1

THE HISTORY OF BERKELEY FOLK DANCERS 1990-2016Written on the Occasion of the 75th Anniversary, September 2016by Emily Stoper

BFD members at the 75th Anniversary party on September 10, 2016

Berkeley Folk Dancers (BFD) has endured good times and bad over 75 years –and yet it has managed to sustain a remarkably active and high-qualityprogram of folk dancing. Its membership dropped from a high of 258 in 1990to unspeakable lows to the current 153 in 2016. It has survived a flood,several temporary evictions from its dancing home, a large rent increase, andother setbacks. Yet it still offers dance classes on four evenings nearly everyweek of the year, as well as a fifth night for requests and numerous parties.Teacher training and quality have become institutionalized into the club DNA.Its members enjoy an array of social opportunities that equal or exceedanything in the past. It publishes a monthly Bulletin with color picturesemailed to all members. Its sound system is state of the art. And itsmembership level has turned a corner and is gradually increasing. All this ismade possible by an extraordinary level of volunteer effort by its members.

2

This history will explain both the decline in membership and the continuingvitality of BFD, by exploring in detail many aspects of its life. You will read oftroubles and setbacks and of how BFD’s members tackled these challenges tosustain a club that is in many ways better than ever.Sit down, relax and prepare to learn about:• The changing character of BFD’s membership and its teachers• The efforts made to stem the decline in numbers and to ensure ourfinancial solvency• Continuity and change in the dance repertoire, in where and whenwe dance, and in our use of technology (especially for ourcommunications and for music equipment)• The many ways BFD sustained a dynamic program of special eventsand a strong sense of itself as a friendship group, even during aperiod of membership decline.This history is based on a close review of the BFD Bulletins and on interviewswith a sampling of active members. Both the Bulletin review and theinterviews were done by the research team of Barbara Close, Bill Lidicker andEmily Stoper. David Hillis selected and inserted the illustrations.A Little BackgroundBerkeley Folk Dancers was founded in1941. The fascinating story of its first 50years was written in 1991 by the lateMarianne Durand Frey; it can be found onthe website http://berkeleyfolkdancers.org/ .The original members were young adultsin their 20s and 30s who saw folk dancingas an exciting new activity, opening up apreviously undreamed of world of newdance forms and new music from other cultures. Membership grew rapidly

3

in the first few years, rising to 380 in 1979. As it grew, the number of dancenights and special events increased. The City of Berkeley sponsored the clubfor a number of years, and dues were extremely low. Until 1984, the club’sregular meeting place was the stone clubhouse in John Hinkel Park, whichhad a fairly small, sloping dance floor. Special events were held in a variety ofother locations. A great many current BFD practices and customs beganduring the first 50 years – multiple class levels, group selection of teachersand of dances for the repertoire at each level, gradual shifts in the repertoire,a very clear and informative method of posting the dances for an evening orevent, the practice of teaching every dance four weeks in a row, a weeklyrequest night, a teaching couple for each class, monthly members meetings(originally called “business” meetings), election of officers, etc. Thesepractices established a solid foundation for today’s BFD.Changing Character of Members and TeachersMembership began to decline before 1990; the drop continued fairly steadilyafter that. By the 1990s folk dancing no longer seemed like a hot new way todance. It had been displaced by free-form dance to rock music in whichpartners improvise while not touching each other, and also hip-hop, breakdancing, Cajun and zydeco, reggae, country and Western line dance, Africandance, and a host of other styles. Many young people preferred these newstyles, and so the average age of Berkeley Folk Dancers gradually edged up.Dancing at BFD grew somewhat less vigorous, which may have made the clubless attractive to younger folk. Ballroom dances like waltz, polka and swinghad been incorporated into folk dance, but they were no longer being dancedmuch by younger generations.BFD continually loses members who grow too old to dance or to drive at nightor who move away or pass away. Some of those are replaced by newmembers but in some years there are not enough newcomers to sustain orincrease membership levels.As the membership aged, it became increasingly female. Back in the 1940s70sBFD had been mostly a club for couples - but in the past 25 years (and more),

