The Madison Folk Ball is a major annual gathering of the various folkdance tribes of the Midwest -- recreational dancers, performers, teachers, musicians, and other folk artists. The festival was originated by and for many years organized by Madison's Eastern European folkdance ensemble Narodno. It is now organized by the Madison Folk Dance Club, a university student organization; sponsored by the
Department of Slavic Languages (University of Wisconsin); and supported by WORT-FM Community-Supported Radio, Madison Folk
Music Society, and others. Long ago the Narodno ensemble held a Christmas party, for which a date became ever harder to find. One year it turned out the bash would have to be in the second half of January and some inspired individual asked "Why don't we just throw a dance party, invite our friends, and sample all the different kinds of folk stuff being done in Madison?" So we did that and for several years it was a Madison community thing, but we carefully grew the celebration, gradually attracting people from an ever-growing chunk of the Midwest as we improved organization and communication, recruited a broader range of talents, added more and more live music, elaborated the schedule, and built a large, loyal, and broad-based clientele of folkdancers and dancelovers -- from contra-dance people to Hungarian fanatics. Participants have a strong sense of camaraderie and belonging, of festive reunion. At first the Madison Folk Ball took place all in one jam-packed Saturday at the Great Hall (formal ballroom) of the Memorial Union. Now we schedule events throughout the Union and offer a full weekend schedule. There was a tradition of gathering musicians (and dancers if there was room) for an impromptu evening-long Jam Friday night; this has itself developed into a major dance event. A Friday night contra dance, one of the premier events of its kind for the entire year, was added. Saturday workshops all through the day and a huge party that night are the central activities. In addition to dance workshops (the primary focus of the festival), the Madison Folk Ball may offer sessions on other arts and activities such as storytelling, singing, drumming, film, foodways, crafts, and such. Emphasis is always on active personal participation in the folk arts, with expert instruction, leading, and performance as inspiration to the community. Throughout this evolution some unusual principles have been generally recognized and
respected:
(1) Folk Ball events are offered free of charge,
(2) the affair is financed largely (sometimes entirely) by voluntary individual donations collected at the events,
(3) festival staff are all volunteers. In recent years an estimated 750 people attend Folk Ball events. Since there is no formal registration or ticket sales, we are not quite sure! The large-venue Saturday dance workshops attract over a hundred participants at a time, depending on the weather. Even
in the year of the 17-inch blizzard there were about 80 people at the morning workshop, and just under 500 at the big party. Midwestern folkdance enthusiasts are dedicated folks and the Folk Ball is their great gathering of the year! After two years at Union South, Folk Ball returns to its home in UW Memorial Union in 2018.
