What folk dance event fills five (5) dance floors from 8:30pm until 3:00am for two weeks every summer at Le Grand Bal de l'Europe?

Bal folk!

Join Bob Walser, Bruce Sagan and friends to celebrate dances from Brittany, the Auvergne and other regions of France - and beyond. No experience or partner needed for this enticing mix of circle, line and couple dances that range from hypnotic and groovy to exhilarating and even goofy. All dances will be taught and live music will invite you into the fun.

Bal folk is a modern creation from much older roots. Prior to the 1970s traditional dancing in France was regional: if you live in the Auvergne you danced bourrées, if you lived in Brittany dances from that region such as the An dro or Laridé. In the 1970s inspired by the folk scenes in the UK and USA, folk clubs emerged in France, especially Le Boudon in Paris and new groups formed such as Malicorne and La Bamboche. Around this time the idea arose of dancing various regional dances at a single event: a bal folk - with the latter term borrowed from English. The 1974 Album Gabriel Valse - Bal Folk was an important expression of this new trend. Since then the combination of French regional dances, couple dances and certain imported dances has exploded in popularity with new ensembles and research plus dance events all over France as well as in Italy, Germany, the Low Countries and beyond. Look at the listing of events at AgendaTrad.org and you’ll see the enormous variety and geographic spread of this relatively new dance phenomenon.

Bob Walser is a musician, dance caller, scholar and educator. He began contra dancing in Amherst, Massachusetts in the 1970s, worked as a shantyman at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut in the 80s. Since then he’s presented Folklore In Action folk music and dance programs as an artist-in-residence in schools across the USA, and performed as a singer, dance leader and dance musician from Maine to California and overseas.

Bob earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies researching music teaching and learning across cultural difference based on fieldwork in Uganda and England. His folk music and education research has been published in the Folk Song Journal (UK) and publications by World Music Press.

In addition, he has three CDs for The Old and New Tradition label to his credit as well as guest appearances on another dozen recordings in the US, France and England..