T-Acadie (Courtesy photo)
It gets dark early in late September, and the community is invited to hold back the night at a contra dance during Wiscasset Art Walk on Thursday, Sept. 28. Wiscasset Art Walk runs from 5-8 p.m. and the dance party begins around 6:30 p.m. under the tent on Water Street.
Contra dance band T-Acadie will play the tunes and call the dances, but will first give contra dance lessons so everyone knows the steps for dancing together. Contra dancing is a form of folk dancing similar to square dancing, but with people forming lines, facing each other, and changing partners throughout the dance. Singles invited.
According to T-Acadie member Pam Weeks, contra dancing is very family friendly. The littlest kids can stay with parents or guardians and dance with them as one, she explained, and for older kids who dance alone, more experienced dancers will gently guide them through the steps.
Admission to the dance party is free. Jodie’s Cafe, Bakery, and Restaurant will provide food for sale, and Water Street Kitchen and Bar will be selling adult beverages. To mark 10 years of Wiscasset Art Walk, celebration cupcakes are free until they run out.
The three members of Maine’s T-Acadie, Weeks, Bill Olson, and Jim Joseph, have been playing together for more than 25 years. They play Quebecois, Acadian, and Cajun French dance music from North America, and songs from Maine and New England, Appalachia, and the South. They play old-time tunes, reels and jigs, sea shanties, and original tunes written by Weeks.
All members are multi-instrumentalists, playing some combination of fiddles, guitars, accordions, banjo, mountain and hammered dulcimer, cello, mandolin, piano, ukulele, bass, flute, and saxophone. They sing a cappella and harmonize.
For more information, go to wiscassetartwalk.org or email wiscassetartwalk@verizon.net. Wiscasset Art Walk is a program of Wiscasset Creative Alliance.
