Community Contra Dance in North Adams

04:00PM / Wednesday, June 05, 2024Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — On Saturday, June 8 there will be a community contra dance.

North Berkshire Community Dance will hold its monthly contra dance with calling by Peter Stix, and live music provided by an open band.

All are welcome. Come alone, or with friends - most people change partners for each dance throughout the evening. New dancers and families with children are encouraged to arrive by 7:30 for instruction in the basics.

Peter Stix will call all dances, starting the evening with easy dances friendly to newcomers and families with children. The caller teaches new moves and skills as needed, so that beginners can dance with everyone right from the start.

Music will be provided by an open band, led by George Wilson on fiddle and Becky Hollingsworth on keyboard. "Open band" means that anyone with an acoustic instrument is welcome to join. A list of likely tunes is available at http://northberkshiredance.org/tune-list/

Contra dancing is a living tradition in New England; for hundreds of years, neighbors and friends have made their own social entertainment in this highly collaborative dance form. Our summer 2024 series in North Adams will be even more participatory than currently common. In addition to the open band, we will have an introductory calling workshop for curious dancers. Please check out the details at www.NorthBerkshireDance.org

The dance will run 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. in the Community Hall of the All Saints Episcopal Church, 59 Summer St., North Adams. Admission is pay-as-you-can: $5 - $15, or barter equivalent, suggested.

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WilliNet Facing Dane's Retirement, Uncertain Fiscal Future

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:39AM / Thursday, January 15, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The face of and driving force behind the town's community access television station will retire this summer.

At Monday's Select Board meeting, the president of the board of WilliNet announced that longtime Executive Director Debby Dane will leave the non-profit on June 30 and move to California, "following her 5-month-old granddaughter."

"The search committee has begun its work to find a replacement hire," Mary Strout told the Select Board. "Deb will be hard to replace, however the board is confident we will find an individual well suited to move the organization forward."

"Now, I'm speechless," Chair Stephanie Boyd replied on hearing of Dane's departure.

Earlier, before Strout made news, Boyd praised the town's Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) Access station, founded in 1994.

"As everybody knows, WilliNet holds our community together, gets our town meetings and committee meetings online as well as all of the work in the town," Boyd said. "I know, after looking at so many towns' public TV stations over the last month that we're very close to the best. Maybe we even are the best.

"I can't say enough good things about WilliNet, the website, the programming, the professionalism. It's really, really incredible. We should all be very grateful for the hard work of Deb [Dane] and Jack [Criddle] and the rest of the team."

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