4

many more women than men were attracted to it. In part, this reflects broadsocial trends – the general decline in the percentage of adults who aremarried and the increasing independence of married women, who feel free toparticipate in whatever they like, whether or not their husbands areinterested. Since women tend to stay healthier longer and live longer thanmen, the ageing of the club also tends to shift the ratio in a female direction.A majority of the dances in the repertoire still require a partner, but gradually,as the percentage of men has declined, traditional couple dances have becomeless popular and therefore less prominent in the repertoire; set dances andprogressivedances are aspopular as ever.The old custom ofdoing waltzes andhambos duringintermissionnearly every nighthas largelylapsed. Manywomen, especiallyin the moreadvanced classes,have adapted to the shortage of men by learning the lead (“man’s”) part in awide range of dances. Square dances, instead of being nightly fare withfrequent live calling, have largely disappeared. Live calling has disappearedentirely.The repertoire today is a mix of old favorites – some, like Korobushka andScandinavian Polka, harking back to the early 1940s, others, like Hey Gidi orValle Shqiptare, just “collected” recently by master teachers or put together asa blend of traditional steps. Every year about a dozen new dances are addedand some are dropped or “banked.” Members often mourn the loss of theirfavorites but recognize that the constant renewal of the repertoire is what

5

keeps folk dancing exciting year after year – particularly for those who havebeen in BFD for many decades.BFD members dress differently for dancing than in the past. Nearly all womenused to wear skirts to every class, sometimes with embroidered aprons,peasant blouses and the like. Now many women regularly wear slacks to classand costumes are largely limited to parties and special events (where they arestill often quite splendid). These changes, of course, reflect a society-wideshift in the way women dress and in their adherence to traditional roles.

The character of the teachers has also changed. For many years, BFD’steachers were almost invariably married couples: Henry and Arleen Krentz,Carol and Clarence Crooks, Reva and Glen Ward, Bill and Eve Landstra, Bryceand Norma Anderson, Vance and Pauline Teague, Hugo and Pat Pressnall, BillClark and Helen Dickey, Claire and Al George, Bill and Carol Wenzel, Bill andLouise Lidicker, Lone and Lee Coleman. Later, in some years, men and womenwho were not married (to each other) were paired as teachers, such as: RickSherman and (at different times) Bev Johnson, Lone Coleman and Peggy Tao;Arleen Krentz and Henry Koopmann; Bob Raabe and Jane Dang; LoneColeman and Tom Sha; and Marija Hillis and Bill Lidicker.

6

Teachers in 2011, with Yaqi Zhang’s grandchildren Today, not a single pair of the current teachers is a married couple. There aretwo mix-and-match teacher couples (David Hillis & Marian Snyder and JeffLidicker & Marija Hillis), and two women at different levels (Yaqi Zhang andJudy Stonefield) who teach alone, occasionally calling on men for help. AndyPartos, the day class teacher, also works alone. In general, though, theteachers have followed the same trend toward more women as themembership as a whole – and as society as a whole, certainly in the oldergeneration.The quality of the teachers remains very high, but the shortage of maleteachers certainly leaves something to be desired.A few long-term teachers have been stabilizing forces over the past quartercentury, helping maintain the character and quality of teaching in the club, aswell as training and mentoring newer teachers. One thinks in particular ofClaire and Al George, Bill and Louise Lidicker, Lone Coleman, Judy Stonefieldand Yaqi Zhang.

7

A very positive new feature of teaching at BFD is the increasing use ofteaching by teams of more than two people. In the ‘90s, for a brief time, theBeginners Class was taught by a team known as the Fab Four: Cheryl Caraian,Norm Gelbart, Barry Gordon and Judy Stonefield. Since 2010, team teachinghas become a regular part of instruction at the Beginners and Intermediatelevel. At times as many as six people have each taught at least one dance in asingle class session. A new category, assistant teacher, has been introduced.Members of the teams are apprentices; some will become the great newteachers of BFD’s future.

