Author: Lisa

☼ ☼ ☼ First Saturday Peterborough Contra Dance | Saturday, April 4, 2026

Contra Dance

Saturday, April 4, 2026

Hannah Johlas calling with Stomp Rocket (Bethany Waickman, Glen Loper, Dave Langford).

The dancing from 8:00 PM until 11 PM. 

Optional workshop for dance basics at 7:30 PM.

Admission is sliding scale $5-25. $30 family, or pay what you can.
Gender-free roles will be used for this evening: Larks and Robins.

Contra dance is a fun, easy style of folk dance that has flourished in New England since the 1700s. Partners form lines and dance a short sequence of steps with their neighbors. Over the course of the dance, each couple travels the length of the line and dances with every other couple. Dancers are welcome to bring a partner or a group of friends but it’s not necessary – traditionally, dancers are encouraged to change partners throughout the evening.

The dance takes place in the historic Town House in Peterborough, NH at 1 Grove Street. For more information, call 603-547-5831 or visit www.facebook.com/peterboroughcontra.

The Monadnock Folklore Society has presented contra dances and concerts of traditional music since 1982.

☼ ☼ ☼ Peterborough First Saturday Contra Dance | November 1, 2025

Contra Dance

Peterborough, NH First Saturday Contra Dance on Saturday, November 1. Ben Sachs-Hamilton will be calling with music from the Gaslight Tinkers.

Contra dance is a fun, relaxed style of folk dance that has flourished in New England since the 1700s.

Partners form lines and dance a short sequence of steps with their neighbors.

Dancers are welcome to bring a partner or a group of friends, but it’s not necessary – traditionally, dancers are encouraged to change partners throughout the evening.

The dancing begins at 8:00 PM.
Workshop for new dancers and all interested at 7:30 PM.
Admission is sliding scale $12-20, $30 family, or pay what you can.

Positions will be Larks and Robins.

The Monadnock Folklore Society presents this dance in the historic Town House in Peterborough, NH at 1 Grove Street.

For more information call 603.547.5831.
The Monadnock Folklore Society has presented contra dances and concerts of traditional music since 1982.

☼ ☼ ☼ Peterborough Fall Ball | Saturday, October 18, 2025

About

Saturday, October 18, 2025

Noon to Midnite

Peterborough Town House

Noon Eloise & Co. (Becky Tracy, Rachel Bell, Bethany Waickman) with Qwill Duvall

3:00 Calico (Eric Boodman, Casey Murray, Jesse Ball) with Annie Kidwell

6:00 Stomp Rocket (Dave Langford, Glen Loper, Bethany Waickman) with Steve Zakon-Anderson

9:00 Bubblegum Society (Cecily Mills, Tom Krumm, Abe Joyner-Meyers, Jared Kirkpatrick, Silas Hamilton, Simon Lace) with Hannah Chamberlain

Admission $30 (under 25 years old, pay your age) Price goes down every few hours

Role terms will be Larks and Robins

Mask-optional but masks strongly suggested. Don’t come if you have ANY symptoms or have been exposed to illness recently.

☼ ☼ ☼ Peterborough First Saturday Contra Dance | October 4, 2025

About

Peterborough, NH First Saturday Contra Dance on Saturday, October 4. Liz Nelson will be calling with music from Windfish.

Contra dance is a fun, relaxed style of folk dance that has flourished in New England since the 1700s.

Partners form lines and dance a short sequence of steps with their neighbors.

Dancers are welcome to bring a partner or a group of friends, but it’s not necessary – traditionally, dancers are encouraged to change partners throughout the evening.

Liz Nelson is an excellent young caller. Joining Liz on stage is Windfish, Perin Ellsworth-Osanya on fiddle, Ben Hemmendinger on accordion and keyboard, and Garrett Cameron on mandolin.

The dancing begins at 8:00 PM.
Workshop for new dancers and all interested at 7:30 PM.
Admission is sliding scale $12-20, $30 family, or pay what you can.

Positions will be Larks and Robins.

The Monadnock Folklore Society presents this dance in the historic Town House in Peterborough, NH at 1 Grove Street.

For more information call 603.547.5831.
The Monadnock Folklore Society has presented contra dances and concerts of traditional music since 1982.

☼ ☼ ☼ Peterborough First Saturday Contra Dance | September 6, 2025

About

Peterborough, NH First Saturday Contra Dance on Saturday, September 5. Lisa Greenleaf will be calling with music from Here on the Hill.

Contra dance is a fun, relaxed style of folk dance that has flourished in New England since the 1700s.

Partners form lines and dance a short sequence of steps with their neighbors.

