Balls & Dances
Find Event Flyers and Cheat Sheets
Upcoming Dates of Balls and Dances
Morstein Picnic and Dance
Private home of John and Betty Lewis – please contact the Branch for help finding this location.
Free! Casual. Come enjoy an afternoon of swimming, picnicking, and good company followed by a dance in the Lewis’s lovely renovated barn. For the picnic supper, bring your own meal, perhaps with something to share. Bring a ready-to-serve tea item for after the dance. The weather can be quite warm at this time of year, so bring a fan and an extension cord if it’s hot.
This event does not have a pre-published program.
Morstein Work Day
Private home of John and Betty Lewis
Free! Grubby clothes
Morstein is the home of John and Betty Lewis. Betty is an avid gardener and passionately devoted to protecting her land – so much that she has incorporated their property as a nature preserve to prevent development and to educate people about the dangers of non-native invasive plants. To this end she is trying to remove the non-native plants from their property and replace them with native species. Unfortunately, she is unable to walk. So we provide her with strong limbs and she allows us to use their barn for dances and their pool for the picnic.
Delaware Ball
Typically in October
Wilmington Friends School, Wilmington Delaware
$$ Semi-formal to Formal
The Delaware Ball is run by our Newark, Delaware class. It starts with a Grand March at 8:00 PM. Please bring a ready to serve tea item. Tea will take place half-way through the dance.
Hogmanay
New Years Eve/New Years Day
Germantown Friends School, New Field House
$$ Formal
Hogmanay is the largest event on the Delaware Valley Branch calendar. This celebration brings people from many branches together to dance in the new year. After the first half of the program a lavish midnight tea revives our energy to dance into the wee hours of the morning. Bring a ready to serve tea item, your dance shoes, and your energy! If you would like help finding a place to stay, please contact the Hospitality Coordinator.
Swarthmore English-Scottish Ball
Typically in February
Swarthmore College, Tarble All Campus Space
$$ Semi-Formal to Formal
The Swarthmore College Folk Dance Club hosts this ball bringing the English and Scottish country dance communities together in one event.
Dithean
Typically in April
Bryn Mawr College, Goodhart Music Room
Semi-Formal to Casual
The Bryn Mawr Class hosts an afternoon tea dance for college and community dancers. Tea is provided by the class.
Garden Party
Memorial Day Weekend
$ Casual
The Garden Party is a social dance followed by a potluck picnic supper. Weather permitting, the picnic will held in the home and garden of Geoffrey and Cecily Selling. Please bring ready-to-serve items. In case of inclement weather, we will eat at the dance location.
Community Ceilidh Dances
Fall and Winter
$ Casual
The Delaware Valley Branch hosts two community ceilidh dances a year. Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) is a Gaelic word for a casual party with music and dancing and a variety of entertainment. The ceilidhs provide an opportunity for dancers from a variety of dance traditions to come together as well as people with no dance experience at all. Come and enjoy a variety of ceilidh dances, Scottish country dances, couple dances, and more! These events are suitable for inexperienced and experienced dancers of all ages. No partner needed. Just bring your dancing shoes (sneakers will do) and your enthusiasm.
The Bob McNair Memorial Ceilidh (Biennial)
February of even-numbered years
Casual
This ceilidh features a variety of entertainment. After a short Scottish country dance program, discover the various talents of your fellow dancers in acts silly and serious. The evening will include an auction of lost and found items and some group singing, ending with a marvelous tea. Our local musicians will be playing for the dancing and singing.
Cherry Hill Jubilee Tea Dance
Cherry Hill, NJ
Workshops
Various Times
Workshops are an opportunity to explore a specific theme or genre of Scottish dancing or music or to enjoy the talents of a guest teacher.
For more information about the difference between balls and social dances, see our FAQ page