2013 Beginner Class staff: two teachers, two assistant teachers and one teaching class repEfforts to Slow the Decline in Membership and Ensure Financial SolvencyMany members who love folk dancing have been alarmed by the downwardtrend in membership. A great many experiments were tried over the years toattract new members, especially younger members. When Peter D’Angelo first

8

became President of BFD in 2005, he convoked a series of lengthy specialmeetings to call attention to the decline in membership and to brainstormabout how to reverse it. These meetings definitely raised awareness. In theyears that followed, BFD tried a great many experiments, in addition to itsusual summertime practices of urging members to invite their friends andfamily, distributing fliers, dancing at the Solano Stroll, etc. (Recruitmenthappens mostly in summer because the annual new start of the Beginner classoccurs right after Labor Day.)Here are some of the experiments that were tried:Special Tuesday outreach classes during the summer of 2005Participation in Bay Area National Dance Week, every April beginning in2008Running an ad in Sing Tao (a high-circulation Chinese language daily) inAugust 2008 in order to attract more Chinese members, since many ofour most talented new members were Chinese immigrants; this ad useda $1450 grant from the Folk Dance Federation of California (which iscalled “the Federation” below)Posting large banners outside Live Oak Hall, initiated in 2010 by JudyCollierAnnual New and Returning Dancers festivals, 2010-2013 (co-sponsoredwith the Folk Dance Federation of Northern California)BFD business cards that members could carry with them at all times, soas to easily invite anyone they meet, initiated by Mel MannA Facebook page, initiated in 2012 by Cornelia GhafurFull scholarships for full-time college students, endowed in 2013 by MelMann (partial scholarships for part-time students were alreadyavailable)A daytime class to accommodate dancers who prefer not to go out atnight, initiated in 2015 by Big Wayne Phillips

9

And for years BFD members have been dancing in the street at theSolano Stroll [picture below]

None of these experiments have borne substantial fruit, although in 2012 BFDdid win the Folk Dance Federation Cup for bringing in the largest number ofnew members (17) among all the folk dance organizations in NorthernCalifornia.The most effective way to bring in new dancers has always been word ofmouth. However, with declining numbers, there are now fewer members toinvite their friends and acquaintances, so even this method is less potent thanformerly. More recently, the website has become a substantial source ofnewcomers.Some of BFD’s attempts to increase membership or save money have had anegative effect on the weekly request night.In the ‘80s, request night, which was always on Friday, had been the mostpopular evening, with 40-50 people showing up regularly. Request night wasespecially attractive to the club’s more advanced dancers, who knew thedances well enough to do them without having them taught. Then, in theearly ‘90s, in an attempt to make the club more attractive to beginners, the

10

first hour of the first Friday of each month was set aside for them and reviewsof dances were offered. Starting in 1995, the first hour of the second Fridaywas reserved for Intermediate and Advanced Intermediate dancers. That onlylasted for one year, but the special beginners’ Friday went on for many years.This caused attendance to go down on all Fridays, as many of the dancers wholoved Friday night stopped coming regularly.

Birthday Ball 2010Then, in 2005, request night was moved to Wednesday, so that the Beginners’class could dance on Friday, which was considered the more attractive night.That too lasted only one year. Workshops with master teachers were alsooften held on Friday nights, until the remaining Friday regulars protested. In1999-2000, there was an occasional “open teach” night where members couldsign up to teach a dance they’d learned elsewhere, in violation of the “noteaching” rule for request night. Then, in 2003, 2007 and 2013, there wereregular Family Dance Nights on Fridays to which parents and children were

11

invited for the first hour, with a great deal of teaching. These were begun inthe hope of attracting young parents to our regular classes. Later, the clubmoved fun nights to Friday night in order to save money, displacing somerequest nights. Every time Friday night or a part of Friday night was used foranything other than requests, regular attendance suffered.Today, after all these changes, request night has gone from being the mostattended evening to being the least attended. The many efforts to attract newmembers and to save money took their toll.Still, BFD did continue to attract new members every year – including somevery lively and enthusiastic dancers who have joined in recent years. It justdid not attract enough new members, in most years, to offset the ones wholeft each year.With the decline in membership came financial concerns. Fewer membersmeant less revenue in the form of dues or fees, while the major expenses –rent to the City of Berkeley for our dance space at Live Oak Hall and salariesfor teachers – stayed the same or went up. There was a substantial reserve,but leaders of the club knew it could not cover more than a few bad years andfeared the eventual bankruptcy and demise of the club.After much agonizing, there was a series of dues increases. Dues were $60 in1989. By 2015-16, they had been raised to $160. Each dues increase broughtin more income but resulted in some loss of membership. Some members hadcontinued to be members for years after they stopped dancing, as a gesture offriendship and solidarity. As the dues went up, they fell away. There was fearof a downward spiral.In 1992 the club decided to incorporate as a non-profit 501(c)(3) PublicBenefit organization, partly in anticipation that this would encouragedonations. Regular appeals for donations have become a feature of BFD, andmembers have been quite generous.Where We Danced