Dancers are welcome to bring a partner or a group of friends, but it’s not necessary – traditionally, dancers are encouraged to change partners throughout the evening.

Lisa Greenleaf is one of the finest callers anywhere. Joining Lisa on stage is Here on the Hill, Rose Powell on guitar, with fiddlers Tory Horner and Annie Mcdougall.

The dancing begins at 8:00 PM.
Workshop for new dancers and all interested at 7:30 PM.
Admission is sliding scale $12-20, $30 family, or pay what you can.

Positions will be Larks and Robins.

The Monadnock Folklore Society presents this dance in the historic Town House in Peterborough, NH at 1 Grove Street.

For more information call 603.547.5831.
The Monadnock Folklore Society has presented contra dances and concerts of traditional music since 1982.

☼ ☼ ☼ Aurora Nealand & the Royal Roses | Dublin School | July 4, 2025

Concerts

Join us for a special evening of traditional New Orleans jazz with Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses at the Dublin School in Dublin, NH. This will be an outdoor event, weather permitting, Friday, July 4, 7:30 pm at the Fountain Arts Building on the Dublin School campus.

The concert is co-sponsored by The Walden School, the Monadnock Folklore Society and the Dublin School and is FREE and open to the public.

The Royal Roses grew out of the rich resurgence that traditional jazz is seeing in New Orleans amongst the younger generation of musicians today. Saxophonist/vocalist Aurora Nealand has been playing in various groups in New Orleans since 2005, and the Royal Roses, founded in 2010, is her first venture as a bandleader. The Royal Roses draw their repertoire heavily from Sidney Bechet, Django Reinhart and traditional jazz of New Orleans. Comprised of some of the finest young players on the New Orleans music scene today, the Royal Roses are seeking to breath new energy, arrangements and compositions into this genre of music while exploring and learning from its rich history and tradition. They’ve performed in New Orleans at the French Quarter Festival, Satchmo Festival and Preservation Hall, as well as in NYC at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. In the Spring of 2018 The Royal Roses were voted “Best Traditional Jazz Band”  at the Big Easy Awards!! Their first album “A Tribute to Sydney Bechet: Live at Preservation Hall” was released in 2011 to national acclaim. Their second album “The LookBack Transmission” was released in 2014 and includes original and traditional compositions including one Ms. Nealand wrote for the HBO series “Treme”. Inn 2016 they released a third album, “Comeback Children”.

This year’s line up accompanying Aurora includes Tomas Majcherski (saxophone), Josh Dunn (guitar), Jared Engel (bass), Brad Webb (drums), and TBD (trombone).

This is the first in a series of FREE concerts that the Walden School offers. Click here for a complete look at their 2025 concert series.

☼ ☼ ☼ Peterborough Contra Dance | Saturday, May 3, 2025

Contra Dance

Contra Dance in Peterborough NH on Saturday, May 3.

This dance features Steve Zakon-Anderson calling with music from Stomp Rocket – Dave Langford (fiddle), Bethany Waickman (guitar) and Glen Loper (mandolin and tenor banjo).

– The dancing begins at 8:00 PM. 

– Workshop for dance basics at 7:30 PM.

– Admission is sliding scale $12-20. $30 family, or pay what you can.

– Gender-neutral roles will be used for this evening, Larks and Robins

– This is a mask-optional event.

Contra dance is a fun, easy style of folk dance that has flourished in New England since the 1700s. Partners form lines and dance a short sequence of steps with their neighbors. Over the course of the dance, each couple travels the length of the line and dances with every other couple. Dancers are welcome to bring a partner or a group of friends but it’s not necessary – traditionally, dancers are encouraged to change partners throughout the evening.

The dance takes place in the historic Town House in Peterborough, NH at 1 Grove Street. For more information call 603-547-5831 or visit www.facebook.com/peterboroughcontra, or www.monadnockfolk.org. The Monadnock Folklore Society has presented contra dances and concerts of traditional music since 1982.

☼ ☼ ☼ Help Save Bob’s Piano — Fully Funded!

About

The Monadnock Folklore Society had the opportunity to help save Bob McQuillan’s piano at the Peterborough Town Hall. We grabbed the chance and it is happening!

Update as of 01/02/25: The Monadnock Folklore Society received a fabulous New Year’s gift from a generous donor, such that as of now, the piano restoration project is fully funded! Barring surprises, we have raised enough money to complete the restoration. Stayed tuned and toward the end of 2025 we hope to see Bob’s piano back in its rightful place at the Town Hall. We have plans forming for a special event to celebrate the completion of the restoration

For background information, see Help Save Bob’s Piano