Episode 35 - Margaret Bary

amazing we were talking a little bit before the recording got going just kind of thinking about all the different ways that you have learned about and participated in and experienced both dancing and teaching dance it's just such a rich palette that you have available to you and i'm curious going from creative dance or modern dance you know into our sort of world of participatory traditional dancing what was that like for you did it stand out as being a totally different thing compared to you know your early introduction to dancing what clicked for you

Well, I think first I was engaged with the sword dancing because there were a lot of skills to learn.

It was very demanding.

And it is performance oriented.

Yes.

So in that realm, that was very familiar.

Rehearsing, working on details.

Yes.

talking to each other to make things work smoothly, hearing the music and matching the dance to the music.

So then Contra was just an experience of joy and the swinging and the connection with partners, and that kind of connected back to my love of square dancing as a child.

But the English then, I think, really captured my interest in terms of some of the technique behind it, the skill level, and how to dance well and what makes it work.

So, yeah, I just loved English dancing and how it matched the music and the variety, the choreography, the pathways, the different possibilities in space.

Yeah,

wonderful.

Wonderful.

So then will you take us a little bit more into how you started taking on more roles as a dance teacher? I think you said you were already kind of doing it in school with children, but then your connection with CDSS camps opened some doors.

And what roles were you drawn to in that world? Right.

So I

started going to Campers Week.

We had two children aged eight and ten at the time, so perfect age for a family camp for Campers Week.

And at Campers Week, I came in contact with other teachers of children and we, in addition to learning the community dances and all the workshops I was learning from at camp, I also made connections with colleagues.

And we would have teacher swaps and share ideas.

And of course, I had a lot of creative dance background at that point.

So I had some of that material to share.

But then I took all the and community dances and play party and finger plays.

amazing we were talking a little bit before the recording got going just kind of thinking about all the different ways that you have learned about and participated in and experienced both dancing and teaching dance it's just such a rich palette that you have available to you and i'm curious going from creative dance or modern dance you know into our sort of world of participatory traditional dancing what was that like for you did it stand out as being a totally different thing compared to you know your early introduction to dancing what clicked for you

Well, I think first I was engaged with the sword dancing because there were a lot of skills to learn.

It was very demanding.

And it is performance oriented.

Yes.

So in that realm, that was very familiar.

Rehearsing, working on details.

Yes.

talking to each other to make things work smoothly, hearing the music and matching the dance to the music.

So then Contra was just an experience of joy and the swinging and the connection with partners, and that kind of connected back to my love of square dancing as a child.

But the English then, I think, really captured my interest in terms of some of the technique behind it, the skill level, and how to dance well and what makes it work.

So, yeah, I just loved English dancing and how it matched the music and the variety, the choreography, the pathways, the different possibilities in space.

Yeah,

wonderful.

Wonderful.

So then will you take us a little bit more into how you started taking on more roles as a dance teacher? I think you said you were already kind of doing it in school with children, but then your connection with CDSS camps opened some doors.

And what roles were you drawn to in that world? Right.

So I

started going to Campers Week.

We had two children aged eight and ten at the time, so perfect age for a family camp for Campers Week.

And at Campers Week, I came in contact with other teachers of children and we, in addition to learning the community dances and all the workshops I was learning from at camp, I also made connections with colleagues.

And we would have teacher swaps and share ideas.

And of course, I had a lot of creative dance background at that point.

So I had some of that material to share.

But then I took all the and community dances and play party and finger plays.