Whether you want to dance or just come listen to great music, you don’t want to miss the March 25th dance in Sautee. One of our all-time favorite contra dance bands is The Elftones, a highly accomplished musical duo. To make things even better, the caller for the night, Cis Hinkle, is one of the best on the circuit.

The Elftones is a popular, highly energetic North Carolina-based band, comprised of Mara Shea on fiddle and Roger Gold on guitar and foot percussion. Blending Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian, old-time, and original tunes, they create a unique connection between the music and the dance and between the guitar and the fiddle, which makes dancers believe they could just keep on dancing all night.

It’s more music than you’d ever imagine from just two instruments. The music is driving, lyrical, dreamy, intense, and shaped to fit the dance. In fact, if you close your eyes and just listen, you’ll think there are extra elves hiding out under the stage supplying more music.

The Elftones call the North Carolina Piedmont home, but they play over much of the United States and Internationally. Together they have produced several CDs of beautiful dance and listening music, and, individually, each artist has also recorded several CDs with other groups.

Caller Cis Hinkle is much in demand at music and dance festivals from the USA to England and Denmark. We in the Sautee dance community count ourselves very fortunate when Cis “comes to call”, as she has on several occasions over the years.  

Cis has delighted contra and square dancers since 1985 with her skilled teaching, welcoming manner, playful enthusiasm, and masterful selection of dances. When not on the road, Cis teaches t’ai chi classes in her native Atlanta, Georgia.  

Introductory lesson, 7:30 pm; dance, 8-11 pm.  No partner or prior experience necessary. SNCA members, $7; non-members, $10; students, $5; children 12 and under, free. The SNC historic gym is located at 283 Highway 255 North, ¼ mile off Highway 17 in Sautee, Georgia.

Contact: (706) 878-3300; www.snca.org or www.sauteecontra.com.

Get ready to welcome the all-female band BattleAxe, February 25, 2017, for contra dancing at the Sautee Nacoochee Center.  BattleAxe is known for delivering a highly spirited mixture of old-time traditional Appalachian dance tunes and country root, rags and blues music, all peppered with occasional singing of old ballad lyrics.

The four members of BattleAxe are seasoned musicians and performers with years of experience playing with other bands in the field of traditional Appalachian music. Based in the upstate South Carolina Blue Ridge area, the band is: Amy Buckingham on fiddle and guitar, Lucy Allen on guitar, Brooke Lauer on banjo and fiddle, and Nancy Hamilton on upright bass. Amy is also well-known to the Sautee dance community for the band Blue Ridge Rounders, with her husband Bob Buckingham, that has played for the Sautee community dance several times.

BattleAxe formed in 2014 as a way to express the fun and delight the members have garnered through their musical experiences over the years. The women love to play hard-driving old-time Appalachian dance tunes, original songs, singer-songwriter songs from Gillian Welch and The Wailin’ Jennys, and even a traditional gospel number or two. The band’s 2015 recording showcases powerful vocal harmonies and instrumental music playing.

Quite fitting as a match for these Appalachian musicians is caller Warren Doyle from Tennessee. Though “institutionally retired,” Dr. Doyle, Director of the Appalachian Trail Institute, is an advocate of Appalachian life and culture and has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail over sixteen times. He helped found a folk school near Mountain City that offers quality contra dancing and music for people who want to visit the area while providing economic support to the local community. He has been involved in the contra dance scene as a dancer, caller, and dance event organizer for over forty years. A life-long educator, his calling style is marked by clarity and patience, and he is especially helpful in instructing beginner dancers.

Introductory lesson, 7:30 pm; dance, 8-11 pm. No partner or prior experience necessary. SNCA members, $7; non-members, $10; students, $5; children 12 and under, free. The SNC historic gym is located at 283 Highway 255 North, ¼ mile off Highway 17 in Sautee, Georgia.

Contact:  (706) 878-3300; www.snca.org or www.sauteecontra.com.

Contra dancers be forewarned to enjoy a night of high-energy dancing and calling as one of the most popular bands to play the Sautee contra dance returns for the fifth time on January 28, 2017. ContraForce -- a true force of nature -- has characteristically brought over 140 dancers to the historic gym at the Sautee Nacoochee Center.  An additional treat for the evening will be the calling of Emily Abel, who frequently collaborates with ContraForce but is making this her first visit to Sautee.



ContraForce is a three-piece powerhouse of musicians that combines the frenzied bowing arm of fiddler Andrae Raffield, the syncopated rhythms of drummer and saxophone player Joey Dorwart, and the acoustic and electric guitar onslaught of Jimi Periano. The band’s primary goal has been to transform traditional contra dance music into a new, exciting, psychedelic force.

Andrae Raffield and Joey Dorwart played contra dances for over fifteen years before they decided to strike out on their own to explore a new vision. They teamed up with percussionist Jimi Periano, who began by experimenting with rocking out some fiddle tunes. The new band quickly escalated to writing the bulk of their own material, aiming its energies at stretching the boundaries of traditional dance tunes.

Emily Abel comes about her nickname, Rainbowface, readily, as she is well known for seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm, singing her calls and giving clear, concise instruction.  Since 2014, she has called contras in 13 different states and traveled thousands of miles -- sometimes exclusively by bicycle.  

Introductory lesson, 7:30 pm; dance, 8-11 pm.  No partner or prior experience necessary.  SNCA members, $7; non-members, $10; students (college, too), $5; children 12 and under, free. The SNC historic gym is located at 283 Highway 255 North, ¼ mile off Highway 17 in Sautee, Georgia.

Contact:  (706) 878-3300; www.snca.org or www.sauteecontra.com.