Dan Wally Baker

The Dan Wally Dance Band celebrates music and dance as languages that traverse boundaries and break down barriers.

 

The show escalates from performance, to workshop, to community dance party. Southern Appalachian Square Dance models an archetypal community by the joining of hands in a circle.  The simple greetings and handshakes of these beginner friendly dances invite audiences to practice being a community with neighborly etiquette.

 

In the incredibly rich and diverse culture of New Orleans,

Ric Robertson and Dan Wally Baker met and connected through their shared roots in Appalachia and passion for music education. The two decided to form The Dan Wally Dance Band on a specific mission  to spread the high energy and joyous experience of old-time music and dance around the world. Needing one more member to round out the group, Robertson immediately thought of longtime collaborator and world renowned fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves, who happened to be finishing her final  semester studying ethnomusicology at Hampshire College. 

 

In order to also present American vernacular dance such as Swing Dance, jazz tap, rhythm tap, Charleston, Cajun/Zydeco, and Country two-step, the band is also well  versed in and ready to  perform a wide range of American stringband music.  These dance demonstrations in dialogue with American music history offer insight into the evolution of American roots music and social change represented in those styles. 

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