Park Avenue Contra Dance

05/29/2026

A little delayed, but here is a clip and some photos from a waltz break at our dance this week! Thank you again to Bill Quern, Sarah Gowan, Lisa Wildman, and Ingelora Parks for your beautiful music!

05/13/2026

Thank you for a great evening everyone! Stephanie was so busy having fun dancing that she only remembered to take one picture (the brave people who made it to the end, here!), so if you took a picture please send it to her 😅 With new faces from Swarthmore College and the larger community we had a wonderful long line of dancers. Thank you to the fantastic By Ear Open band, and to Jared Bishop and to Scott Higgs for calling awesome dances. See you in two weeks: May 26th.

05/04/2026

We’re not dancing this week but come dance with us next week, May 12th! Also, please save the date for our exciting 🌟TECHNO🌟 contra dance on June 23rd! 💫🪩🌈

04/29/2026

A big thank you to Yesterday's Pierogies for their music last night—lovely and energetic even as they were coming back from NEFFA (New England Folk Festival last weekend)—and to Rick Mohr for beautiful, smooth, and fun dances. It was a particular joy to see JOYE, who couldn't resist dancing after weeks of recovery—we were all very gentle with her ☺️

04/15/2026

A big thank you to everyone who came out to dance (in air conditioning💨) last night! The By-Ear Open Band made beautiful, high-energy music as always. And a special shout out to Jeff Kaufman from the fabulous band Kingfisher, out of Boston—we were so happy to have you dance and play with us! Check out their music, and also our video of the adorable pod of waltzing musicians 💞
https://www.kingfisherband.com

03/25/2026

Thank you to Cristian Clothier and Live Wire 5 for a great dance last night! It was a delight to hear your tunes and watch Cristian pick through his box of dances for unusual patterns we could try 💞

02/25/2026

Park Avenue Community Center is sponsoring an Irish Dance workshop on March 14... contra dancers, check it out!

Get tickets online for Irish Dance Workshop here.

11/23/2025

People had lots of fun dancing and picnicking to 4 straight hours of great live music. Chloe, Rick, Bill & Sarah, you are awesome!

Any families that want more -- DM us. We might start a "Barn Dance" that is child friendly, maybe 6 or 7 Sunday afternoons a year. -- similar to https://www.facebook.com/MountAiryBarnDance/

Send a message to learn more

07/23/2025

Jeremy serenaded us with his splendid sax and clarinet playing tonight as we bid him farewell. One leaves, another one drops in from Berlin, and another visits after 7 months of travel on the other side of the globe... Goings, comings, the dance holds us all.

01/25/2025

Park Avenue hosted quite a party with CDSS board members last night! Here's Diane Silver calling with SPUDS. David Smukler also called.

The performances by GCD's Colonial Assembly, Fiddlekicks, and Kingsessing Morris were a delightful demonstration of the different threads that connect to the contra dancing of our time. (And no, you may not bring big sticks into the hands 4 next week.)

Many people worked backstage and front stage to make this night happen, and then so many of you showed up. I noticed some generous contributions to the top hat also. Thanks everyone.

📷I didn't take many photos so please post yours in the comments.
--Jenny