page_title: New England Folk Festival
section_title: The NEFFA association
hierarchical_section_title: New England Folk Festival / The NEFFA association
caption_attribution_description: English: Thursday night Contra dance at the VFW Hall in Cambridge on May 15, 2003. I took this picture. --agr 30 June 2005 19:14 (UTC)
context_page_description: The New England Folk Festival is an annual weekend festival of traditional dance and music. It takes place in the Boston, Massachusetts region each spring. It is conducted by the New England Folk Festival Association. Both the festival and the association are colloquially known by the abbreviation NEFFA. NEFFA is a participatory festival; attendees are encouraged to participate in dancing, singing, musical jam sessions, and other activities. It is run by volunteers and all the performers are volunteers as well.
  The festival and the association has introduced thousands of New England and Massachusetts residents to the varied communities of traditional social and folk dance and folk music for more than 60 years, especially celebrating the living traditions of folk music and dance traditional to New England. Numerous New England folk dance callers, leaders and musicians have had formative experiences at the festival, and in turn have inspired and influenced thousands more through their performances, workshops, and enthusiastic participation. The festival has been influential in sustaining and reviving numerous folk dance traditions in New England.
context_section_description: In addition to the annual spring festival, NEFFA conducts the weekly  Thursday Night Contra dance, formerly in Cambridge and as of 2006, held at the Concord Scout House.   The dance is nationally known in the contra dance community for its vibrancy and popularity.  NEFFA also conducts a separate annual winter festival called the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, in honor of one of the organization's founders, to promote understanding of the history and development of traditional Anglo-American dance forms in New England, especially contra dance and square dance. NEFFA has also published influential books about traditional dance and choreography. NEFFA is an affiliate of the Country Dance and Song Society.
caption: A NEFFA Thursday night contra dance at the Fresh Pond VFW in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in May 2003, (before the dance moved to Concord)
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