It was pure luck that the Dance Flurry Festival (now called “The Flurry”) came into being…
In 1987, Nancy Gretta and Paul Rosenberg were car-pooling to the Brattleboro, Vermont, Labor Day Dawn Dance. As they drove, they reminisced about how wonderful the one and only Old Songs Winter Dance Fest had been. In the Autumn of 1986, the 2nd annual Winter Dance Fest was in the planning stages when the director stepped down, and Nancy had just learned that the 1988 festival was also canceled. She asked Paul (partially in jest) if he would organize a replacement festival.
The wheels began to spin, and Paul thought a smaller, one-day winter dance festival could be a logical extension of the Schenectady contra dance series, which he had developed earlier in 1987. This series was (and its successors still are) unique because it was totally dedicated to the showcasing and development of callers and musicians from within the Capital District of New York State.
The Hudson-Mohawk Country Dancers (later known as Hudson-Mohawk Traditional Dances, Inc., and now as the DanceFlurry Organization) was formed as a not-for-profit chapter of the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) around 1987, which allowed for grants and the ability to obtain liability insurance.
The first February Dance Flurry was a one-day festival held at the Westmere Elementary School in Guilderland, NY, on February 13, 1988. Over 300 dancers attended a highly successful event, staffed entirely by 38 local and regional performers, including Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, George Wilson, Selma Kaplan, Pat Rust, Mary Cay Brass, Van Kaynor, and the St. Regis String Band.
The Festival evolved to become a three-day extravaganza, which was held for several years at the Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland. In 1994, just two-and-a-half weeks before the Flurry, very cold weather burst water pipes in the school’s gymnasium and ruined the floor. The Flurry organizers scrambled to find an alternative venue, and managed to cobble together a festival held at several venues in the city of Saratoga Springs. The location was a perfect match, and Saratoga Springs has been the home of the Flurry, ever since, and the attendance — including over 400 performers and 300 Flurry staff and volunteers — has climbed to over 5,000.
Around 2010, the “Dance Flurry” festival name was changed to reflect both dance and non-dance events (an often said reply to being asked about attending the “Dance Flurry” was: “Oh, I don’t go, because I don’t dance”). And so, “The Flurry – A Festival of Traditional Dancing and Music,” became the proper name and motto, known now as “The Flurry.” The organization retained the “DanceFlurry” name and hosts The Flurry, as well as a fall Adirondack dance weekend, and an assortment of dances throughout the year.
In 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic made holding an in-person event impossible, the Flurry pivoted to the fully-virtual event Dancing in the Cloud, with over 150 interactive sessions taking place over Zoom. In 2023, the Flurry emerged from its pandemic hiatus to produce a scaled back festival Winter Roots, and planned a Spring Bloom companion which needed to be cancelled due to a large financial loss. Fortunately, the Flurry community banded together to support an enormous fundraiser, making the Flurry whole and allowing it to return to its full glory in 2024, and expand even further in 2025!
| Math Trivia: 2026 will be the 38th Annual Flurry Festival, not the 39th, even though the festival began in 1988. Why? We missed a year when the 2022 festival was cancelled due to Covid, and a “Snow Day” fundraising concert was held instead. |
| A Who’s Who of Historical Flurry Management: Paul Rosenberg – Festival Director 1988-1987, 1999-2005, Co-Program Director 1998 Pat Melita – Associate Director/Festival Finance 1989-2005, 2007, Festival Director 1998 Kristen Brunner Hislop – Associate Director 2000-2003 Sue Mead – Administrative Assistant 2004-present Peter Davis – Program Director 2006-2018 Doug Haller – Administrative Director 2006-2008, 2011 Ginny Gokhale – Finance Director 2006 Chrissie VanWormer – Festival Finance 2008-2015 Ian Hamelin – Administrative Director 2009-2010, Technical Director 2012-2015, Finance Manager 2016-2020, Finance and Administrative Manager 2021 Tamara Flanders – Marketing Director 2011, Administrative and Marketing Manager 2012-2020 Josh Snitkoff – Technical Manager 2016-2021, Administrative Manager 2022 Jonathan Greene – Program Curator 2019-present Blair Davenport – Marketing Manager 2021-2023 Kristoph DiMaria – Technical Manager 2022-2023 Danielle Enbloom – Administrative Manager 2023 Noel Kropf – Acting Finance Manager 2023-present Kathleen Crayne – Marketing Manager 2024-present Adam Goodman – Technical Manager 2024-present Shira Love – Administrative Manager 2024-present |
View past Flurry programs online:
Photo Albums from Past Flurry Festivals:
Photos are property of the Flurry Festival and may not be reproduced without permission and attribution.
Our pre-2009 photo collection is spotty – if you have old Flurry photos you’d like to contribute, please contact admin@flurryfestival.org!
View Flurry-related articles from the DFO Annual Newsletter archives. Find the full archive here.
2016 Interviews from the Skidmore Memory Project:
Originally archived here.
