COVID safety policy is evolving. Details might change minute-by-minute.

UPDATE: As of October 1, 2023, BACDS COVID policy no longer requires masking for anyone. N95-equivalent masks are still strongly recommended while dancing. There is no vaccination card check or testing requirement. Individual dance series may have more stringent requirements, so please click through to the series page before choosing to attend. For details check the COVID Safety Guidelines page.

Today's Dance:

Saturday, June 29: CONTRA at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Chris Page with George Paul, Ben Jackson, Steve Kemble More Info

Upcoming Events

Saturday, June 29: CONTRA at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Chris Page with George Paul, Ben Jackson, Steve Kemble More Info

Sunday, Jun. 30 - Friday, Jul. 5: BACDS American Dance and Music Week - advance registration required (CONTRA/CAMP/SPECIAL) at Quaker Center in Ben Lomond.
It's a Dance Camp! It's a Music Camp! American Dance & Music Week (AmWeek) is back with a 5-day camp in the redwoods north of Santa Cruz. Callers Chris Page and Alexandra Deis-Lauby, bands Potent Brew (George Paul, Ryan McKasson, Steve Kemble), Alex Sturbaum & Hayden Stern. Dance sessions for dancers, music sessions for musicians, in our new location. Advance registration required. See https://amweek.camp for more information

Friday, July 5: Special last dance of AmWeek blowout ( CONTRA/SPECIAL/CAMP ) at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Chris Page, Alexandra Deis-Lauby with Potent Brew, Hayden Stern & Alex Sturbaum [WA]: George Paul, Ryan McKasson, Steve Kemble, Alex Sturbaum, Hayden Stern - American Week blowout dance - AmWeek talent, open to the public, AmWeek campers included in their camp fee. Friday night! More Info

Friday, July 5: ENGLISH at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Bruce Hamilton with Cat Taylor, Richard Page - English dancing for all - dance 7:30-10:00 More Info

Thursday, July 11: ENGLISH at Christ Church Berkeley in Berkeley. Ric Goldman (Portland, OR) with Rob Powell, David Mostardi, Bill Jensen - English dancing for all - newcomer lesson at 7:15; dance 7:45-10:00 More Info

Friday, July 12: REGENCY/ENGLISH at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Lise Dyckman with Divertimento More Info
Presented by the BACDS and the Bay Area English Regency Society.

Saturday, July 13: CONTRA at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Ric Goldman (Portland, OR) with Lee Anne Welch, Rebecca King More Info

Saturday, July 13: ENGLISH at St. John's Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. Steve White with Cat Taylor, Robin Lockner, Craig Johnson, William Allen More Info

Sunday, July 14: ONLINE/ENGLISH at online in the cloud. Sharon Green with Recorded Music by Odd Sundays Garage Band and others More Info

Wednesday, July 17: WOODSHED at Los Altos United Methodist Church in Los Altos. Maybe you? More Info

Upcoming Special Events

Saturday, August 10: Another Jane Austen Ball ( REGENCY/ENGLISH/SPECIAL ) at Odd Fellows True Fellowship Lodge #52 in San Jose. Alan Winston with Divertimento Dance Orchestra: James Langdell, Paul Kostka, William Allen…and friends
Presented by the Bay Area English Regency Society.

Friday, Aug. 16 - Sunday, Aug. 18: Balance the Bay Contra Dance Weekend ( CONTRA/CAMP/SPECIAL ) at Janet Pomeroy Center in San Francisco. Maia McCormick, Jacqui Grennan with Countercurrent, Riptide: Alex Sturbaum, Brian Lindsay, Alden Robinson, Owen Marshall, Baron Collins-Hill, Mark "Pokey" Hellenberg More Info

Monday, August 19: Special Monday-after-Balance-the-Bay dance ( CONTRA/SPECIAL ) at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Yoyo Zhou with Countercurrent: Alex Sturbaum, Brian Lindsay More Info

Saturday, October 26: Special Halloween Contra Dance ( CONTRA/SPECIAL ) at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Susan Petrick with Daniel Steinberg, Rodney Miller, Ezra Warren Steinberg, Paul Kotapish More Info

Saturday, November 9: Alan Winston's Birthday Ball ( ENGLISH/SPECIAL ) at Hill and Valley Club - 1808 B Street (at Linden) in Hayward. Alan Winston with Tartan Suite: Patti Cobb, Caroline McCaskey, Thomas Dewey, Shira Kammen - For his 65th birthday, Alan Winston is putting together an evening of his own English dance choreographies, with fabulous music by Patti Cobb, Caroline McCaskey, Thomas Dewey and Shira Kammen - tunes by Rebecca King, Debbie Jackson, Patti Cobb, Larry Unger, and others. Dances are intermediate level; not the dance to attend if you've never done English dance before. Preview the dances on Friday the 8th in Palo Alto.

