Every year we dance around the Maypole. We often do other traditional dances from England on the same evening. We have done Sellenger's Round and Half Hanniken the same evening as the Maypole dance. The first Maypole Dance in Creswell was on May 1, 2013, at the Creswell Library, out back.
In October, we modify the words to one dance to create "The Great Pumpkin Dance," along with a turnip-lantern dance from the Isle of Man that is also traditionally associated with All Hallows' Eve.
Our dances incorporate all ages and sizes.
Here, my Oklahoma friends are dancing an old Girl Scout song-and-dance called T-I-R-O. It definitely promotes closeness! We sing this one as we do the motions.
Our dances come from many world traditions.
In this picture you see "Hoe Ana," a canoe-paddling dance from Tahiti. We like to do this when we are hot and need a rest from more aerobic dances! We line up as if we were in the long canoes of Polynesia, and all the movements are with the arms and upper body. They tell the story of how the people navigated by stars to find their way through the vast Pacific.
Teddy Bear Dance helps kids.
Before moving to Oregon, and with input from many friends, I developed the idea of dancing with Teddy Bears and then donating the bears to a local charity for kids. At Moveable Feet's April 4, 2014 dance, we donated our dancing Teddy Bears to Courageous Kids Oregon, www.courageouskidsoregon.org. The photo here shows a similar dance done in Oklahoma several years ago. We're aiming to do this again in 2018.