For the 5th straight year, I was asked to emcee at a stage at the Northwest Folklife Festival. While that may sound prestigious, trust me, they'll take anyone.
But, it was pretty cool to be assigned to "The Roadhouse". That's what they re-name Fisher Pavilion during the festival, and it's home base to partner, contra and square dancing. People come to Seattle from around the world, just for the contra and square dancing at Folklife!
I talked to a man from Florida, a woman from Australia, another woman from Germany and a couple from England. All planned their vacations around the dancing at Folklife.
The video above was taken during my emcee shift. I had the pleasure of meeting this remarkable young woman named Charmaine Slaven. Usually when you think about square dance callers, a grizzled old dude comes to mind. Somebody who's been around since dirt was young.
This young woman is helping to revitalize the square dance art form in, of all places, Ballard! Her twice-monthy square dances at the Tractor Tavern are bringing 20-somethings to, of all things, square dancing! I'm doing a feature story on her, which you'll hear in a couple of weeks.
She sports a barbed wire tattoo around her upper arm, wears a plastic mesh farmers cap, and clog dances while she's calling the dance. And she's FANTASTIC! She was completely confident, and was thrilled to be teaching the steps to hundreds.
You never know what you'll get at Folklife. This was a very pleasant surprise.
