All right, this month is actually less of the same, relative to last month.  Let’s hope that roots grow deep in the dark, because this is definitely a dark and quiet month for me.  But better things – including an in-person thing – are coming in November!  Edited to add: And better things have arrived!  I will be doing an in-person dance class!  In person!!!  Not open to the public, alas, but in person!

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance! 

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I'm cautiously optimistic that things will start to pick up this autumn, though I'm not sure about winter.  This will be a fairly quiet month (like so many recently…) with an online lecture and a research trip.  

And if your dance group us back to actual in-person dancing, I'm willing to travel for small, vaccinated-only events and classes and, of course, to do Zoom lessons and talks for those who are not yet back to in-person events.

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance! 

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I'm now in that in-between space in which online lesson series are no longer viable but, with the delta variant surge, in-person lesson and classes have not really started up again, at least not to the extent of hiring traveling teachers.  But I have a wonderful research trip planned this month — two separate libraries, two days in each, plus seeing friends I haven't see since 2019 — and expect to have plenty of work to keep me busy, what with wrapping up my July events, revamping my masquerades lecture for another outing in September, and pushing several research and writing projects forward.

That said, I'm also still somewhat willing to travel for small, vaccinated-only events, depending on what and where and how the pandemic is going.  And (sigh) to do Zoom lessons and talks.

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance! 

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All right, this is getting a little ridiculous.  Remember I said last month that that series of online classes was really the last one?  Well…it wasn't. 

So let's try this again:

Still no in-person classes, but this month I'll be doing one more series (the last one! really!) of cotillion working group classes, using a different potpourri scheme – multiple figures repeating multiple times.  I'll also be lecturing for the Regency Fiction Writers Virtual Conference and teaching hand jive at the fabulous (and free!) online Stockton Folk Dance Camp.  Stockton is a fabulous bargain – a week of classes with an international cast of teachers, tons of dancing and music, and free.

And if anyone is ready to sponsor in-person classes in the USA again…I'm fully vaccinated and ready to travel!

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance!

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I just can't seem to quit the online classes!  Much to my surprise, I'm doing one more series – this is really the last one, I think – of experimenting on students with fresh cotillion research.  I also hope to add a couple of Connecticut-local, vaccinated-only, in-person classes later this month.

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance!

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Moving right along, pandemic-wise, I've now had both vaccinations (Pfizer/BioNTech) and am waiting out the two weeks until my immunity matures.  For May, I'm teaching what will probably be my last full series of online classes and starting to plan out summer travel, which will with luck include both research and, just maybe, some in-person teaching!

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance!

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I am now half-vaccinated and anticipate being fully so around the end of the month!  Lessons and events continue to be online-only for me for now, with a return to limited in-person teaching possible as early as June.  This month's highlight for me: after many years, a return to NEFFA (online version) to teach, of all things, 1950s hand jive!  Details below!

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance!

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The pandemic continues, but vaccines are rolling out apace in the USA, so I am feeling cautiously optimistic about later this year, though I've no idea when I'll be able to resume significant travel again.  In the meantime, I'm still online-only!

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance!

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My excitement for February: returning to DJing blues!  I'm not a big blues dancer, but I love the music and look forward to spinning online for my old Boston-area pals at Bluesy Tuesy and new folks from Powerhouse Blues!  I'll also be returning to my ultra-basic footwork classes and might add another pop-up class or lecture somewhere in there…

Otherwise: it's still a pandemic.  But the vaccines are coming!

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance!

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Well, we're still online-only…this month is planned as a research/writing month, so while I'm doing one brand-new lecture, I'm not planning any other major teaching events, just a few low-key private pop-up classes, which will keep popping up here throughout the month.  I expect more organized public classes to resume in February!

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance!

