Square dance instructor and banjo player Sarah Gibson on stage. Courtesy photo by Michael Tallman

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship

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This fall, folk musicians Ida Mae Specker and Sarah Gibson are on tour around the state leading free square dance events.

Each stop on the tour, called “The Lonely Days Are Gone,” includes live music and a square dancing lesson, and often a community potluck meal. For the organizers, the events are about bringing people together in person.

“It’s an incredible group experience,” Specker said. “I think it’s very healing as a society for us to get together and do these things.”

Gibson said square dancing is a structured way for people to connect with strangers.

“It’s like a real invitation into some kind of social intimacy, but with some guardrails, like directions from me for how to dance,” Gibson said. “I think that can be a real comfort to people who are figuring out how to connect.”

Each event is hosted in a historic town hall. In some cases, members of the community have been gathering in these spaces for generations.

“The Brandon event, for instance, was in this incredible, really ornate town hall with a huge stage, that heavy curtain, an enormous dance floor, beautiful tall windows, and that’s certainly in the National Register of Historic Places,” Gibson said.

All events are free and open to the public, no prior dancing experience needed. The tour is supported by Vermont Public, New England Foundation for the Arts, Vermont Humanities, Chandler Center for the Arts and individual donors.

Specker and Gibson believe that events like this can help unite Vermonters who are otherwise living isolated lives.

“I think we live in an increasingly digital world, and it can take a lot of work to find positive, fun opportunities to gather, especially in groups that are multi-generational that bring people from across political and social spectrums,” Specker said. 

The tour kicked off with events in Brandon and Brookfield, and continues with dances in Hardwick, Ferrisburgh and Chester later this month. The next dance is in Hardwick on Oct. 10 from 5-7 p.m.