The Bay Area Country Dance Society Website

This page is: www.bacds.org

COVID Safety Info

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:

Tuesday, March 19: ENGLISH at All Saints Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Bruce Herbold with Craig Johnson, Robin Lockner, Thomas Dewey More Info

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, March 19: ENGLISH at All Saints Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Bruce Herbold with Craig Johnson, Robin Lockner, Thomas Dewey More Info

Thursday, March 21: CONTRA at Christ Church Berkeley in Berkeley. Eric Black with The Corn Likkers: Ray Chen, Lael Sigal, Lauren Graves, Elijah Chen, Eleanor Chen More Info

Saturday, March 23: FamilyWeek Family Dance ( FAMILY ) at Christ Church Berkeley in Berkeley. Kelsey Hartman with Anne Goess, Craig Johnson - A dance party for the whole family, all ages welcome! Simple easy-to-learn dances from American and the British Isles folk traditions including circle dances and singing games.

Saturday, March 23: CONTRA at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Dane Wallinga with Contra Cats: Lee Anne Welch, Sonia Shell, Yvonne Walbroehl More Info

Saturday, March 23: ENGLISH at Christ Church Berkeley in Berkeley. Gary Thomas with Charlie Hancock, Thomas Dewey, Ben Jackson More Info

Sunday, March 24: ONLINE/ENGLISH at online in the cloud. Kalia Kliban with Recorded Music by Odd Sundays Garage Band and others - 1:30-2:30pm More Info

Wednesday, March 27: ENGLISH at Christ Church Berkeley in Berkeley. David Newitt with Judy Linsenberg, Noel Cragg, Valerie Rose - English dancing for all - newcomer lesson at 7:15; dance 7:45-10:00 — Note special Wednesday date! More Info

Friday, March 29: PLAYFORD BALL REHEARSAL DANCE (ENGLISH/SPECIAL) at Hill and Valley Club - 1808 B Street (at Linden) in Hayward.
A cavalcade of callers will teach the dances on the Playford Ball program. (Ball admission not required, and there's no advance registration - pay $20 at the door whether or not you're going to the Ball.). We'll have fabulous music from Thomas Dewey, Craig Johnson, and Caroline McCaskey. 7:00-10:30pm. Go to the ball web site for info about this and the other Playford events.

Friday, March 29: ENGLISH at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. - No Advanced dance this evening -- Playford Ball Rehearsal instead. More Info

Saturday, March 30: BACDS PLAYFORD BALL (ENGLISH/SPECIAL) at San Jose Woman's Club in San Jose.
BACDS Playford Ball - "A Parade of Stars" Star caller - Alisa Dodson Star musicians - Shira Kammen, Rebecca King, Jim Oakden Star sound tech - Christopher Jacoby At the lovely landmark ballroom of the San Jose Woman's Club Doors 6:30, dancing 7:15 - 11:00 Refreshments will be served. Formal dress, period costume, and masks will be admired, not required. Space is limited! Register early to be sure of admittance. No registration at the door.
Go to the Playford Ball website to register and find out about workshops, rehearsal dance, after party, and Sunday brunch. Also there, view the list of dances and the dance directions.

Saturday, March 30: CONTRA at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Deanna Rubin with Noel Cragg…and friends More Info

Tuesday, April 2: ENGLISH at All Saints Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Lise Dyckman More Info

Friday, April 5: ENGLISH at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Bruce Herbold with Noel Cragg, Cat Taylor, Paul Kostka - English dancing for all - dance 7:30-10:00 More Info

Upcoming Special Events

Friday, March 29: PLAYFORD BALL REHEARSAL DANCE (ENGLISH/SPECIAL) at Hill and Valley Club - 1808 B Street (at Linden) in Hayward.
A cavalcade of callers will teach the dances on the Playford Ball program. (Ball admission not required, and there's no advance registration - pay $20 at the door whether or not you're going to the Ball.). We'll have fabulous music from Thomas Dewey, Craig Johnson, and Caroline McCaskey. 7:00-10:30pm. Go to the ball web site for info about this and the other Playford events.

