MIT Folk Dance Club

Updated November 1, 2024                                                                                                   Join our Facebook group!

The next international folk dance: Fall 2024 update: Unfortunately dancing is on hold until MIT lifts restrictions on in-person dance events. We will post an update when we have more information. Before COVID, international folk dancing met about one Sunday per month. Thanks for your understanding, and stay safe! Sponsored by Artists Beyond the Desk

Wednesday night Israeli dancing is available off-campus.
New location starting December 7, 2022:
Windsor Club, 1601 Beacon Street, Waban (Newton), MA
7:30 pm partner dancing. 8 - 11 pm regular dancing.
For updates on Israeli dancing, please see the Facebook group or email archive.

Quick Index

Click to jump to a category.

About The Club

IAP Special Events

Club Email Lists

Special Events

How to Find a Room We're Scheduled in

Links to other folk dance sites

About The Club

Sunday night International Folk Dancing meets one or two Sundays per month, from 8:00 to 10:30 pm, usually in classrooms at 77 Mass Ave.

We are a campus community group sponsored by Artists Beyond the Desk.

Before October 2018, we were a student organization.

Sunday Dates (8-10:30 pm)	Building/Floor	Room	Notes
January 13 & 27, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234	IAP folk dancing. Live music by Blajini!
March 24, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
April 28, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
May 19, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
June 16, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
July 7, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
July 21, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
August 18, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
September 15, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
October 20, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
November 10, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
December 8, 2019	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234
January 12, 2020	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234	Live music by Sladka!
February 2, 2020	Building 5 2nd Floor	Room 5-234	Live music by Blajini!
March 15, 2020			canceled

To see what dances we've done from July 2002 - October 2018, see the playlist archive. See our web archive for old versions of our web pages.


Wednesday night Israeli Dancing has moved off campus. As of December 2022, the location is the Windsor Club, 1601 Beacon St, Newton (Waban) MA.

Previous locations:
November and December 2018: Kehillath Israel
January - July 24 2019: Jewish Community Day School
Special location July 31 - September 4, 2019: Kehillath Israel, 384 Harvard St, Brookline.
August 28, 2019: Oldies++! 7:30 pm: before 1980. 10 pm: mix of oldies and 80s. 11 pm: we'll see...
Special location September 11, 2019: Fidelity House, 25 Medford St, Arlington MA
Special location September 18, 2019: VFW/American Legion, 386 Washington St, Brookline MA
Special location September 25, 2019: American Legion Marsh Post, 5 Greenough Blvd, Cambridge MA
Special location October 2, 2019: VFW/American Legion, 386 Washington St, Brookline MA
October 9, 2019: No dancing (Yom Kippur)
October 16, 2019 - January 8, 2020: Jewish Community Day School (57 Stanley Ave, Watertown)
January 15, 2020 - March 2020: Rutledge VFW, 386 Washington St, Brookline MA
July 7, 2021 - November 2022: Rutledge VFW

December 7, 2022 and onward: Windsor Club, 1601 Beacon St, Waban (Newton), MA
See the Boston Wednesday Night Israeli Dancing Facebook page for details.

From 1998 - 2018, the Contra Dance for All, with live music, met several Tuesdays per month from 8:00 to 10:30 pm.

IAP Special Events

The MITFDC gives classes and workshops as part of MIT's Independent Activities Period each January.
Check back for our 2025 offerings.

Club Email Lists

• International Folk (Sundays about once a month): Send a blank email to fdc-international-subscribe[at]mit[dot]edu
  or fill out this form. You will receive an e-mail requesting confirmation.

  Your email address:
  Your name (optional):

  
  
• Contra Dancing (no longer active -- occasional off-campus announcements): Send a blank email to fdc-contra-dance-subscribe[at]mit[dot]edu , or fill out this form. You will receive an e-mail requesting confirmation.

