Statewide 2022 – Pastoral Fandango “Pastoral Fandango” is a weekend festival of folk dance workshops and parties including

• Dance workshops with Ahmet Lüleci, Gergana Panova and Bruce Hamilton
• Live Music Played by Chubritza
• Dance performances by Gradina, Chinese Performance Group with Rebecca Tsai, and more..
• Parties and Luncheon
• Request Dancing
• Middle Eastern dinner catered by The River Front Cafe
• Meeting friends – Old and New

All events take place at the Hermann Sons Hall, Petaluma, CA.

All participants will need to show proof of vaccination or results for an FDA approved COVID test taken each day attended. Masks will be mandatory while inside the hall with the exception of teachers, band members, and performers. This decision is guided by our commitment to the health and peace of mind of our community.

Register

Instructors and Band

Ahmet Lüleci

A native of Turkey, Ahmet started dancing at a very young age and joined award winning dance ensembles when he was only 8 years old. Over the next 30 years, his dance ensembles participated in both national and international competitions throughout Europe and appeared in multiple broadcasts in both Europe, Canada, and the USA. His love for folk songs made him pursue a college major in Music and Voice, and a second degree in Fine Arts. He has thoroughly researched Anatolian culture, and separately conducted academic research into Spoon Dances, and into the historical, social, and cultural background/ customs of the people of the Mediterranean Coast of Turkey. His 400-page research paper was rewarded first place by the Turkish Ministry in a 1985 national competition. Ahmet arrived in the USA in 1985 and has taught numerous workshops all over the Americas, Europe, Japan, Asia, etc. as well as choreographed and worked with many well-known performing ensembles. (Aman, BYU, Budlet, Les Sortileges, Vinod, Hoytur, Turhoy, Anadolu University) Among many other dances, Ahmet has introduced us to: Ali Pasa, Agir Halay, Kelekvan, Hozanki, Duz Halay, Kara Tren, Narino, Ordu, Oy Memo, Heyamo, Inaduna, Aslan Mustafam, Esmer, Helef, Lacin, and Tesi Duz Halay.

Currently, Ahmet is the Artistic Director of Collage Dance Ensemble in Boston. His goal for this ensemble is to: “Showcase the beauty and passion of neglected dance forms and their cultural heritage.” He is also an adjudicator of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod held yearly in Wales. Read more…

Dr. Gergana Panova-Tekath

Dr. Gergana Panova-Tekath was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. From 1988 to 1993, she danced with the Filip Kutev Bulgarian National Folk Ensemble. She studied dance ethnology in Bulgaria and obtained her Ph.D. in dance from Dortmund University (Germany). She regularly commutes between Bulgaria, where she heads the Ethnochoreology Department at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and Germany, where she is Professor of Dance at Folkwang University in Essen.

She graduated in Dance Pedagogy, Ethnochoreology, Choreography and Direction (Bulgaria), and Kinetography and Communicative Sciences (Germany) and has completed a Doctorate with “Summa cum laude” and awarded the prize “Dissertation 2004” from the Technical University of Dortmund (Germany) in the area of Cultural Philosophy. The title of her thesis is “Dance after Perestroika. The Communication between Eastern and Western Europe through the Bulgarian Folkdances.” Gergana qualified in Ethnochoreology and Communication in 2011 in Sofia.

She performed as a solo dancer and choreographer at the National Ensemble for Folksongs and Folkdances (Philip Koutev) in Sofia from 1988 to 1994, was a Choreographer for different Bulgarian and international Theater Projects, was a Senior Fellow and Associate Professor for Ethnochoreology at the Institute for Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia, and has lectured at the Technical University of Dortmund, the Humboldt University, Berlin, the University in Zurich, the University of Music, Vienna, and the New Bulgarian University, Sofia.

Starting in 1994, she has conducted over 300 seminars and summer academies in folk dances in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and the United States.

She has published numerous articles and has written two books on various aspects of Bulgarian traditional dance. Besides organizing annual summer seminars in Bulgaria, Gergana has taught workshops in many countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Israel, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina and North America. Read more…

Bruce Hamilton

Bruce Hamilton is a thoughtful and energetic teacher of English and Scottish country dancing. He started dancing in college, and took up teaching in the early 1970s. He founded the San Jose English dance and has taught English country dancing all over the United States and abroad. He is a founding member of the Deer Creek Morris Men, a 15-year participant in The Christmas Revels, and past president of the Country Dance and Song Society. Bruce has been focusing on non-choreographic elements of English Country Dance (ECD). He doesn’t teach many new or complex dances (claims he can’t remember them!) but instead focuses on skills that apply across all dances. He is interested in how the dancers move, how they give weight, how they match the music, how well they work with their partners, etc. In workshops Bruce also reviews the fundamentals of turns, heys, rights and lefts, using dances that will help these people work on those skills. He carries this focus into his sought-after callers’ classes, which he’s done for the last three decades. Training ECD teachers is relatively unexplored territory and it’s very exciting. Learning to teach takes years, but even in a weekend or week-long mini-course he’s been able to point students in useful directions, and some have made great strides. By day, Bruce is a retired computer scientist and now helps out with his wife’s dog and cat rescue organization. He has taught at Mendocino Folklore Camp, Pinewoods Camp, Timber Ridge and Stockton Folk Dance Camp, and in five countries. Read more…

