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February 21, 2008
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February 21, 2008 |
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Duo to add lilt to TLT dance
Since early American folk dance had its roots in Celtic music, it makes perfect sense that Changeling, a local Irish music group with an international reputation, was asked to play this Saturday night, Feb. 23, at The Community Barn Dance, sponsored by the Tecumseh Land Trust. The group will accompany caller Darlene Underwood as she leads villagers through the moves of contra dance and square dance at the Mills Lawn School. The music starts at 8 p.m., but people are invited to show up at 7:30 for a teaching session. Performing at country dances is nothing new for singer-guitarist Karl Colón and his fiddler wife, Deborah, who make up Changeling. In fact, they have worked with Underwood in the past, Karl said when they were interviewed recently. They even did a contra dance tour of England together several years ago. The Colóns met Underwood in Cincinnati, where she is from, and where the Colóns lived while Karl attended law school at the University of Cincinnati. “Southwest Ohio, with its proximity to Kentucky, is a hotbed of dance music and callers,” Karl said. “Lots of times when we hear old time, mountain or bluegrass music, we will know the Irish tune it came from.” Changeling also performed regularly at community dances in Columbus, during the seven years the Colóns lived there. According to Karl, before moving to Yellow Springs, Changeling was playing 70–80 tour dates per year. It was getting to be too much, so the couple scaled down a lot after the England tour. Deborah, who was serving as their full-time business manager, has been on a sabbatical from her managing duties, but they still get plenty of calls for jobs, Karl said. Karl grew up in Nebraska and Deborah in the Washington, D.C. suburbs in Virginia. They met in college at Oberlin, where they first experienced Irish music together on a date to a Battlefield Band concert. Until that point, she had been a classical violinist and he a folk singer. The Colóns moved to Yellow Springs from Columbus last year when Karl took the job as director of the Greene County Public Library. Two factors played in his decision to take the position, he said at the time: GCPL is a top notch library system, and the Colóns wanted to live in Yellow Springs, a place they had visited when they were in college and more frequently after they were living in Columbus. They had played several dates at the Web Coffeehouse and the Dayton Celtic Festival long before moving here. Since relocating, they have jammed with pianist and long-time friend Mark DeLozier at the Emporium on Saturday afternoons. Deborah also teaches fiddle and has joined the board of trustees of the Antioch Writers’ Workshop. “Karl and Deborah are an asset to the community,” TLT associate director Kate Bush said. “They are fantastic musicians. This is an opportunity for the villagers to see how talented they are. Even if you aren’t a dancer, you can just come and watch and listen to the music.” According to Bush, the event is a fundraiser for TLT land preservation and outreach projects. “But, this is more that just a fundraiser,” she said. “It is an opportunity for the community to come together and shake off those winter blues.” Last year, TLT partnered with the Mad River Theater Works to put on the first Community Barn Dance. In the event’s second year, Mad River is not partnering, but is planning on extending its Community Conversation from this past Wednesday night at the library, by having someone at the dance to record stories of the land for its next play project, according to Mad River administrator Holly Hudson. In addition to the instructional session at 7:30 p.m., where she will educate the dancers on basic terminology and dance moves, Underwood will give the band regular breaks, as she takes time between dances to walk the participants through the next dance. “We hope this will be an annual event.” Bush said. For more information, call Bush at 767-9490. Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com
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