  Your email address:
  Your name (optional):

  
  
• Israeli (Wednesdays off-campus): Send a blank email to bostonwednesdayisraelidancing+subscribe [at] groups [dot] io
  or visit groups.io. You will receive an email requesting confirmation. If you have any questions, please contact the Folk Dance Club officers at fdc[at]mit[dot]edu.

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  Special Events

  Annual Israeli Dance Marathon
  The Christmas Eve Israeli Dance Marathon takes place every year on or about Christmas Eve. We dance until about 4 am.
  The 2023 marathon was held on Sunday December 24. Check back for information about the 2025 marathon.
  
  
  

  Beginner's Nights are for people who haven't done much dancing before and want to learn some and for more experienced dancers who want to practice the basics. In other words, they are for everyone. You need no prior experience and you don't need a partner. Beginner's Nights for all 3 nights of dancing occur in September and January each year.
  
  

  The Israel Folkdance Festival of Boston takes place each year in March, in Kresge Auditorium on the MIT campus. The next festival will be on Sunday March 22, 2020. The show includes performances by dance ensembles from far and near. Visit http://www.bostonfestival.org for more information and to order tickets.

  
  

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  Where We Meet

  As of 2019, Sunday International Folk Dancing meets in the main classroom complex at 77 Massachusetts Avenue.
  
  To reach Building 5, go up the stone steps, enter the building, and immediately turn right.
  Or for an elevator, enter at street level to the left of the steps.
  
  See a Google map and get driving directions
  
  See a schedule for the #1 bus which runs along Mass Ave.
  
  

  Parking

  Free parking is available in the lot behind the Bank of America ATM at Mass Ave and Vassar Street (though it sometimes fills up on weeknights), or on the street.
  This lot is free after 5 pm.
  
  Paid parking is available in the Albany Street Garage (east of Mass Ave). $9 flat rate nights and weekends, credit and debit only. Spaces should be available when the free options are full.
  
  
  

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  Links to other folk dance resources

  International Folk, Contra Dancing, and Other kinds:

  The Folk Arts Center of New England home page, including their calendar Folk Dancing 'Round Boston.

  New England Folk Festival Association (NEFFA) runs a folk festival each April in Mansfield, MA, as well as a contra dance each Thursday night at the Scout House in Concord, MA. (This dance was formerly located at the VFW in west Cambridge, and hopes to move back there now that the city has rebuilt it as a youth/community center.)

  Country Dance Society, Boston Centre (Contra and English Country dancing.)

  BIDA (Porter Square, Cambridge) and the Jamaica Plain Gender Free Contra Dance are the other contra/traditional square dances in the city.

  contradancelinks.com, a comprehensive page of links to other Contra Dances around the world.

  Larry Denenberg's Beginner's Catechism page

  The Cambridge Folk Orchestra plays at various folk dances in the Boston area, and occasionally plays at MIT at our Sunday night international folk dances.

  The MIT Folk Dance Club Songbook, a compilation of lyrics of the songs in our record collection.

  Arthur Saltzman has posted FDC photos and movies from the 1960s.

  The Tuesday Night Revival is an advanced Balkan dance group that used to dance at MIT, and now holds dances about once a month in Arlington on a Friday or Saturday.

  Zdravets is a local Bulgarian band which hosts a dance once a month in Newton Corner (formerly in Arlington).

  Balkan Music Night is a concert and dance party which occurs each year in March, in Concord, MA.

  The Dance Gypsy is a calendar of contra and other folk dances throughout the U.S., focusing on New England.

  Israeli Folk Dancing:

  Israeli Folk Dance in Boston, including Sunday night Israeli Dancing at Temple Emeth in Chestnut Hill (formerly located at Harvard Hillel), and Monday night dancing at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline.

  israelidance.com, which includes a test to see if you are a true folk dance addict and a session-finder, in case you're thinking of moving and want to see if there's dancing there first.

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  Comments on this home page and other subjects are welcome.
  Send mail to fdc[at]mit[dot]edu .