French flags draped from the ceiling in the airy event space Sunday as people swung their partners around the Northwest Portland venue. The flags celebrated Bastille Day, part of an annual local festival commemorating the 1789 storming of the Paris prison that helped launch the French Revolution.
The Alliance Française of Portland, a chapter of an international nonprofit aimed at promoting French language and culture, has held an annual Bastille Day event for 22 years.
This year’s celebration featured something new – Bal Folk dancing, with an instructor on hand to guide newbies. Bal Folk combines various types of dances.
Partners held hands and stepped toward and away from each other in structured sequences before switching spots and hands. They moved with a light bounce to the beat of an accordion as they weaved around the floor in a loose circle.
“People want to see something a little bit different than what we’ve done in the past,” said Judy Kafoury, the organization’s board president. “We wanted to focus on a variety of music inspired by France.”
These “ballroom position” dances first appeared in the middle or late 1700s, said William Watson, who taught people the Bal Folk moves Sunday.
The program started with a waltz, then transitioned to schottische, hanter dro, bourrée, cercle circassien, mazurka and ended with chapelloise.
The origins of these dances can be traced to longtime French traditions with Polish and Scandinavian influences, Watson said. Breton dances like hanter dro have been danced in the Brittany region of France for hundreds of years, he added.
Musician Ian Clemons, who played traditional songs for the Bal Folk event, said French folk music and dance is not found in Paris or other big French cities.
“This type of music is the country music of France,” he said. “This is village music. It’s made for all ages. It’s for grandkids to dance with their grandparents. It’s designed to be very simple and accessible.”
The crowd applauded as the folk lesson wrapped up. A Cajun band began setting up for the next part of the Bastille Day programming.
Around the world, events like the Festival Interceltique in Lorient, France have drawn hundreds of thousands of visitors interested in Bal Folk, Watson said.
“In the last 50 years, there has been a resurgence of interest in this music,” Watson said.
An increased dependence on technology has sparked desire for social activities like dancing, he added.
“It’s a living tradition – people are composing new tunes as well as reinventing and making new arrangements of old things.”
-- Riya Sharma covers Here is Oregon feature stories. Reach her at [email protected] or 503-294-5996.