Flurry Festival - Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.

Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.

Flurry Festival

By Dick Oakes

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Website: https://www.flurryfestival.org/.

Information: In 1987, Nancy Gretta and Paul Rosenberg were car-pooling. As they drove, they reminisced about how wonderful the Old Songs Winter Dance Fest had been. The first Furry Festival (A Festival of Traditional Dancing and Music) was a one-day festival held in Guilderland, New York, on February 13, 1988. Over 300 dancers attended a highly successful event. The Flurry Festival evolved to become a three-day extravaganza.

The philosophy is to present a high-quality, eclectic, feel-good festival of traditional social dance and music. Because most of the original (and current) organizing committee entered the world of dance through contra dancing, a significant portion of their program has been devoted to contras.

The Flurry is one of the largest folk dance and music festivals in North America. The Flurry draws roughly 4,500 attendees and 400 performers and is held on Presidents' Day weekend (President's Day is always the third Monday in February).

There are dances and workshops such as International Folk, Contra, Swing, Latin, English Country, Squares, Vintage, Clogging, Hip-Hop, Cajun, Zydeco, Irish, Scandinavian, Middle Eastern, Asian, European, American, Yoga, Body Movement, and more with beginner to experienced sessions.

Headquarters is at the Hilton Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York in February.