09 Apr Bob Dalsemer, Folk School Music and Dance Coordinator, Celebrates Retirement
The Dog Branch Cats circa 2007 during a recording session for I Sing Behind the Plow. (L-R David Liden, Martha Owen, Jan Davidson, Bob Dalsemer)
It was about 1980. I got a call from Esther Hyatt, the Director of the Folk School. “Would you play the guitar for a dance class?” Would I? Yep, I’d play the guitar for about anything, and it was even better if I got paid.
I showed up on a foggy June morning at the Open House. Steve Hickman played the fiddle, I played the guitar, and this funny big cat from Baltimore taught clogging. That was surely one of my epiphanies, when I realized what fun the Folk School could be. The cat was Bob Dalsemer. For many years, we’ve been fellow employees and members of the Dog Branch Cats. He is one of the most fun musicians to play with. I’m happy to say he’s still a cat, and we continue to play music together, even though he has retired.
The Country Dance and Song Society awarded Bob its Lifetime Contribution Award in 2011
Bob dances “Around the House” in Irish Set Dancing with Jim Morrison in Open House (2013)
Bob started at the Folk School in 1991 as Music and Dance Coordinator. He has created the unique program that brings life to everything we do here at the school. He’s one of the best dance teachers anywhere. As a caller, there are few in his league. He can fascinate a roomful of the most seen-it-all experienced dancers and make them remember why they love to dance. Perhaps the most remarkable thing I’ve seen is how Bob can take a random sample of shy individuals, who are attending a conference or meeting, and have never danced and are not intending to. Within less than an hour, they are dancing and having a great time. What a gift!
Swing Your Partner! / Bob talks to Furman of the Marble Mountaineers backstage at Fall Festival 2012
Bob calls a Tuesday night dance in the Keith House Community Room.
While Bob is leaving his official position at the Folk School, he is not leaving the Folk School Community anytime soon. You can still catch him calling dances, playing music and hitting the Community Room dance floor. We are not letting him go that easy!
Keep in touch with Bob and see his dance calling schedule on his website.
Margaret Radcliffe
Posted at 14:27h, 09 AprilBob, I’m so sorry I missed your retirement celebration, but I hope we will cross paths again in the future. I’m one of those shy people you taught to dance, open the door to so many wonderful dances and friendships throughout the country. Hope you get to do everything you dreamed of during retirement, and you come up here to Virginia to call a few dances. All the best, Margaret Radcliffe.
Tom O'Brien
Posted at 15:19h, 09 AprilI started dancing in the mid seventies in the Washington/Baltimore area. Bob was a mainstay of the dancing community. He was the greatest. I’d follow him from dance to dance. The first time I went to Pinewoods was because he was on the staff. And wonder that same staff was going to be together at Christmas time at a place called John C Campbell Folk School. I went, my first time to Brasstown and enjoyed even more than Pinewoods. Bob, I hope you have a wonderful retirement, BUT don’t leave dancing.
Breeze Verdant
Posted at 15:20h, 09 AprilGosh, That makes me sad to see Bob leave!! (It also makes me realize that life is moving on and I’m/we’re all getting older!). Congratulations to Bob and thanks for loaning me your guitar through the years! Happy trails! Breeze
Rickey Holt
Posted at 15:38h, 09 AprilTruly sad. What will become of contra and square dancing at The Folk School in the future.
Cory Marie Podielski
Posted at 20:23h, 09 AprilWhile Bob is leaving his official position at the Folk School, he is not leaving the Folk School Community anytime soon. You can still catch him calling dances, playing music and hitting the Community Room dance floor. We are not letting him go that easy!
David Brewin
Posted at 17:34h, 09 AprilSeems like yesterday when I arrived at the Folk School in 1980 and met Bob for the first time. Later on, I would meet some really amazing musicians over the years and I always give Bob credit for showing me how to play rhythm guitar on gigs. Congratulations on your retirement!!!
Cory Marie Podielski
Posted at 20:24h, 09 AprilWhile Bob is leaving his official position at the Folk School, he is not leaving the Folk School Community anytime soon. You can still catch him calling dances, playing music and hitting the Community Room dance floor. We are not letting him go that easy!
Karen Axelrod
Posted at 21:27h, 09 AprilCongratulations, Bob. You are a treasure. The Folk School was fortunate to have you there for as long as they did. And lucky to still have you there as caller, musician and dancer. And now, you get to travel more for calling gigs and we get to see more of you up in the Northeast. Yippee.
Peter Contrastano
Posted at 00:18h, 11 AprilThanks for all of your contributions to the folk community, Bob. Besides participating in your contra and squares dances, I always enjoyed our opportunities to be on Morris dance tours together in western NC. Really doesn’t seem that you’ll “retire” – I’m sure you’ll continue to be involved in folk activities. – Best Wishes! Peter C.
Charlotte Bristow
Posted at 15:41h, 14 AprilBob, congratulations on your retirement. Thank you for all the fun dances in the Baltimore/DC area and for your work at the Folk School. You have been an amazing influence on so many lives. Because of you, Carl and I found our way to Brasstown and met many more friends. Dance forever!
Carl Dreher
Posted at 20:45h, 14 AprilI’m so torn about this, between “Boy, he deserves it!” and “We’re all going to die!” (OK, maybe it’s not THAT bad, but without Bob leading the way, I feel lost. Forsaken. Destitute of spirit. OK, maybe it is that bad.)
Congrats on the retirement. Maybe you’ll now have time to write some more of your classic, golden contras? Or a memoir about the early scene?
The good news is that Bob has been hand-picking his successor, so we know the Folk School will still continue to be wonderful.