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Well, here we are at the last month of this very strange 2020.  As usual, I'm wrapping up my classes for the year.  As not-usual, they are online classes.  Hoping for better in 2021…

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November is going to feel strange this year, with no trip to Gettysburg for the Remembrance Day Balls.  Hopefully they will be back next year!  In the meantime, I'm going to spend November ping-ponging from the 17th century (unusual for me) to the early 20th, with a detour for footwork classes focusing mostly on late 18th to early 19th century dance.  I'm especially excited about both the Playford Then and Now Festival, hosted by The Historical Dance Society (formerly the Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society) in the UK with a great lineup of speakers, and the chance to repeat for the Historical Tea and Dance Society in California a lecture I gave for a university group back in September on the intertwined lives of the dancers Vernon and Irene Castle and the musician James Reese Europe.  Both the Castles and Europe are frequently discussed, lectured, and written about separately.  I'm thrilled to bring their stories together!

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Well, I had hoped to be moving back to Russia this month as usual, but it's clearly not to be.  So, online lessons continue.  September is going to be a (relatively) lively month for me, bookended by a lecture and class at a Russia-based festival at the beginning of the month and wrapping up with a pair of USA-based lectures at the end.  In between, my double series of California-based basic country dance footwork classes continues!

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I'm having a ball!  Literally, a ball!  In Moscow!  In Russian and English!  Mixing all sorts of crazy dancing together!

I'll be doing other things this month too, but holding a ball in Moscow is something I've wanted to do for years, so I'm dipping my toe in with a small, beginner-friendly event.  Details and links to the ball prep classes will appear later in the month – check back for updates! 

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Happy new year!  January is going to be a tough month, as I'm having to move to a new flat, which is a challenging task in Moscow.  But I'll still have a few events here and there!  Hopefully normal life will return in February!

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December will be a quite month of hibernation, research, and private lessons and classes.  The dance series at the American Center at the U. S. Embassy will continue with one regular dance and a holiday party!

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I'll be juggling two big trips in November – to Kyiv, Ukraine, for a ball and a day of classes, then back to the USA in November for the Remembrance Day Weekend balls and a country dance evening in Chicago!  In Moscow, I'll be continuing some private lessons and doing another public dance at the American Center at the U. S. Embassy.

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I am once more happily ensconced in Russia!  I am not launching a full public schedule this month, but I will be experimenting with teaching a short class at the American Center in Moscow (part of the U.S. Embassy); if it goes well, it will become a regular series.  And I may throw a small party at the end of the month – watch this post for updates!  (Edited to add – but I decided not to!  Maybe later in the autumn!)

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One last non-gig calendar for my extended summer vacation!  This month I am moving back to Russia, and starting in October there will once more be classes, parties, and the occasional weekend of travel.  I don't expect any public events this month.  In the meantime, I am still available for private lessons in Connecticut before I leave (though I will be super-busy packing!)  and in Moscow once I arrive.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

See you in October!

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I probably should start calling these summer calendars non-gig calendars, since I'm having a quiet summer dance-wise.  I don't have anything planned this month, nor am I planning to change that.  I am still available for private lessons in Connecticut when I'm there.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

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I am still mostly on my summer reading/research/writing break, but I plan to emerge briefly for my second lecture to the Beau Monde (Regency-focused) subgroup of the Romance Writers of America at their conference in New York in July.  Other events may emerge, but I'm not really seeking them.  Lots of work to do!

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I have some personal and research travel planned during June, but otherwise am taking my annual summer reading/research/writing break.  I don't expect (and am not looking for) any public events at all this month.  I am still available for private lessons in Connecticut, or while on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

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Last month in Moscow!  Along with preparing for my homeward migration at the end of the month, I'll be traveling to Odessa for Vintage Dance Exchange 2019 – By the Sea and teaching a full slate of waltz and nineteenth-century classes and private lessons.

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April is going to be busy with local teaching for me: my regular weekly cross-step and "polka mazurka" (now expanding to all sorts of late-nineteenth-century dance) classes and waltz party plus private lessons and an Easter ball!  In between, I'll be preparing a whole list of classes for Vintage Dance Exchange 2019 – By the Sea, coming up in mid-May in Odessa!

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