Ethnic dance is any dance form which can be identified as originating with an ethnic culture and expressing the movement aesthetics of that culture. Folk dance requires not only an ethnic identification, but a participatory and aesthetic tradition. 

Ethnic Folk Dance may be defined as dance that is an integral and anticipated behavior in a culture and is defined by the aesthetics of that culture whether rural or urban.  Members of the folk dance tradition would include village dances, national dances, ritual dances, social dances, and educational dances.

Israeli Dance continues to be one of the most vibrant, living, breathing recreational dance forms out there. 200-300 new dances are offered to the world-wide repertoire each year by numerous talented creators of Israeli dance. The music represents what has been/is going on in Israeli culture which itself is greatly influenced by the multitude of ethnicities that populate Israel.

American Contra Dance (also contradance, contra-dance and other variant spellings) refers to several folk dance styles in which couples dance in two facing lines of indefinite length. Contra dances can be found around the world, though they are especially popular in the United States. Contra dance is also referred to as traditional New England folk dance. A contra dance evening may include a few dances of other types including: Traditional American Squares, waltz, polka, schottische, swing, rounds, clogging, Hambo and other Scandinavian, and other types of couple dancing.

Traditional American Square Dance is a catch-all term for styles of square dance that are not within the genre of modern Western square dance. This includes the regional styles that existed before the middle 1950s (when modern the Western style began to emerge as a new standard as figures and calls were standardized, regional differences were eliminated and new figures and calls were created); or styles that have survived or have been revived since the middle 1950s. In some communities in the United States and Canada, there are dance events consisting primarily of traditional squares, sometimes alternating with other styles of partner dancing, such as contra dance, round dance, mixers, waltzes, Scandinavian dance, Cajun/Zydeco dance and/or country/western dance. Square dance callers who call for occasional dancers, beginning-level dancers or brand-new dancers primarily use calls and figures from traditional square dance.

This talented melange of Regional Instructors, Group Leaders and Callers will be presenting a variety of interesting dance moves. The dances and dance types to be taught are posted to the Schedule and EZ-Schedule Grid: www.dcff.net/ez-schedule/.