Hotels

Statewide 2022 will be happening in Petaluma the weekend prior Memorial Day Weekend. Motel prices will be going through the roof on that weekend so please book your rooms early. Only one hotel has been willing to contract with us (so far)

Hampton Inn and Suites

The Hampton Inn and Suites in Rohnert Park for $195/night is a high-end hotel with beautiful rooms, and it includes free wi-fi, a fridge, a microwave, a couple of free upgrades to a king suite with a pull-out couch, and a complete hot breakfast (eggs, waffles, fruit, juice, yoghurt, oatmeal, etc.). The breakfast is self-serve in a motel style manner, since the hotel does not have a restaurant. To reserve, call 855-283-5831 or use the button below. Mention discount code “FDF” when you call.

Rates for May 19 through May 24 will honored until one month before the event, April 19th.

Hampton Inn Reservations

Others

Other hotels close to Petaluma that we researched and visited and are still available at reasonable rates (search the Internet for the best rates) if booked early. Unfortunately, the only hotel within walking distance is Hotel Petaluma on Kentucky Street.

• Hotel Petaluma – 707-559-3393
• Metro Hotel and Cafe in Petaluma – 707-773-4900
• America’s Best Value Inn in Petaluma – 707-795-9000
• The Days Inn in Novato – 415-897-7111
• Budget Inn in Rohnert Park – 707-584-1305
• America’s Best Value Inn in Novato – 415-892-7500
• Motel 6 in Petaluma – 707-765-0333

Visit Petaluma

Statewide 2021 will be held in the charming town of Petaluma in Northern California’s Sonoma County. Petaluma, once known as “the egg basket of the world”, continues to have a strong connection to its farming past—more recently, with the planting of vineyards which produce some of the finest wines in the world. Petaluma, and the larger Sonoma County of which it is a part, is just an hour north of San Francisco, and offers visitors so many options to enjoy “the bounty of the County” that you may want to enjoy an extended stay—or plan a time to revisit this beautiful part of the world.

If you saw the movies American Graffiti or Peggy Sue Got Married, then you have seen a bit of Petaluma. And if you are a Hitchcock fan, then a trip to the towns of Bodega and Bodega Bay may suit you fine—come see the birds!—or visit the library in Santa Rosa, where Uncle Charlie left a “shadow of a doubt“.

Sonoma County extends from just west of Napa all the way to the Pacific Ocean. You can visit the ocean and the redwoods easily in one afternoon. Armstrong Redwoods has very accessible trails, and a stroll among these ancient giants can be enjoyed by all ages. Or, if you prefer some retail therapy, coupled with charming restaurants, visit the town of Healdsburg a half-hour north.

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Driving Directions to Hermann Sons Hall, Petaluma

Easiest: Hwy 101 to Washington St. to N. Webster St. to HSH

From the South

Exit Hwy 101 at East Washington St. / Central Petaluma
Turn left at the stop light, continue straight on Washington St. (becomes Bodega Ave) for 1.8 miles to N. Webster St.
Turn left on N. Webster St., continue 0.3 miles to intersection with Western Ave.
HSH is on the corner of Western and N. Webster

From the North

Exit Hwy 101 at East Washington St. / Central Petaluma
Turn right at the stop light, continue straight on Washington St. (becomes Bodega Ave) for 1.8 miles to N. Webster St.
Turn left on N. Webster St., continue 0.3 miles to intersection with Western Ave.
HSH is on the corner of Western and N. Webster

Alternate route: From Hwy 101 via Petaluma Boulevard

From the South

Exit Hwy 101 at exit 427A – Petaluma Blvd. South
Turn right at first stop light, then immediately left at the second stop light
Continue straight on Petaluma Blvd S. for 2.1 miles to Western Ave
Turn left on Western Ave and continue for 0.6 miles
HSH is on the corner of Western and N. Webster

From the North

Exit Hwy 101 at exit 476 – Petaluma Blvd. North / Penngrove
Turn right at stop light, continue straight on Petaluma Blvd N. for 3.0 miles to Washington St.
Turn right onto Washington St.
Continue straight on Washington St (becomes Bodega Ave) for 0.7 mi to N. Webster St.
Turn left on N. Webster St. and continue 0.3 miles to intersection with Western Ave.
HSH is on the corner of Western and N Webster

Mail-In Registration

Print and complete registration form and send with your check (made payable to Folk Dance Federation) to:
Statewide Registrar
Sabine Zappe
153 Race Street
San Jose, CA 95126.