Dance Spree (Greenfield, MA) with Guest DJ: Dance Friday’s Rose

ADMISSION:
$5-$10 sliding scale (pay more as you are willing and able)
ages 9 & under free
First Saturday of the month – free admission for those arriving prior to 7:45pm

All events now held at the Episcopal Church of St James & Andrew
71 Federal St, downtown Greenfield (MAP)

About Dance Spree

The Freestyle Boogie is an unregulated dance form that invites each of us to be inspired by ourselves, our energies, and that of those around us. There is no caller, no steps to learn, and no intention of how each dancer must interact with other dancers, if at all. Mind and body-altering substances, such as alcohol, are prohibited, and shoes usually are too. Children are welcomed, as are men, women, transgender people, and people from all cultures and walks of life – specifically, welcomed just as they are, to dance as they please.

The first freestyle boogie in the world took place in Boston in the late 1960s. Dance Free, now called Dance Freedom, revolutionized the world of social dance by eliminating all rules, measures of skill, and formalities of dancing with others. The original format consisted of drumming, a “middle,” or time to circle up, and a pre-arranged mix-tape; after that, all else was created by those in attendance. Over time, the format shifted exclusively to mix-tapes and then, beginning in the late 1990s, to live DJs, who chose songs one by one in a mutual dance with the room.
                                                         ** note that as of today, Dance Freedom itself does not allow children; most other freestyle boogies do.

Dance Spree was the first freestyle boogie established outside of Boston and Cambridge. In the Spring of 1978, Steve Baumohl, having recently moved from Boston to Northampton, rallied his friends and on April 21 launched Dance Spree. In the ensuing decades, the freestyle boogie grew first to a regional phenomenon, spread to California, and is now visible around the world.