The Melrose Messenger

Folk Dancing at Molly's Bookstore

Molly’s Bookstore is hosting a series of free, family-friendly folk dancing events this year, starting with an event last Sunday morning.

Molly’s, which has quickly become a hub for community events since it opened last year, made room for the dancing event on the main floor by moving a few bookcases aside. The event was led by Marcie Van Cleave, the executive director of the Folk Arts Center of New England (FACONE), which sponsored the event. Several Melrose families were in attendance, in addition to several FACONE members. FACONE used to be headquartered in Melrose, before moving to Stoneham several years ago.

The event was fully participatory, and featured dances that were easy to learn for both children and adults. Van Cleave set up a map to indicate the different countries featured dances came from, including Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Israel, Canada, Australia, and Ghana. For the most part, Van Cleave taught the dance to the group, then played music from the country of origin for the group to dance to. The dances were varied, with some involving sitting and clapping, and others involving walking in a circle or line dancing in pairs (or trios in some cases). While the dances were energetic, many participants, especially the younger ones, were still asking for “more!” at the end of the event.

In addition to establishing a partnership between Molly’s Bookstore and FACONE, it’s great to see that Molly’s is able to host not only book clubs, author events, and storytimes, but other community events as well. We can’t wait to see what events they will host next!

Melrose Community Dances will take place at Molly’s Bookstore on April 28th, September 22nd, and November 10th, all at 10:30 am.

Visit Molly’s Bookstore at 667-669 Main Street. Their hours can be found here.

Posted March 27th, 2024