Come square dancing: Saturday dance celebrates traditional arts | Lifestyles

All ages are welcome and no experience is necessary—the callers will teach the basics.

Elise Kelly received a 2023 Apprenticeship grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, to support her desire to learn square dance calling. The Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeships are an area of support from the Council, where individuals can devote dedicated time to study with master folk artists from their own community. As described in the guidelines, “Folk arts traditionally are transmitted from elders to younger generations in the same distinctive ethnic, regional, occupational, or religious community. Where the chain of transmission is no longer as strong as it once was, apprenticeships can stimulate the continuity of these traditional arts.”

The Kelly family of Perry Center has long been a part of the regional music scene, providing all kinds of music for dances, concerts, parties, anniversaries, and countless other public and private events for four generations.

Kelly’s Old Timers, formed in 1950 by “Woody” Kelly, is a well-known long-standing square dance band, and is still playing. Over the years the band has featured Woody on accordion and calling, his brother Roger on guitar; and, Woody’s son, Doug, on bass and calling, and Roger’s son, Eric, on vocals, keyboard, guitar and calling — along with local musicians, Guy Macaluso, Tom Kwiecien, and Keith Kruppner. Elise, Eric’s daughter, joined the band in recent years as vocalist and bass player.

Elise is excited to continue as the fifth generation of her family in this community tradition, feeling that “it’s the perfect time to pick it up.” With degrees in music and education, she loves the idea incorporating simple instruction into dances, to help teach and show the moves. As an educator for special needs preschool children, she has seen many connections with nonverbal and imitative learning that is important for that population, as well as for many age groups with diverse cognitive abilities.

As part of her studies this year, Elise was tasked with practicing calling and teaching dance figures in real time. Thanks to an arts in education grant received by the ACWC from the Conable Foundation, she had the opportunity to be a resident artist with the Warsaw Elementary fifth grade this fall. Elise and teachers from Warsaw attended a training workshop in the summer, facilitated by New York Folklore and Local Learning, which teaches traditional artists and teachers how to incorporate local traditions into the classroom curriculum. Every 5th grade student got the chance to learn about Elise’s love of her family’s musical heritage during classroom visits, and develop their interviewing and listening skills. They then learned some basic dance figures to live music.

Elise is looking forward to building more connections with younger generations through groups like 4-H, schools, and scouting, and utilizing social media to promote dancing and dance events.

The apprenticeship and dance are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the governor and the NYS legislature.