Journal31

Fall Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week, November 2-8,2003

As you might know, I attended the last two Balfa Week spring sessions as a day student, and they were wonderful. (see articles and photos from the 2003 Week and 2002 Week) This is in part because the Weeks provided a way for ‘outsiders’ to meet and get to know on a casual basis the musicians and folks that are central to the music we love. Sort of like going to sleep-away-camp but with Louisiana musicians as your camp counselors. This was an experience that going to clubs and festivals can't provide.

Musicians participating this year come from SW LA’s leading bands: Zydeco Force, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Balfa Toujours, Hadley Castille, Lagniappe are the main instructors this fall. A complete Roots Dance Program has been added this year to the existing music, culture and crafts format, which includes morning instruction in both Cajun and zydeco dance styles plus the new Cowboy Jitterbug they are dancing at Whiskey River and other SW LA clubs. Live music will accompany all dance classes. Each afternoon students will have ample opportunity for trying out new skills and dancing with daily featured artists who will provide diversity of style and technique. Each night ends with an open to the public Stompin at the Swamp dance, with music provided by Louisiana's finest musicians If you don’t want to dance ALL week, other classes include: Cajun and Creole/Zydeco Accordion; Basket Weaving; Cajun and Creole Culture and History; Cajun and Zydeco dance; Cajun and Creole fiddle, different levels of guitar; Cajun and Creole language; vocals; and band lab.

For the first time, the Bay Area is being offered a special 10% group discount to attend Balfa Week this fall. You can read more below, in the email I received from Christine Balfa. Several of us from the Bay Area have already signed up for the week, so if you want to be added to the list, just send me an email at andrea@sfbayou.com. If you have any interest in learning where this music we love comes from and seeing it in its cultural context, this is an excellent place to start.

Greetings to our friends in Northern California from Louisiana Folk Roots!

I wanted to take this opportunity to let y'all know about a very
exciting upcoming event. It's the first annual FALL DEWEY BALFA CAJUN
AND CREOLE HERITAGE WEEK which will be held at Chicot State Park (near
Ville Platte, Louisiana) from November 2 - 8, 2003. While we've held

the week at another park in the Spring for 3 years now, this new event
features some exciting changes -- A BRAND NEW FULL TIME ZYDECO AND
CAJUN DANCE PROGRAM and an idyllic EVANGELINE PARISH LOCATION, in
addition to extensive classes in music, crafts, and language, visits
with local master artists, gourmet Louisiana food, nightly dances with the top Louisiana bands, and jam sessions at all hours of the day. The
Bay Area dance/music community is one of the most vibrant and deeply
rooted branches of Louisiana culture outside of the state itself, and
Louisiana Folk Roots would like to acknowledge that fact by offering
y'all our first "GROUP DISCOUNT RATE."

For groups of five or more we can offer a 10% discount off of tuition/meals/lodging for the Fall Heritage Week. Each person can send in their fees individually. To get the discount, folks just have to indicate on their registration form that they are part of the Bay Area Group and the names of the others. If everyone signs up then the discount will be given at the time of each person's final payment.

It's only fitting that the Bay Area get a first crack at this special offer. Please call
(337) 234-8360, send an e-mail to info@lafolkroots.org, or check out our website at http://lafolkroots.org for more information. If you're in Lafayette, please stop by our new office at 118 W. Vermilion St. We're open from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. weekdays, usually longer! I hope all of you come join us for what on the one hand is a "completely immersive experience of Southwest Louisiana culture" and on the other is simply one hell of a week-long nonstop party!

Greetings from Louisiana Folk Roots!

Our first-ever full-time dance program will be part of the Fall Dewey Balfa
Cajun and Creole Heritage Week, November 2-8, 2003 at Chicot State Park near
Ville Platte, Louisiana. On behalf of everyone here at Louisiana Folk Roots,
I would like to invite all of you to join us for a fun and intense week of
true immersion in Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole culture.

Beginning and advanced levels of Zydeco and Cajun dance, including the new
Cowboy Jitterbug will be taught each morning. Each afternoon students will have ample opportunity for trying out new skills and dancing with daily featured local artists who will provide diversity of style and technique. The dance program will complement
our existing music, culture and crafts offerings.

Mona Wilson and Joely Bias will be teaching Zydeco; Jason and Crysta
Montgomery will be on board to teach the Cowboy Jitterbug, the dance that’s
taking local dancehalls by storm. Like many of Louisiana’s cultural
traditions, we don’t know exactly how, where or when this new style
originated. Groups of striking young men and women from the Lake Charles
area, decked out in their cowboy attire, have fast become the center of
attention at local dances. Now, like Zydeco in recent years, these steps are
quickly becoming favorites among both locals and visitors from out of state.

In addition to our dance instructors here is a partial list of the many
talented individuals who will join our full-time staff for a week of
classes, private lessons and jam sessions. Music Instructors: Jeffery
Broussard (Zydeco Force), Sam Broussard (Mamou Playboys), Hadley Castille
(The Sharecroppers Cajun Band), Jason Frey (Lagniappe), Courtney Granger
(Balfa Toujours), David Greely (Mamou Playboys), Steve Riley (Mamou
Playboys), Peter Schwarz (Mamou Playboys alum), and Kevin Wimmer (Balfa
Toujours). Basket Weaving: Geraldine Robertson.

Full-time classes (all subject to minimum enrollment) will include: Cajun
and Creole/Zydeco Accordion; Basket Weaving; Cajun and Creole Culture and
History; different levels of Cajun and Zydeco dance; Cajun and Creole
fiddle, including an advanced class on Harry Choates-style fiddling with
Hadley Castille; different levels of guitar; Cajun and Creole language;
vocals; and band lab.

Included with full-time registration are the master artist sessions which
feature artists mostly chosen from the older generation who will demonstrate
their art forms and talk about their personal cultural experiences.
Participants will have the chance to meet and interact with these senior
artists seldom seen or heard locally or outside the state.

Additionally, our "Lagniappe" classes offer a variety of subjects including
Cajun and Creole folklore, culture, dance, and music. Each day concludes
with a Stompin at the Swamp public dance featuring a top local band, and
after-hours jam sessions. The entire week ends with the Roots Heritage Day –
an entire Saturday of workshops and dances that is also open to the public.

Please make plans now to register for this one-of-a-kind week of learning
and camaraderie. After all, where else can you learn dance, music and
folkways from Cajun and Creole masters, meet and dance with folks from
Louisiana as well as from all over the world, eat great Cajun and Creole
cuisine, get back to nature – and get away from it all – all at once? Please
tell your family and friends about Louisiana Folk Roots. We hope to see all
of you soon.

To find out more about the Fall Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week
and the other great programs of Louisiana Folk Roots, please call (337)
234-8360, e-mail info@lafolkroots.org, or visit http://lafolkroots.org. And
if you’re in the bayou state, please stop by our new office in downtown
Lafayette at 118 W. Vermilion St. (70501). We’re open from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
weekdays, usually longer!

Jodi Hebert
executive director, Louisiana Folk Roots

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Fall Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week, November 2-8,2003