Added new sound samples from the August 8 contra.
More on the way.
We had two super back-to-back gigs with the acoustic-electric
band: Cocoa Beach on August 1 and Pinellas
Park on August 8. Kathie Aagard sat in with us for the Pinellas Park dance with caller Dwayne Johnson.
The band has been developing quite a sound as a trio using
drums and bass backup rhythms. This "acoustic-electric" contra band
uses hammered dulcimer for a more percussive sound and Ted gets to jam out on the tunes on acoustic guitar. Robbie (flute)
or Ben (fiddle)
adds their
flying fingers on the melodies.
Full Circle played the St. Cloud ECD in February, March and June as well as the annual Mayfair
Ball.
April was a busy month as the band played contra dances
in Gainesville, Tampa and Orlando.
Ted &
Veronica played for the Melbourne English Country Dance on January 27 with Barrie
Bullimore and on April 14 with David Millstone.
Colin
Hume returned to Florida to lead English country dance and contra dance with Full Circle in Cocoa Beach January 3-4,
2009.
----------------------------2008--------------------------------
The band got to play for Robin Hayden at this year's
Sharpes Assembly weekend in Sebring.
Full Circle Electric E-Ceilidh dance band made another trip to Tampa this year to play the TFOOTD contra at Rhapsody Ballroom on Saturday, September 27.
Full Circle and Reynierson Assembly played for English Infusion on Labor Day weekend at GDMA in Gainesville. The
E-Ceilidh Electric band did "Electric English" on Saturday night. Yes, ECD tunes with cool rhythms...
Full
Circle E-Ceilidh Electric band went on the road to South Florida in June to play the Davie Barn Dance on June 14th and Deerfield
Beach contra on June 15th.
Ben Bolker joined Ted & Veronica
to play for the Mayfair Ball in St. Cloud on May 10.
A
new page was added to the website for 2008. All the MP3s are on the "Sounds" page.
----------------------------2007--------------------------------
Brad
Foster was the guest teacher for the Sharpes Assembly English
Country Dance Weekend in Sebring, October 5-7. Full Circle played for ECD with Brad on Friday & Saturday
and an "electric" English/E-Ceilidh dance with Tara. Veronica taught a session of Israeli folk dances on Saturday.
Full Circle was “on the road”
for 3 Saturdays in a row this summer: Gainesville for the GODS contra dance on July 21; the Tampa/St. Pete
contra dance on July 28; and Cocoa
Beach on August 4. The
Tampa and Cocoa dances featured
the ECeilidh Electric Dance band.
July 21-22 was
a busy weekend for the band. In addition to the GODS contra dance on 7/21, Full Circle played for the Midsummer English/Contra dance weekend in Gainesville at GDMA.
Ted & Veronica played for the Jacksonville English Country Dance (ECD) on Friday, June 22 and July 27. They also
played for over 35 dancers at the season-ending St. Cloud ECD on June
9.
The cancellation of the Florida Folk Festival
was bad news for the music & dance community, so Tara Bolker & GDMA
members stepped in to put on a Mini Fest for the Memorial Day weekend.
Full Circle was glad to participate by playing an Electric Contra on Saturday night plus a concert, English Country Dance
session and contra dance on Sunday. In addition to playing for these events, Veronica taught an Israeli dance class
on Saturday and danced her usual Sunday night session at the end of the busy, fun weekend.
May 12-13 was the 3rd annual Mayfair Ball in Saint Cloud with guest teacher, Jacqueline Schwab, of the Bare Necessities and Florida's
best English dance callers. Robbie, Ted & Veronica played for the ball on Saturday evening, and Veronica got
to sit in with Jacqueline on piano for the Sunday morning session! Jacqueline was friendly, easy to work
with, and very complimentary to the band. It is so uplifting to have a musician
of her caliber appreciate our efforts.
The ECeilidh band with caller Tara Bolker
played for a session at Vernal’s in March. This was the first “big” contra dance weekend for Full
Circle. Both the guest caller, Joseph Pimentel, and the featured band, Goldcrest, said they
enjoyed the music. Joseph is hands down the most amusing and entertaining contra
dance caller there is.
On St. Patrick's Day, Full Circle played at
Culhane's Irish Pub in Jacksonville then drove to Gainesville to play the GODS contra dance with guest caller, Bob Dalsemer, of the John C. Campbell Folk School. Dancers and callers from
all over the state came into town for this dance and Bob's square dance workshop.
Full
Circle played for English Infusion with Philadelphia's
dance caller, Scott Higgs, in January 2006 and 2007 at O'Leno State Park. Both weekends began with Tara calling electric ECeilidh dances on Friday
night. On Saturday & Sunday, Robbie, Ted, Erik & Veronica played for multiple sessions of English country dancing. The band has been fortunate to play for such highly-respected and amiable teachers
like Scott.
---------------------------------2006--------------------------------------
Full Circle played the Cocoa Beach
contra dance for the first time in December 2006,
with Tara calling. The ECeilidh version of the
band played an electric contra at GDMA (Gainesville Dance & Music Association)
on Saturday, December 30. On New Year’s Eve, Ted & Veronica returned
to GDMA as “Seabreeze” to play & sing great R&B tunes
for West Coast Swing dancers.
Full Circle joined Country Dance & Song
Society president, Bruce Hamilton, of Menlo Park,
California, for the Sharpes Assembly English Country
Dance Weekend October 6-8 in Sebring, Florida,
attended by over 60 dancers. The band played on Friday and Saturday nights and had a request for an encore of
the jazzy version of "Smithy Hill." The dancers were surprised & then started singing along when the band spontaneously
broke into "Born to Be Wild" after the Saturday night ball. (Don't ask.....)
On September 9, the band turned the Neptune Beach contra dance into a rockin' ECeilidh/electric
contra dance at Cobalt Moon Center.
The electric band made its debut at the Tampa/St. Pete contra dance on September 23. Both of these dances had great turnouts that included our loyal
supporters and friends from Gainesville, Keystone
Heights, Winter Park, Deland, St.
Cloud, and Melbourne. Thank you, dancers!
The ECeilidh band played gigs at GDMA (Gainesville Dance & Music Association) on April 29 & July 29 and at the GODS (Gainesville Old Time Dance Society) contra dance on July 2. This band is developing an enthusiastic
following, and the compliments continue to pour in.
World-famous folk dance caller and composer,
Colin Hume, of Hertfordshire, England, conducted an all-day English Country Dance Workshop and evening ball on June 10 in
Saint Cloud. Violinist Ben Bolker sat in to lead the
Full Circle quintet through a beautiful rendition
of Pachelbel's Canon which brought a tremendous response from the crowd. Full Circle also played for Colin Hume's
first visit to Florida in July 2004.
--------------------------------------2005------------------------------------
The 4th Annual Andrew &
Rachel Jackson Ball was held on October 22, 2005, at the Cobalt Moon Center
in Neptune Beach.
Cellist Erik Ievins joined Full Circle for the evening
dance session and a pre-ball concert that included Irish, Scottish, and Israeli music! The dancers gave the band a great ovation
at the end of the night.
Irrational Exuberance and Full Circle played during the "English Infusion" Weekend
with Gene Murrow January 28-30, 2005. This event was held at O'Leno State Park in High Springs, FL. Activities included English
Country Dance, Morris Dance, E-Ceilidh, Rapper sword, musicians' workshop. Gene posted a most complimentary article
about the band on the ECD listserve. Read it here.
