19th Century Dance & Music To Celebrate Bethel's 150th Birthday
19th Century Dance & Music To Celebrate Bethelâs 150th Birthday
BETHEL â As part of the entertainment to celebrate the 150th birthday of the town of Bethel, The Reel Thing, with special guest caller Susan de Guardiola, will present a 90-minute participatory program of 19th Century dance and music on Saturday, July 16.
The program will be held from 1 to 2:30 pm at the gazebo in front of Bethelâs Municipal Center, on School Street.
Susan de Guardiola is the director of the Elegant Arts Society, a group dedicated to re-creating the social dances of the early 19th Century and other historical periods. Her particular specialties are the dances of the late 16th Century and early 19th Century (Jane Austen/Napoleonic Wars), but her interests include 15th Century court dance, 17th Century country dance, the Victorian era and the early 20th Century.
The program will be a free participatory event of historical dances done to lively jigs, reels, marches and such which were used for social dancing. The dance and music selections for the Bethel event are from the social dance repertoire of the period.
The Reel Thing, together with caller Patricia Campbell, specializes in live, costumed, authentic 18th Century Colonial dances and concerts, as well as traditional dance workshops for children and adults, and family or community âbarnâ dances and concerts.
Julie Sorcek, the bandâs flute and piccolo player, is a long-time Bethel resident. Â
Bill Campbell, who plays guitar and mandolin, and Fran Hendrickson, the keyboard player, are both Newtown residents, while the fiddler, Gwen Glasser, is from New Fairfield.
Later this month Patricia Campbell and The Reel Thing will be at C.H. Booth Library in Newtown. On Saturday, July 30, the group will perform âHistorical Dance and Music in Newtownâ to coincide with a special exhibition of archival photographs from Newtown Historical Society. The musical program will offer dance and music selections of New England from the early 18th through early 19th Centuries. Admission to that program is also free.