12

In 1991, Berkeley Folk Dancers had just moved to Live Oak Hall, afterdancing for six years at the former Jefferson School, a Berkeley public school

on Rose Street near Sacramento which is now the site of the Crowden School.Most members were pleased with the large wooden floor in a pleasantlocation in the middle of Live Oak Park. In 1993, the City replaced the floorcompletely with a brand new one with spring supports. This renovation wasbased on a refinished the floor.But trouble was in store for BFD. In 1996 the dance floor was accidentallyflooded by a broken water main. The City’s Department of Parks and

design that theclub convincedthe City to adopt.Bill Close [right, with Jacque Ensign]used hisarchitecturalcredentials toargue for ourcause. In mostyears since then,the City has

13

Recreation helped find other venues – Berkeley Veterans Hall, John HinkelClubhouse (where BFD had danced for over 40 years, until a fire drove it outin 1984), the Thousand Oaks School, Finnish Hall, St. Luke’s Church. Within afew months the club was able to return to Live Oak Hall, but the disruptioncost attendance and members.Then, in 2002-03, the City closed down Live Oak Hall for an earthquakeretrofit. BFD moved to the former Hillside School, which was then occupiedby the Berkeley Montessori School. Ironically, the Hillside School had beenshut down by the City because it was so close to the Hayward Fault that itcould not be made quake-safe. The City gave BFD several months’ notice ofthe shut-down, during which President Emily Stoper, along with two teachers,Claire George and Lone Coleman, conducted an exhaustive and increasinglydesperate search for a new temporary venue. This time, the City offered noassistance. The team of three found that many good dance floors were eitherno longer in existence or were far outside BFD’s price range.The Montessori space had a large sprung floor in a room that still displayedsigns of former grandeur – but after BFD moved in, members discoveredmultiple problems: the roof leaked directly onto the dance floor; when theschool held special events they periodically evicted that night’s folk dance,often with little notice; BFD equipment had to be stored in a very small spaceon a different floor from the dance room, so that setup was difficult andtimeconsuming. Worst of all, many members stopped coming altogether.Even though the school was not far from Live Oak Hall, they thought of it as“up in the hills.” Dancers did have to walk up a short hill and then an outdoorstaircase to get into the dance room. There was a large, permanent drop inmembership in that one year. On moving back to Live Oak in thefall of 2003, BFD members foundthat there were no noticeableimprovements. Instead, seriousdamage had been done: after acareless contractor had leftseveral open cans of paint

14

unsecured, vandals had come in and spilled large quantities of paint on thefloor, walls and mirrors (which had been donated to BFD in 1996). The Citytook no action to remove the paint spill, while it was suing the contractor. So agroup of BFDers, heroically led by Rick Sherman, painstakingly removed thepaint. A new heating and air conditioning system was installed but neverreally worked. The City also refused to let BFD rehang itsbeautiful banners, which had been designed and sewn during the ‘80s by agroup of women members led by Ruth Perry. They were rehung occasionallyfor special parties, but it wasn’t until September 2013 that they werepermanently re-installed. The City viewed these tapestries as advertising eventhough none had any words on them. Perhaps they also felt that the bannerswould be less attractive than the cinder-block walls to other groups wishingto rent the space.Then, in 2007, the City raised the rent substantially. Members rallied toattend a meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission, but to no avail. Inorder to avoid an even larger increase, the officers negotiated a reduction inthe hours of each dance night from 7:30-10:00 down to 7:45-9:45. Therewere warnings from the City that all equipment had to be stowed andeveryone out of the hall by 9:45 sharp, which meant that dancing had to endabout 10 minutes earlier.The following year, BFD actually lost one of its dance nights, Thursdays. TheCity believed that the evening would be better used (and perhaps bring inmore money) if it were rented out to other groups, and even threatened totake away another night in the near future. This turned out to be a disaster forBFD, requiring that it shrink its dance repertoire. The Advanced andAdvanced Intermediate classes were combined and a great many dances weredropped from both levels. The City tried a salsa class which was an abjectfailure. The City soon found it was largely unable to rent the space, which satvacant much of the time. The following April, Thursday nights were returnedto BFD, but the Advanced Class repertoire has never recovered, and some ofthe lost members never returned.