Tuesday, December 31: Special New Year's Eve contra dance - finishes with a toast after midnight ( CONTRA/SPECIAL ) at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Susan Petrick with Corwin Zekley & Grace Fellows [London]: Corwin Zekley, Grace Fellows More Info

Join in the fun!

The Bay Area Country Dance Society promotes, preserves, and teaches traditional English and American music and dance in the San Francisco Bay area.

BACDS welcomes people without regard for age, race, color, national origin, religion, gender expression, or sexual orientation.

BACDS is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Your tax-deductible donation will help us perform our mission. Thank you!

Calendars for Current and Past and Future Months / Acrobat Printable Calendars / Flyers from current mailing / About BACDS / Code of Conduct / COVID Safety Guidelines

Want a customized listing of dances at a given location or featuring a particular style, caller, band, or musician? Want to see all scheduled events? Use our convenient dancefinder tool!

About BACDS

The Bay Area Country Dance Society has been promoting, preserving, and teaching traditional English and American music and dance since the early 1980s. Our activities include:

Week-long and weekend music and dance camps in lovely SF Peninsula, Sierra foothill, North Bay Wine Country, and Santa Cruz locations.
Dance series featuring lively community dances and wonderful live music.
Occasional and seasonal special events, ranging from formal balls to workshops for dancers, musicians, dance leaders, and sound technicians.
Performance teams that bring lively and raucous English folk traditions to the streets, classrooms, farmers' markets, and festivals.

BACDS's activities are made possible through the efforts and contributions of our members. Please join us!

BACDS
412 Winding Way
San Carlos, CA 94070

Newcomers are welcome! Follow this link to learn more about our dances, or this link to find out what to expect at your first BACDS dance evening. We welcome first-timers at all our regular series dances except the Berkeley 4th Saturday experienced English (which is open to all on Thanksgiving and Christmas weekends).

Sign up for Electronic Flyers and help save paper! Check out the current electronic mailing for links to flyers, website pages, and Facebook groups.

Want to get the latest news on BACDS events, performer changes, or hall updates? Join the bacds-announce email list.

Looking for folks to carpool to dances or events with? Interested in discussing BACDS activities with fellow dancers and musicians? Join the bacds-discuss email list.

Looking for community social dance, BACDS or not, contra/English or not? Join the ba-community-dance email list.

Looking for where your favorite morris team is dancing in the near future? Join the ba-ritual-dance email list.

The Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 24, beginning at 5pm Pacific Time.

Board meetings are all held online, generally fourth Monday of the month from 5:00-7:00pm (but occasionally a different day/time depending on availability). Meetings are only scheduled at the previous meeting (when people's calendars are more filled in and it's possible to determine whether there'll be quorum) so we can't publish a full calendar, but the next scheduled date will generally appear right here.

Most of the board activity is in effectively enabling volunteers to run things (dances, camps), centralizing some policy decisions, and stewardship of organizational resources. Board meetings appoint people to positions, approve budgets and so on. For example, it needed a whole organizational overview and multiple policy and procedural changes to effectively implement electronic payments for regular dances. Most decisions about how dance series or dance camps are run and most responses to emergencies belong to the volunteers running the event.

Board elections for one-year terms are held at the May meeting; if you're interested please write to
bacds-president at bacds.org or
bacds-boardchair at bacds.org

BACDS community members may request an invitation to attend any given meeting, especially if you have business for the board, for which you should request an agenda spot as well as an invitation. If the board needs to go into executive session you may have to leave the meeting. To request an agenda spot and invitation, write to bacds-boardchair at bacds.org

The Bay Area Country Dance Society Website

This page is: www.bacds.org

Today's Dance:

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Special Events

Join in the fun!

About BACDS