Augusta announces square dance
ELKINS — Plans for a fun-filled evening with West Virginia musicians are in the works as The Mountain Dance Trail hosts its monthly square dance Dec. 9 in Myles Center for the Arts Pit Dance Studio on the college campus.
The event will feature music by Andy FitzGibbon and friends, with Mack Samples calling square dances.
“There’s nothing like a square dance to break up the hectic pace of the holidays,” said Becky Hill, events coordinator for Augusta Heritage Center. “It’s time to put on your dancing shoes and cut loose a little.”
A beginners’ workshop is set for 7:45 p.m., and the dance starts at 8 p.m. All dances are beginner and family friendly. Participants don’t need to come with a dance partner.
“These old dances are simple, anybody can do them,” Samples said.
Admission may be paid at the door.
Those attending should bring an extra pair of shoes for dancing.
FitzGibbon is an internationally known old-time fiddler who calls Montrose home.
He has won regional competitions for his fiddling at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival, the West Virginia State Folk Festival and the West Virginia Fiddle and Banjo Contest.
Accompanying FitzGibbon will be Nate Druckenmiller on guitar and Kevin Chesser on claw-hammer banjo. Both musicians hail from Elkins.
Samples, from Nicholas County, was awarded the Vandalia Award from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History in 2013 for his contribution to traditional music and dance in West Virginia. He and his wife, Thelma, annually teach more than 400 youth to square dance at Jackson Mill’s 4-H Dance Weekend.
The monthly square dances are part of The Mountain Dance Trail, a heritage tourism project of Augusta Heritage Center of Davis & Elkins College, which hosts a square dance almost every weekend in the heart of West Virginia. Square dances are hosted in Elkins the second Friday of each month from September to May. The next Elkins square dance will be Jan. 13 in the same location with Ben Townsend and friends providing music.
To learn more about square dances throughout the region, visit www.mountaindancetrail.org or call the Augusta Heritage Center at 304-637-1209.