15

How BFD Remained StrongAnd yet, in spite of all these setbacks, BFD remains a vibrant organization. Itis still active 5 nights a week, it still offers many extra events, and it has evenbegun to grow again. How can its continuing vitality be explained?Technology Helps to Save BFDThe past 25 years have seen extraordinary worldwide improvements intechnology. Thanks to some very tech-savvy members, BFD’scommunications and recorded music systems have improved enormously.These improvements surely helped attract and retain members.The first innovation was a website, www.berkeleyfolkdancers.org founded byEd Malmstrom in 1996. The website was gradually upgraded over the years,thanks to Ed and to the current webmaster, Tom Sha. Today it includescalendars, contacts, photos, and, in the special Members Area: the music,write-ups and (some) video links to all BFD’s dances; important documents;all issues of our electronic Bulletin going back to 2006; and many other items– including, of course, this new history.

16

At the same time, the monthly Bulletin greatly improved in its attractiveness,readability, and ease of access, as well as content, while its costs of productiondropped steeply. In the 1980s, the Bulletin had been a mishmash of typedarticles and camera-ready copy, some of it from laser printers, some fromdotmatrix printers. The editor had to lay out the Bulletin and then paste it up.Then, in the 1990s, little by little, all articles came to be written on wordprocessors and emailed to the editor, who then laid them out using desktoppublishing software.A huge change began in February 2006, when David Hillis began producing anonline version of the Bulletin, which included everything that was in the printversion plus photographs of BFD parties and humorous and beautiful danceillustrations culled from the Internet. First Hellen Quan and then Andy Partosacted as volunteer staff photographers, providing a wide array of marvelouscolor photos. The online Bulletin also included a series of profiles of BFDmembers, which had been too expensive to include in the print version, whereevery page cost extra money. Members gradually came to prefer this excitingnew version of the Bulletin.www.berkeleyfolkdancers.org

. February 2016VOLUME 74, NUMBER 2

BulletinA publication of BERKELEY FOLK DANCERS -- America’s largest folk dance club

Dancing six times a week, fifty weeks a year Now in our 75th year

_______________________________________________________________________________

17

By 2012 nearly all members were receiving the Bulletin online - but BFD wasstill paying a photocopy store 72 cents apiece to produce over 100 copies.Arnie Stoper realized that this was an unnecessary expense, as he could easilyprint out a small run on his computer - just enough for the few people whosubscribed to the paper Bulletin plus a few extras. Starting in May, Arnieupgraded the paper Bulletin by reprinting all the material in the onlineBulletin, including member bios and photos (albeit in black and white). Evenwith these new features, he still produced each paper Bulletin far morecheaply than the copy store. Since BFD was struggling with deficit spending,the savings were very much welcomed.The Bulletin continues to publish a list of all the dances slated to be taught inthe coming month – and in addition David Hillis emails out a list of the dancesto be taught each week, as well as a weekly newsletter especially for theBeginners’ Class, not to mention periodic announcements and reminders.The improvement in communications has had a very positive impact.Everyone is better informed, attendance at many events has improved, andmembers have a stronger sense of connection to the club, which in turn leadsto enthusiasm for volunteering.Perhaps even more important, technology has contributed to an improvementin the quality of our recorded music. This is of crucial importance to a danceclub that only occasionally offers live music. In the 1970s, BFD had graduallytransitioned from phonograph records to audiocassettes. Some of therecordings were transferred to CDs in 1999 but these were hardly ever used.BFD effectivelyskipped a wholegeneration ofmusic technology.In 2008 it was stillusingaudiocassettesalmostexclusively. That

