The Western Illinois Museum, in collaboration with the Macomb Music Workshop, invites the community to a special evening of music and dance on Saturday, October 11th, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. This event will feature live performances by local students, dances from historical and folk traditions, and interactive fun for everyone!
Led by Chicago-based baroque dancer Sarah Edgar, local fiddler John Lane, and square dance caller Jamie Lane, local students will perform baroque and fiddle tunes they have prepared over the course of the workshop weekend, and you’re invited to dance along! Try your hand (and feet!) at a minuet, dance a lively do-si-do, and enjoy some delicious food with others. Guests are invited to bring a dish (can’t go wrong with a dessert), too. Doors open at 5:15 PM, and there is a suggested $5 donation at the door.
Program Schedule
5:15 pm Doors Open
5:30 pm Baroque Dancing
6:30 pm Square Dancing
Food will be available throughout the evening.
What to Expect
In the 17th and 18th centuries, court dances were a central part of social life across Europe. Composers like Bach and Handel wrote suites filled with minuets, gavottes, and bourrées, dance forms they would have known from personal experience. Today, these suites are part of the repertoire of many music students, but without knowing the dance steps that inspired them.
The Macomb Music Workshop gives students of all ages a chance to bridge that gap. Over the weekend, participants will learn baroque dance tunes, not just as notes on a page, but as a living music with a living rhythmic feel, through classes with acclaimed baroque dance master Sarah Edgar. During the community dance, they will share what they've learned by performing the music live as Ms. Edgar teaches the steps to community members in a beginner-friendly way. Audience members of all ages and experience levels are welcome to join in.
The second half of the evening shifts to a hoedown-style square dance, featuring traditional fiddle tunes like Arkansas Traveler, Boil the Cabbage, Christmas Eve, Flopeared Mule, Liberty, and Liza Jane. Students will perform under the leadership of local fiddler John Lane while Jamie Lane calls the dances. No prior dance experience or partner is needed, just bring yourself and a willingness to move!
For more information, call 309-837-2750, text 309-837-2613, or email
aW5mbyB8IHdpbXVzZXVtICEgb3Jn. The Museum is located at 201 S. Lafayette Street, one block south of Macomb’s Courthouse Square. The building is fully accessible and free accessible parking is available.
About the Macomb Music Workshop
The Macomb Music Workshop: A Weekend of Music and Community (October 10–11) brings together music students of all ages to explore baroque and folk dance traditions through playing, dancing, and improvising. Organized as a one-time event by local Suzuki music teachers Karen Martin, Claire Happel Ashe, and Heidi Brooks, the workshop offers students a joyful opportunity to explore the connection between music and movement in a participatory, community setting. The weekend culminates in a performance at the Western Illinois Museum, where audience members are invited to join in simple dances to live student music.
This Macomb Music Workshop is funded in part by grants from the WIU Performing Arts Society.
About the Western Illinois Museum
The Western Illinois Museum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating a deeper understanding of history, culture, and tradition, sparking curiosity that connects us to the past, each other, and the values that shape our community. As a lively gathering place, the Museum offers exhibits, open collection access, lectures, music, and a variety of engaging, educational programs in a historic setting.
About Our Guests
Sarah Edgar, Associate Director of the New York Baroque Dance Company, is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, stage director, and researcher specializing in eighteenth-century performance. Since beginning her professional career with the company in 1999, she has explored the stage conventions of the period and now oversees the company’s Midwest activities from her home base in Chicago. She also serves as stage director and choreographer at Haymarket Opera Company, where her work has included the modern premiere of Marin Marais’ Ariane et Bachus (1696). Her artistic career has taken her across Europe, most notably during her years in Köln, Germany, where she performed, created new works with her ensemble The Punk’s Delight, and immersed herself in the art and history of the continent. An active educator, she has taught master classes in baroque dance at universities in the U.S. and Germany, lectured at symposia on eighteenth-century performance, and frequently directs and choreographs operas at Wheaton College and DePaul University. She holds a BFA summa cum laude in Dance Performance from The Ohio State University and an MA in Tanzwissenschaft from the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.
Jamie Lane has been involved in contra dances since 2002, when her sons began playing fiddle for dances in Peoria, Illinois. Noticing a lack of local callers in her hometown of Macomb, she happily stepped in, calling circle mixers and contra dances beginning in 2010.
John Lane is a Western Illinois musician best known for his soulful fiddling and versatility as a sideman, adept also on guitar and bass. Based in Macomb, he’s built a reputation as a leading figure in the region’s old-time and folk music scenes, appearing at local venues like the Macomb Farmers Market and collaborating with other Midwestern artists. When he’s not performing, John shares his music online, posting fiddle tunes, stories of midwestern country life, and other musical explorations through YouTube and social media. His style is rooted in tradition but energized by curiosity and an earnest connection to community.
You may also like the following events from Western Illinois Museum:
Also check out other
Workshops in Macomb,
Entertainment events in Macomb,
Music events in Macomb.
