Category Archives: dancers

April 2, 2023

Celtic Celebration (Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA)

By New England Nomad

Date Of Visit: March 18, 2023

Location: Old Sturbridge Village, 1 Old Sturbridge Village Road
Sturbridge, MA 

Summary: A variety of Celtic related events such as dancing, a harpist and other family friendly events took place at Old Sturbridge Village

Website: https://www.osv.org/event/celtic-celebration/

Summary: Old Sturbridge Village celebrated St Patrick’s in style with dancers, musicians and a few other special events!

Everyone was Irish at the inaugural Celtic Celebration at Old Sturbridge Village. The Celtic Celebration event celebrated Irish culture and history. The event also also included horse carriage rides and animals on the grounds. The babies were especially popular.

The event also showcased some of the cultural aspects of Celtic tradition. Lee (MA) Irish Dance performed a style of dance called Step Dance. People from a variety of age groups, abilities and experience danced to Celtic music. Step dance is a form of dance that is deeply rooted in Irish tradition. As you can see in the photos below, the dancers incorporate a stiff upper body with fast and precise movements of the feet. The dancers kept their vision at eye level (likely ignoring or trying to not notice their friends and family who were intently watching them) and exhibited a serious manner. The dancers dressed in an array of colorful, glitzy apparel. They even added sparkly accessories to their footwear. Their abilities as well as their poise and concentration were all very impressive

In addition to the dancers there was also Celtic music performed by a skilled harper.

Celtic Harpist Cate Mahoney performed Celtic songs. It was amazing watching her make such beautiful music with such ease. Just to show how difficult and taxing it id on her fingers to make this music, you may notice a white bottle on the ground of the second photo. Between songs, Cate would have to use talc on her fingers. Her music, which you can hear in the video below, was very soothing and pleasing.

There were other family friendly events such as dipping candles, a bagpiper performing and readings from Celtic literature. Or, you could just walk around and take in all of the Irish culture in the air and be Irish for at least one day!

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in animals, dancers, fun, historical, Irish, Massachusetts, New England, Old Sturbridge Village, photography

November 2, 2019

Pumpkin Ball (Yankee Candle Village, South Deerfield, MA)

By New England Nomad

Date Of Event: October 18, 2019

Location: 25 Greenfield Road
South Deerfield, MA

Hours: Sunday–Saturday | 10 am—6 pm

Universally Accessible: Yes

Website: Yankee Candle Village

Summary: As part of their Fall festivities, Yankee Candle’s flagship store in South Deerfield, MA, held a celebration of all things fall.  A costume contest, ice carving, a haunted house and dancers were just some of the attractions at this event.

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Yankee Candle thrilled everyone with a Halloween/Fall event for all ages last month.

Dancers, costumed visitors and even a haunted house were just some of the highlights of this celebration of all things fall!

Yankee Candle decorated the grounds and store in proper fashion.

Meet Leona, a 1,732.5 pound pumpkin grown by Dan and Holly Boyce of Vermont.  Leona is the second largest recorded pumpkin grown in Vermont!

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Many visitors and workers got into the spirit of the season by dressing up in their very own Halloween costumes!  The black and white photo pays homage to George Romero’s classic 1968 black and white movie “Night Of The Living Dead.”  The zombies would later dance to “Thriller” as part of the dance performance.  There was a costume judging contest as well.  But I had to leave before the winners were announced.

 

The dancers at Kasaks Dance Academy performed during the Pumpkin Ball.  The half hour performance included dancing by each age group (starting with the youngest to the oldest).

 

Crawling out to the dancer floor, the last group of dancers danced to Halloween themed music ending their performance by dancing to “Thriller” by Michael Jackson.

 

There was also face painting and a pumpkin decorating contest.

 

The fun wasn’t just in the store, though.  On the grounds of the shop there were alpacas, horse drawn rides, ice carving and a family friendly haunted house.

Joe Almeida of Sculptures In Ice carved a spooky ice sculpture at the beginning of the event.

 

 

There also alpacas from Grass Hill Alpacas.

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But, one of the more popular attractions at the event was the haunted house.  All of the proceeds from the haunted house ($5 admission) went to Dakin Humane Society, an animal shelter in Springfield, MA.  Inside the haunted house there were pumpkins, spiders, and other Halloween related decorations.

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After going through the haunted house, there were masks for visitors to put on for possible photo opportunities.  Two of the little visitors were nice enough to pose for me.

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Dogs celebrate Halloween too!  Scrappy, a year and a half old Chihuahua, was enjoying the unseasonably warm Fall weather.

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7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in dancers, Fall, Halloween, Massachusetts, New England, South Deerfield, Uncategorized

October 22, 2019

Waterway/Lightway/Greenway (Boston, MA)

By New England Nomad

Date Of Event: October 17, 2019 (postponed from October 10, 2019)

Location: Milk St, Rings Fountain at Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Boston, MA

Summary: Lights illuminated the Greenway while 30 people danced along the Greenway and along the fountains.

Website: Waterway/Lightway/Greenway

Lights, camera, dancers!

As part of the 10 year anniversary of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the workers at the Greenway Conservancy planned a very colorful event.   Thirty dancers frolicked along the Greenway while seven different colored lights illuminated the fountains.  New lights were installed specially for this celebration.

The event began with a pretty water display.  Normally, the lights at the Greenway are white.  But, for the first time, colored lights were installed at the Greenway for this special event.  This event was held twice earlier in October.  But those events weer held during the daytime without colored lights.  I thought a night time display would be much more interesting.

After a few words from the creator of the event, Peter DiMuro of Public Displays Of Motion, there was a pretty fountain display.

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Interpretive dancers began moving along the grassy greenway.

The highlight (no pun intended) of the event, was when the dancers made it to the brightly colored fountains.

The dancers, aged 14 to 75, were equipped with umbrellas while they danced along the fountains.  They creatively used the umbrellas and light to make some very pretty colors.

There’s no word on whether the Greenway will conduct another display like this.  But, if they do I will be there, umbrella in hand.

This one was particularly challenging to photograph.  I used a higher than usual ISO (between 300 and 1,000) with a fast shutter speed (500 and higher) to capture the water as it shot up in the air and the dancers.  While I did have a flash I used it sparingly.  For one, I think the flash was frowned upon giving the fact the darkness mixed with the light from the fountains made the event so pretty.  I also think it wasn’t necessary, especially since I could use PhotoShop to bring out the colors.  I was also able to hide mistakes by utilizing the darkness ( :

Shoots like this are hard since you want to use a fast shutter speed to capture motion, yet you often want to use a slower shutter speed in low light situations.  So, I compensated with a higher than usual ISO to capture as much light as possibly.  While it varied throughout the shoot, I generally used a lower F stop (around 4.0).

27 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Boston, dancers, lights, Massachusetts, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Uncategorized, water fountains