18

year, under the leadership of Tom Sha, BFD switched to a digital music player[above, with teacher Al George]. All the music was downloaded, so that it could beaccessed instantly. No more heavy, awkward crates crammed with tapes!Suddenly, we could have at our fingertips many more choices of music for thedances in our repertoire as well as the music for far more dropped dances(which are still danced on request nights).The next step was to improve sound quality by acquiring a new audioequalizer system and new speakers. In 2014-15, under the tenaciousleadership of Judy Stonefield, BFD hired an acoustics expert from UC Berkeley,who recommended exactly how to upgrade our system, after which the Clubpurchased and installed the new equipment. Sound quality improvedmarkedly.Special EventsBFD from the beginning has offered its members many special events, inaddition to the class levels (which gradually climbed to four) and the requestnight, which began very early on. Twenty-five years ago, in 1990, there weresix parties every year, mostly on Saturday nights: four “fun nights,” each onesponsored by one of the classes; an Inaugural Ball (affectionately called theIBall) at which each year’s new members and new officers were inaugurated;and a Birthday Ball (or B-Ball), complete with dinner, celebrating the foundingof the club in 1941.Today, in spite of the decline in membership, the Club still offers the same sixdance parties every year, plus three new ones: a Live Music night since 2007,organized by Peter D’Angelo; a Ceilidh organized by Neil and Judy Collier; andthe all-day Festival of the Oaks (co-sponsored with the Folk Dance Federationand complete with lunch, an exhibition by an outside dance group and anInstitute taught by a guest teacher), organized since 2005 by Mel Mann andhis hard-working team. The 2012 Festival is pictured below.

19

These dances are all joyous occasions. Members dress up in their finestcostumes. Live Oak Hall is splendidly decorated. Delicious finger foods arecontributed by members. And we dance the night (or day) away.There are also one or two workshops each year by invited master teachers.These are usually held on a class night, but all BFD members, as well asnonmembers, are invited to attend.BFD also rings in the New Year together every year in a party that has formany years been organized by Judy Stonefield. The City doesn’t allow the useof alcohol on its property, but BFD members never need it, even on NewYear’s Eve. Dancing gets us high! For many years (until he moved away),DanaKemp, a brilliant musician, played his trumpet as everyone sang “Auld LangSyne” just after midnight. It always feels wonderful to mark the passage oftime with old friends who share the pleasures of dancing.

20

In the 1990s and the early 2000s, I-Balls and Birthday Balls took place offsitebecause they typically attracted over 100 people and Live Oak Hall just wasn’tbig enough. I-Balls usually took place in January at the El Cerrito CommunityCenter, whereas Birthday Balls were held in the spring at a variety oflocations that offered dinner as well as an extra-large dance hall: the GalileoClub, the Colombo Club, St. Luke’s Methodist Church, Primavera, Spenger’s,etc. The Birthday Ball drew 118 dancers in 1996! (Today the Inaugural Ball isheld every year in October and the Birthday Ball is held in January, after wemodified our dance calendar year.)The off-site locations required a lot of special arrangements, including haulingthe traveling music-playing equipment, setting out food, and creatingdecorations away from Live Oak. Sometimes, there were unexpected snags.Two years in a row, 2007 and 2008, BFD members were locked out of LeonaLodge when its owner, the City of Oakland, reneged on its promise to send anemployee to unlock the door for the Inaugural Ball. This caused much tearingof hair by the respective presidents who were the organizers, Peter D’Angeloand Emily Stoper. In 2007 someone from the city finally arrived, 45 minutesafter the start time. Volunteers pitched in to set up lightning fast and thosewho attended got in a full evening by dancing until 11:20 (parties usuallyended at 10:30). In 2008, no city employee ever arrived to open the door andeager dancers were able to enter only because David Gan had the brilliantidea of walking around to the back of the building, where he found anunlocked door! Needless to say, Leona Lodge was scratched off the list ofpotential party venues.Soon afterward, BFD leaders realized that with our smaller membership wedidn’t need to go to all the trouble of traveling offsite. We could enjoy our

21

parties at homein Live Oak Hall.A great deal ofcreativity,perhaps morethan ever, waspoured intodreaming upthemes,decorating thehall and pullingtogethercostumes.Themesincluded: MadHatter’s Tea Party; Summer of Love [above]; Friday the 13th; Roaring 20sDanceasy (1920s theme; think “speakeasy”); the Turkey Trot (in November, ofcourse); Evening in Moscow; Odds and Ends; and Baubles, Bangles and Beads.One of the most memorable parties was the 2012 I-Ball, with the theme Yearof the Dragon, organized by Suzanna Yeh, Greta Chang and Lillian Wang.There were long red wavy dragons, Chinese posters, red lanterns, good lucksigns, red envelopes containing real money, and fabulous Chinese food: potstickers and spring rolls, fortune cookies, lucky candies, homemade red beanand date soup, orange “fish” crackers, and much more. BFD had beenattracting a number of Chinese immigrant members for years – and that nightthey shared with the other members a glorious sampling of their culture.

