The Dance Hall revives a longtime Grange Hall tradition

Kittery, ME- On Saturday, November 17, 2012, The Dance Hall in Kittery will be hosting a contra dance featuring well known New England caller Tony Parkes and fiddler Elly Marshall and pianist Abe Stimson. 

Born and raised in New York City, Tony learned to call and play piano for square dances at the Farm and Wilderness Camps in Vermont. He studied square and contra calling informally with many of the best-known callers in the Northeast, including Don Durlacher, Dick Kraus, and Ralph Page, and completed the Teaching Techniques Course in international folk dancing with Mary Ann Herman of Folk Dance House. 

In 1973 Tony moved to the Boston area to be nearer the center of the New England contra dance revival. He completed the square dance calling course, wiith a focus on timing and phrasing, taught by Dick Leger for the New England Folk Festival Association (NEFFA). Tony has performed at every NEFFA Festival since 1969 and has served on the boards of NEFFA, the Country Dance Society (Boston Centre), and the Folk Arts Center of New England. He currently serves on NEFFA's Grants Committee. 

Tony is known for his original dances in the traditional New England style, including Flirtation Reel, Hey Fever, and the modern classic Shadrack's Delight. He is the author of Contra Dance Calling: A Basic Text and two collections of dance material. For over 20 years he appeared weekly with the band Yankee Ingenuity, which he co-founded; he recorded two albums with them, Kitchen Junket and Heatin' Up the Hall. He also played piano on two albums with the Canadia