Young dancers from around the country came to Berea for the Mountain Folk Festival Morris Tour.

Mountain Folk Festival welcomes spring in Berea

By Andy McDonald

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president of the United States, Berea College still had a working candy factory and dairy on the college farm, and dancers could secure a room at the Boone Tavern Inn to accommodate three people for $1 a night.

Things have changed a bit since Berea’s first Mountain Folk Festival in 1935, but one thing has stayed the same: youths from around America still come together in the foothills of Appalachia to celebrate their love for learning folk dance.

The festival started as a Berea College outreach program, a program that now welcomes youths from fourth grade to high school age to perform and learn traditional dances from the British Isles, Denmark and Appalachia. And while performing folk dances with titles like “Little Man in a Fix” or “I Care Not for the Ladies” might not sound like an entirely happy prospect, students obviously have fun as they whirl about the dance floor.

“I think the attraction of traditional dance is something one understands after trying it,” explained Jennifer Rose, a recording artist and dance teacher who served as the festival’s co-director. “The happiness inherent in this type of dance is contagious.”

Students from around Kentucky joined dancers from North Carolina, New Jersey and Michigan for the two-day event. Participants first learned various dances in their respective communities, then came together in Berea to share what they’d learned. That experience can be invaluable for young people, Rose said.


Musicians - Al, Bob and Atossa

“My experience with the Mountain Folk Festival as a participant, group leader, and most recently co-director, has confirmed my belief that this type of cooperative recreation is one of the best things we can offer our young people,” Rose explained. “The teacher in me sees that it teaches them self-respect and respect for others, athleticism, coordination, musical sense and history. The parent in me sees there are 150 kids moving, laughing and relating to each other in a completely wholesome way.”

While the festival was created as a celebration of traditional folk dance, it also heralds the arrival of spring in Berea, when the entire group welcomes the end of winter with a centuries old dance entitled “The Beginning of the World.”

That sense of renewal is also celebrated with each new generation of dancers who come to the festival. Rose recalled how she was involved in the Berea dance community from a very young age, and she added that she wouldn’t be surprised if her children came to share her love for dance. Rose already has one child with dancing feet and another prospective dancer on the way.

“Even though she’s not even two-years-old, Lydia already knows how to promenade and swing a partner, and she can’t keep still when music is playing,” Rose said. “With her around to encourage it, I don’t expect things will change for the next one.”