22

Not all Special Events were parties. In September 1991 Bill and LouiseLidicker introduced The Experimentals, a half hour of dancing (7:15 to 7:45)before the beginning of the Advanced Class. This was a program intended toprovide enriched teaching of both repertoire and non-repertoire dances in thehopes that this would not only improve the participants’ enjoyment of thesedances, but also generate future teaching leadership. The program recessedafter June 1992, but then was reinstated in September 1994, and that time itcontinued through August 1995.For many years, every September, BFD members had been doing dancedemonstrations at the Solano Stroll [below], a major street festival in Berkeleyand Albany, in hopes of attracting new members. Mel Mann started thesedance demonstrations, and for many years Ed Malmstrom was the spark plugwho made them happen. Beginning in 2013, Marian Snyder and CorneliaGhafur joined with Ed to make the event more exciting by adding a Maypoledance and then training a group to do the demos instead of leaving it towhoever showed up.

23

The club was also invited to perform at Jack London Square in Oakland incelebration of Columbus Day (or Indigenous Peoples Day, as it’s now called inBerkeley) in 1992 and again in 1995. The teaching for these events was led byBill and Louise Lidicker.In May 2016, under the leadership of Marija Hillis and Bill Lidicker, BFDorganized the major Statewide Dance Festival sponsored by the Federation - afull weekend of Institutes, demonstrations and parties that drew a largenumber of folk dancers from all over the state [below]. The event was highlysuccessful. This was another sign of BFD’s continuing vitality and thecontinuing energy and creativity of its volunteers.

24

BFD as a Friendship ClubBFD has always been more than a place to dance; it is very much a friendshipclub. Friendly activities are woven into every dance evening and even intomeetings where business is done; several out-of-town social and dance eventsare officially sponsored; and there is a great deal of offsite unofficialsocializing, both structured and unstructured.The atmosphere at dance evenings is always friendly. Newcomers and guestsare warmly welcomed. People chat with each other on the sidelines whileresting between dances. Most members know each other’s names (though theattractive name badges aren’t actually worn much). Delicious baked goods areprovided for every session of the advanced class by Judy Stonefield. Abirthday cake is provided once a month at request night for everyone whowas born in that month (a custom started in 1998 by Henry Koopmann).Thanks to Susan Carter’s efforts, those who are ill receive get-well cardssigned by many others. Monthly members’ meetings in members’ homes areusually preceded by a potluck dinner (a custom started in 2006 by PeterD’Angelo) and followed by a hosted reception – both of which are attended bynearly everyone who comes to the meeting.

25

Perhaps not surprisingly, a great many long-term couples have met at BFDand then (in many cases) gotten married. One thinks of Bev and Ernie, Johnand Clem, Andy and Cornelia, Norm and Elayne, Bill and Lenore, Walter andMarianne, Bill and Barbara, Jeffand Helen, Rosemarie and Joe.Some of those weddings werefolkdance parties to which thewhole club was invited. Therehave even been memorial servicesthat featured a great deal of folkdancing, as an important part ofthe celebration of a life.[Jeff, Helen, Andy andCornelia]The club has also sponsored major offsite social events. Beginning in 1984, alarge group of members participated in the annual Tamalpa Fall Fling; the lastone was held in 2007, after which BFD lost its Alpine Club sponsor. The eventwas founded by Claire George, and many others worked hard to make itsuccessful. Members gathered on a Saturday morning, usually in September,at the Alpine Lodge on Mt. Tamalpais, hiked down to Stinson Beach, spent acouple of hours on the beach, reconvened at the lodge to jointly cook andconsume a delicious themed dinner and then spent the evening folk-dancing.Some drove home afterwards; a few stayed overnight at the lodge.Since 1982, many members have been attending the annual folk-danceweekend at Monte Toyon Camp in Aptos. This is a full weekend (Fridayevening to Sunday midday, on the 3rd or 4th weekend in January) involvingmany hours of themed folk-dance workshops and parties, as well as hiking,singing, game-playing, jigsaw puzzles, etc. The event was founded by the lateBill Clark and his wife Helen Dickey and has been organized for a great manyyears by Naomi Lidicker and her team [group photo from 2016 below].

