& BACDS Family Dance Camp
PRESENT
Spring Into Motion
A Family Dance for All Ages
Join us in warm community to celebrate spring's arrival through folk dancing in community!
All ages welcome, no dance experience required.
Learn fun, easy to learn traditional dances with Revels teaching artist Susannah Mackintosh and our artistic director, Jeri Reed!
Dancing together, we create community through celebration.
WHEN: March 22nd, 3:00 - 4:30PM. Doors open at 2:50 PM
WHERE: Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1606 Bonita Ave, Berkeley
WHAT TO BRING: Water bottle, comfy clothes and shoes to move in.
Optional: Potluck food or beverage to share
We'll have time at the end to socialize
Q: May I bring my child?
A: Yes! This event welcomes families and people of all ages to dance together! Children join for free. The cost you see is per adult ticket.
Co-sponsored by California Revels and the Bay Area Country Dance Society's Family Week camp
About the Spring Equinox
As a moment of equilibrium between light and dark, the Spring Equinox represents harmony, transformation, and potential. Join us in warm community to celebrate new life with time-honored traditions, as we dance together to welcome Spring.
Imagine this...
If you've seen our stage productions or listened to our albums, you've already experienced the Revels spirit - a village of caring people, connecting around a shared intention to honor the turning of the season's wheel. A village who sings together, dances together, and "dearly loves our friends".
This contra dance gathering invites you to viscerally experience the magic that is Revels from the inside, as we come together in care, camaraderie, laughter and music, to savor the musical traditions that make Revels special.
What We'll Do
- Learn easy to learn folk dances from English, Celtic and American Folk traditions, taught by Revels artistic director Jeri Reed and lead actor Susannah Mackintosh.
- Enjoy rousing live musical accompaniment by associate music director Anne Bingham Goess on fiddle and Craig Johnson on piano.
- Learn songs of the season with children's music director Noe Venable.
- No dance or singing experience is required for this welcoming, family friendly event.
Supporting the Revels
The ticket cost for this event will be $25 per person, no-one turned away for lack of funds. Proceeds benefit the California Revels, a registered non-profit. We are fundraising to produce our yearly large scale theatrical production in celebration of the winter solstice.
Little known fact - our December shows are wildly popular (this year we sold our seven shows with a waitlist). Still, ticket sales cover less than 10% of our operating costs. For the remainder we rely on grants, donors, and the support of our community.
Every time you pay to attend a Revels event, and/or make a tax deductible donation, you help keep the Revels alive.
Thank you for supporting the Revels!
About the Teaching Artists
Susannah Mackintosh has been a lead actor for the California Revels, as well as spending years as a Revels parent! Susannah is a teacher, actor, and dancer, leading nature connection camps and workshops as well as working with homeschoolers. She also celebrates and appreciates her Scottish ancestry, while acknowledging the many difficult parts of that legacy, especially in regards to white supremacy and imperialism in the U.S. and around the world. Susannah leans into the joyful gifts of culture and community connection, while striving to create the world she wants for her children. She especially thanks her father for raising her in the music and folk dance of Scotland!
Anne Goess is a fiddler and singer in the San Francisco Bay Area who plays a variety of styles, from trad Irish fiddle to English Country Dance and Contra, currently playing for dancing with The Flagstones, and with the acoustic folk band Erica & Friends. She sings with California Revels, where she also serves as associate music director.
Noe Venable has been a soloist and lead actor for the California Revels, for which she also serves as children's music director. An award-winning music educator, Noe teaches singing as a technology of reconnection to Self, other, and the more than human world. She leads two non-auditioned community choruses, Mothersong Chorus for Women and Nonbinary Folks and Forest Voices Children's Choir.
Also an ordained interfaith minister, Noe’s warm, nurturing teaching style makes singing accessible to persons of all levels of confidence and ability.
Jeri Reed is the artistic director for the Revels. For our winter 2024 production, "A Celtic Celebration of the Solstice," Jeri wrote the script, directed the production, and choreographed the folk dances, drawing on her many years of experience leading contra dance on both costs. Also an astronomer, Jeri worked for many years on the Hubble telescope.
Kind Words
This gathering draws on the talent pool of the Revels and Bay Area Contra Dance Association Family Dance Camp. The following testimonials are drawn from these organizations.
The Revels has been a part of my life since I was 4 years old. I've gone to more shows than I can remember, and I just keep coming back. It wouldn't be winter without the Revels.
- Gabriel (San Francisco) on the Revels holiday production
Every year, my family and I look forward to this lovely celebration, and days later we are still humming tunes and skipping around with true Revelry in our hearts.
- Brechin (San Francisco) on the Revels holiday production
An amazing experience! The young adults who have grown up at this camp are evidence of a very special community.
- Folk dance campers, describing their experience
BACDS Family Week - a Dance Camp for Families!
BFUU sits on the unceded land of the Muwekma Ohlone. We pay respects to the Ohlone as a the original tenders of this land.