Jacob
Bloom went to his first traditional New England country dance in 1974,
and has been dancing ever since. In 1977 he started calling
dances, and has called for weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, block parties,
monthly dances, elementary schools, middle schools, colleges, churches,
senior centers, nursing homes, housewarmings, and dance
festivals. He frequently calls for family groups and groups
of
beginners, and has been called "The best caller for beginners in the
Boston area."
Dances he has written have been included in books
published by the New England Folk Festival Association and the Country
Dance and Song Society of America.
He has performed English
Morris Dance, New England Country Dance, and Colonial Dance with the
Black Jokers Morris Men, the Green Mountain Volunteers, the New England
Chestnuts, and the Wayside Inn Steppers, including performance tours in
England, Belgium and France, and has taught the Banbury Cross
Children's Morris Team.
He created a colonial dance program in 2000, and has been expanding and
teaching it in Boston-area schools ever since.
Nancy
Bloom graduated Brandeis University with a degree in History in 1981.
She studied dance at the American School of Ballet, and has
been
an avid contradancer since 1986. She performs with the
Wayside
Inn Steppers and also keeps abreast of the most current colonial
American costuming research, which is ever-changing. She
works
as a tour guide for the Lexington Historical Society (Lexington, MA) in
various historical homes and on the Lexington Green, with both adults
and children, as well as teaching colonial dance as part of the Dance
History Alive! program.
Jacob and Nancy have taught and demonstrated colonial dance in
Lexington to people from around the world.