26

Besides these club-sponsored events, BFD members have created numerousother occasions to socialize. Probably the most ambitious of these was theDance on the Water international folk-dance cruises, started in 1984 by MelMann and his late wife Paula and continued by Mel and his new wife Estheruntil 2014, when it was handed on to David and Marija Hillis. Mel and Estherhave also generously hosted New Year’s Eve dinners at their home (precedingBFD’s party) for many years, and they invited the entire club to their 80thbirthday celebrations.Beginning in the 1970s, many BFD members vsisited Max Horn’s ranch inMartinez for a day of folk dancing every 4th of July, until Max’s death in 2011.

27

For a number of years, a group of BFD dancers regularly visited the AlbatrossPub together after request night and other evenings; another group wenthiking together in Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park; others goskiing together or attend singalongs or invite each other to dinner parties.Each of these events knits the club together in friendship and affection.ConclusionAt the end of the 2015-16 dance year, BFD can congratulate itself on twomarks of very real progress: two straight years of increases in membership(after many years of decline) and three straight fiscal years that ended in theblack (after many years of mostly red ink). The vigor of BFD’s traditions, thehard work of its numerous volunteers, the warmth of members’ relationships,and their innovative spirit have all combined to turn the club around. Lookingahead to the next 25 years, one can easily imagine a time when these samestrengths will once again introduce the joy of folk dancing to many futuregenerations. Author Emily Stoper

Appendix I: Photo CaptionsPage 4 – Greta Chang and Hellen QuanPage 5 – Helen Brown, Jeff Lidicker, Stuart and Jody Offer

28

Page 6 - Yaqi Zhang, her granddaughters Sophia and Melinda Lin, JudyStonefield, Claire and Al George, Tom Sha, Lone Coleman, Bill Lidicker;Kneeling: Marija HillisPage 7 – Cornelia Ghafur, Marian Snyder, David and Marija Hillis, Bill LidickerPage 10 - Val Simonetti, Jim Gierszewski, Judy Stonefield, Bill LinkPage 15 – Claire George, Andy Partos, Ed MalmstromPage 17 – Al GeorgePage 19 – Dana Kemp on trumpet; Sondra Reinman, Hellen Quan, Yaqi Zhang,Marija and David Hillis, Mary McManus, ?, Emily and Arnie Stoper, CarolynAtherton, Cornelia Ghafur, David Gan, Ruthie Gasser, Dan Reckers, EvelynBermanPage 21 - Suzanna Yeh, Hellen Quan, Cindy Shen, Greta Chang, Lillian Wang,Yaqi Zhang, Katherine XiaoPage 24 – Jeff Lidicker, Helen Brown, Andy Partos, Cornelia GhafurAppendix II: List of Past Presidents1990 - Marianne Durand1991 - Morgan Harris1992 - Barbara Close1993 - Emily Stoper1994 - Hank Lewis1995 – Susan Alcorn1996 - Ed Malmstrom1997 – Ed Malmstrom1998 – Ruth and Lewis Perry1999 – Val Simonetti2000 – Clem Underhill2001 – Rick Sherman2002 – Emily Stoper2003 – Ed Malmstrom2004 – Naomi Lidicker2005 – Peter D’Angelo2006 – Peter D’Angelo2007 – Emily Stoper

29

2008 – David Hillis2009 - David Hillis2010 - Neil Collier2011 - Neil Collier2012* - Neil Collier (Jan.-Aug.) and Peter D’Angelo (Sept.–Dec.)2013 - Peter D’Angelo2014 - Peter D’Angelo2015 - Emily Stoper2016 - Emily Stoper2017 - Art Woodworth*In 2012, officers’ terms were changed from calendar years to dance years(Sept.-Aug.).