Saturday, March 30: BACDS PLAYFORD BALL (ENGLISH/SPECIAL) at San Jose Woman's Club in San Jose.
BACDS Playford Ball - "A Parade of Stars" Star caller - Alisa Dodson Star musicians - Shira Kammen, Rebecca King, Jim Oakden Star sound tech - Christopher Jacoby At the lovely landmark ballroom of the San Jose Woman's Club Doors 6:30, dancing 7:15 - 11:00 Refreshments will be served. Formal dress, period costume, and masks will be admired, not required. Space is limited! Register early to be sure of admittance. No registration at the door.
Go to the Playford Ball website to register and find out about workshops, rehearsal dance, after party, and Sunday brunch. Also there, view the list of dances and the dance directions.

Sunday, April 28: Celebration for Sharon Green's CDSS Lifetime Contribution Award ( ENGLISH/SPECIAL ) at Albany Veteran's Memorial Building in Albany. - Dancing, speeches, and food - all in well-deserved honor of Sharon Green, the 2024 CDSS Lifetime Contribution Award recipient. Pre-registration will be required; more info to come.
Presented by the Country Dance and Song Society.

Friday, May. 17 - Friday, May. 17: ENGLISH/SPECIAL at Petaluma Women's Clubhouse in Petaluma. Kalia Kliban with Jacqueline Schwab, Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea - Mad Robin "Weekend Welcome Dance" More Info
Presented by the North Bay Country Dance Society.

Saturday, May. 18 - Saturday, May. 18: MAD ROBIN BALL ( ENGLISH/SPECIAL ) at Hermann Sons Hall in Petaluma. Gene Murrow with Jacqueline Schwab, Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Daniel Beerbohm - (advance registration required). workshop 1:30-4:00, ball 7:00-10:00pm More Info
Presented by the North Bay Country Dance Society.

Sunday, May 19: Memorable Melodies Dance ( ENGLISH/SPECIAL ) at St John's Episcopal Petaluma in Petaluma. Gene Murrow with Jacqueline Schwab, Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Daniel Beerbohm - (Potluck Brunch 12:30-2:00, Dance 2:30-5:30pm, Community Dinner -prepaid catering - 6:00pm) More Info
Presented by the North Bay Country Dance Society.

Tuesday, May 21: Mad Robin Special Peninsula Dance ( ENGLISH/SPECIAL ) at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto. Bruce Hamilton with Jacqueline Schwab, Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Daniel Beerbohm - note special location, time (7:30-10:00), and price ($25) More Info

Sunday, Jun. 16 - Sunday, Jun. 23: Hey Days at Sonoma State. (ENGLISH/CAMP/SPECIAL) at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park.
Hey Days (BACDS English Dance and Music Week) June 16-23 – a residential camp in the North Bay with English Country Dance, square dance, singing, a music track, and more. Staff includes Melissa Running, David Millstone, Bridget Whitehead (program director), more with Alchemy (Karen Axelrod, Eric Martin, Rachel Bell), Jeff Spero, Dave Langford, Jonathan Werk, more, Sound engineer Alan Roberts. Advance registration required; registration opens January 2; postmark lottery deadline February 1.

Sunday, Jun. 23 - Saturday, Jun. 29: BACDS Family Week (SPECIAL) at Monte Toyon Camp in Aptos.
It's Family Week’s 31st year. The camp is a special place for families of all sizes, ages, and configurations. Bring your kids, your grandkids, your mom, or just yourself! Activities include circus arts, crafts, maypole dance and parade, Teddy Bear’s picnic, theater (maybe even a mummer's play…), instrumental and singing sessions, and of course, lots of dancing! Our newly revised website (https://bacds.org/familyweek/) has all the information about this year’s amazing staff, pricing, COVID policy, work-trade discounts, and of course, what sort of wonderful activities to expect. We can also be contacted at familyweek@bacds.org if you want to chat with someone about the details of our camp experiences.

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 March Board meeting is scheduled for Monday March 25, beginning at 5pm PST.

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

If you must send us some spam, please send it here.

If you must send us some spam, please send it here.