Paint Creek
Folklore Society: A Page in History
by Glen
Morningstar Jr.
In celebration
of the upcoming 30th anniversary year of Paint Creek Folklore Society
ARTICLE
7…Paint Creek connects with Musicians, Singers and Dancers outside the States
With folk
music, folk song and traditional dancing in place in Paint Creek Folklore
Society, the foundation was laid for many learning opportunities for the members.
The folklore society's next BIG activity spun from the recognition of Paint
Creek's traditional teaching and sharing by other traditional arts
organizations.
At the 1982 Berea College Christmas Country Dance School in Kentucky, Dr. John
Ramsay, Director of Recreation and the Berea College Country Dancers, met with
Glen Morningstar to propose an exciting activity. John was familiar with the
work of Paint Creek Folklore Society through the promotions of Glen & Judi
at Christmas School since 1979.
He had a T-shirt from Paint Creek and a Ruffwater Stringband album in his collection. At this December 1982
meeting, John described the work of the Berea College Country Dancers in Denmark and asked
Glen if he would organize an exchange with a group of adults from Denmark called Thy Spillemandslaug and Thy Folkedanserslaug.
Glen agreed pursue this
activity and to contact the leader of the Spillemandslaug
to see if there was interest from Thy (pronounced Two).
The next year
saw a number of letters written back and forth between Michigan and Denmark to bring a scope
and objective together for a folk music, song and dance exchange. During that
period, Dr. John played the record album of Thy Spillemandslaug
for Glen & Judi. It was remarkable…it was the Ruffwater
Stringband's sound with accordions in place of the
dulcimers! The project gathered further momentum from these meetings and
pointed at a two-week visit from the Danes. The Frankfort Country Dancers of
Kentucky were welcomed as cohosts for "week
2" through "T" Auxier, dance leader for
Kentucky Summer Dance School and a Berea College
Alumni. In February, 1984, Glen wrote a proposal to the Paint Creek Board for
the first Danish- American Folk Music and Dance Exchange for Michigan and Kentucky. The proposal
mapped out dates, activities, transportation, hosting scenarios and performances
for the first leg of the exchange. The proposal was approved and Glen &
Judi were confirmed as coordinators for the exchange. All the fun of organizing
and planning with Paint Creek members was officially underway.
On July 10, 1984, twenty-five musicians, singers
and dancers from Denmark (and their
instruments and costuming) arrived at the Bus Terminal in Pontiac. They had
flown from Copenhagen to Toronto and bussed
across Ontario to Michigan. They were greeted
by host families and members of the Ruffwater Stringband playing tunes for them in the terminal. It was a
great meeting. The next week was a planned blend of personal time with host
families, a welcome party, group parties, a Paint Creek Picnic, a visit to Greenfield Village and
performances on WDET radio and in halls in Ann Arbor and Pontiac. Their
traditional costuming, music, song and dance were impeccable and won high
acclaim wherever they went. Host families had stepped forth from both Paint
Creek Folklore Society and Detroit Country Dance Society (through contact Burt Schwartz)…names
like Decker, Hays, Ott, Maliniak Mannisto, Menton, Morningstar, Schiffman, Schwartz,
Shulte, Smith, Snyder, Szczepanski,
Visconti and Webster. Michigan families
hosted between one and four Danes. It was a fantastic week. The Danes had been
on previous exchanges to countries in Europe and willingly
taught us a lot about hosting and working together. We put to rest their previous
impression that "America must be like
what we see on TV…Dallas", wow.
The town of Rochester particularly
impressed them as the way they wanted to remember Michigan.
After one
exciting week, vans and drivers were enlisted to transport our Danish friends
from Michigan to Kentucky where they
enjoyed similar activities in the Bluegrass State. The last day
of the exchange was the icing on the cake with all the hosts from Michigan and Kentucky and their
guests from Denmark gathering
together for a huge going-away party at Bethany Baptist Church in Pontiac. A binder of
the details and pictures of this first leg of the exchange is available in the
Paint Creek archives.