Reading Dudley and Jacqueline's Barn Dance Book

Dudley Laufman passed away last week at the age of 95. He's best known for his extensive contribution to the 1970s contra dance revival, and especially for fostering live music. Twenty years ago [1] I attended one of the "Wind in the Timothy" dances that he and his wife Jacqueline would host at their house in NH on fifth Saturdays, and it was clear he really enjoyed what he was doing. As part of my project on understanding attitudes towards live music I thought I would read some of his own words. Most of his words were poems, though, and I generally prefer something more concrete and direct. He did co-write a 2009 book with Jacqueline, however, Traditional Barn Dances with Calls and Fiddling, which seemed more promising. As with my notes on Tony Parkes' book, I'm more interested in what it tells us about its authors and its context than in its primary purpose as a dance instruction book. The feel of the book is formal and institutional, a bit stilted, with sentences like "Be certain…