Dance Like Jane Austen (in Binghamton)

There is a wonderful opportunity for dance classes this fall that ties in with our November 6 meeting in Binghamton regarding dance in Jane Austen’s novels.

The Binghamton English Country Dancers will be offering English Country Dance classes beginning this Wednesday, September 29, 2010. The series of 8 Wednesdays starts Sept. 29, 7:30-9:30 p.m. (beginner session at 7) at Christ Church, corner Water and Henry Streets (about 2 blocks from RiverRead Bookstore). $25 for all 8 classes. Callers are Cheryl Spiese and Terry Glasspool. Live music by Greenwood. Beginners welcome. Call Lee Shepherd for more information at (607) 722-9327.

Binghamton Janeites and country dancers are very lucky to have live music for dance classes as most dance classes are conducted with recorded music. You may remember Cheryl Spiese and Charlene Thomson of Greenwood from our last Jane Austen meeting in Binghamton on April 10th of this year. They gave a lovely mini-concert of traditional dance tunes and recently composed music inspired by a dance trip to England.

Reminder: Michaelmas Meeting in Syracuse, Saturday, September 25

Here's a reminder of the JASNA Syracuse Region Michaelmas meeting at Books & Memories, 2600 James St., Syracuse, 13206, on Saturday, September 25, at 2 pm. Our topic, as noted earlier, will be "This Is a Day Well Spent: Jane Austen's Juvenilia." After a brief introduction describing the circumstances under which the adolescent JA composed these wonderful comic sketches, we'll read aloud from "Frederic and Elfrida," "The History of England," "Love and Freindship" (yes, that's JA's own youthful spelling of "Freindship"), and "The Beautifull Cassandra."

A reminder also that parking on James St. in front of Books & Memories is limited and metered. In the past, we've recommended parking on Woodbine Ave. (the store is on the corner of James and Woodbine), and you can still do this. However, we've also discovered that the business just east of Books & Memories on James, MTS (Maine Technical Source), has closed and has ample off-street parking. Everyone else in the vicinity seems to be making use of the MTS parking lot, so we see no reason why we shouldn't do the same!