to post photos to it, and now I have. Sort of...I had to edit the raw HTML to get the photos sort of where I wanted them, and the text isn't exactly positioned very well. But, good enough...

Lasmagi Djasmagi Cocek/Kyuchek

Susan listened to the chorus of the Lasmagi Djasmagi Cocek/Kyuchek over and over and phonetically transcribed the words. Here they are (in very approximate phonetic form), in case you want to study up so you can sing along:

Lasmagi, Djasmagi
Discoteki, Maraponi (Maretoni?)
Chocolati, Marzipani
Pepperoni, Macaroni
Gasponi, Masponi
Tonkaloni, Monkaloni
Aquadoni, Maquedoni
Get up, ooh, get up, ooh

BTW, that music is performed by Orkestar Zornitsa on this CD:
Svatbarski hora, rachenitsi i kyuchetsi - Milena Records MR 200001-2

I ordered it on-line from balkanfolk.com in Bulgaria (using a pre-paid Visa gift card, since the idea of using my credit card on-line still makes me nervous), and was quite pleased with the service. They notified me by e-mail as soon as it was shipped, and told me to contact them if it didn't arrive, and it arrived (via Bulgarian Post and registered US mail) in about a week, no problems. It's also available at music-bulgaria.com
which is where I found the sound clip I linked to above.

Doing a google search for "lasmagi", I also found this interesting site: cocek.com which has such interesting titles as "Darth Vader Kyucheck" and "Robocop Kyuchek" .

Intro - Fridays 8pm Downers Grove IL

The Argonne International Folk Dancers meet most Fridays as follows:

 Time: 8:00pm - 10:30pm
Place: St. Paul's United Church of Christ
Address: 5739 Dunham Rd., Downers Grove, IL, 60516
Requested Donation: $3
More info: lindaandjay@comcast.net

Click here for a map

Enter the church on the lower level, from the parking lot (plenty of parking). We're usually in the Fellowship Hall, to the right as you enter, but about one week a month we meet in a classroom, to the left of the entrance, when the Fellowship Hall is in use for something else.

We do a variety of recreational folk dancing -- lines, circles, sets, couples; Balkan, Israeli, Greek, Armenian, Turkish, English, Country, Novelty, etc.; at varying energy levels. All ages welcome. No partners necessary. Wear comfortable shoes.