10 Dec Keeping a Legacy in Tune: Dance Musicians’ Week Welcomes Scholarship Students
For three decades, Dance Musicians’ Week has honored the ways endless instruments bring fancy feet to the dance floor. Musicians from as close as down the road to as far as the Emerald City join piano, guitar, fiddle, recorder, accordion, flute, banjo, tambourine, and more in celebration of all things dance music. On the way to lunch, every student, instructor, and staff member on campus walks through a concert. Evenings offer an open invitation to dances where instructors and student bands bring first-timers and community members together for contras and squares, with a side of waltz. It is a very special week in Brasstown, and one that will always be connected to a man named David Kaynor.
In 1994, David was one of the musicians recruited to get Dance Musicians’ Week up and running. For 25 summers, he welcomed new instructors, reconnected old friends, and watched the class grow into the festive week it still is today. In 2019, David attended his last Dance Musicians’ Week at the Folk School. By 2020, a global pandemic and his ongoing challenges with ALS put any in-person hopes on hold. When David died in 2021, the loss was felt through the whole music and dance community.
David Kaynor Teaching an Intermediate Fiddle Class in 2018
Mike Robinson
In 2024, three students who attended Dance Musicians’ Week did so with the help of the David Kaynor Memorial Scholarship. Funded by David’s many friends in memory of his passion for dance music, the scholarship covers tuition for the week.
For Mike Robinson, a fiddler from north Georgia, being part of the week is not only about playing music, it’s also about the community. One notable highlight is “Band in a Hat,” an exercise that starts early in the week. “We all write down our name and instrument, put it in a hat, and the instructors put us in groups,” Mike says. “You never know who you’re going to end up with or what other instruments will be in your band. You play together in class, then you play for a dance. I have a lot of fun doing that.”
As a new Folk School student and the only bass player in class, Peggy Dean was also looking for community. “When I first arrived, I thought, ‘I’m not going to know anybody,’” she says. “Then, in our bands, we had to connect as a group. When we played for the Thursday night dance, we were getting so much support from our teachers and classmates.” She adds, “It’s a unique concept in this country to have that kind of experience. We weren’t in competition.”
It’s the encouraging atmosphere that brought Kathryn Barnhardt back. That, and her friendship with David. The two originally met in 2013 when Kathryn took one of his workshops. “We didn’t have much interaction then,” she says, “other than me laughing at his corny jokes.” Over the years, they shifted from musical acquaintances to actual friends.
In 2019, as David’s ALS was progressing, Kathryn made a promise. “If you’re going to be at Dance Musicians’ Week this year,” she told him, “I’ll be there, too.” He made his final trip to Brasstown that year, and Kathryn made her first trip to DMW. She’s been coming back ever since. “It means everything to me,” she says. “It really is a supportive community and if you’re open to it, it has the potential to be a transformative experience. It is so deliberately encouraging.”
Kathryn Barnhardt & Peggy Dean
The positive and collaborative environment of Dance Musicians’ Week continues to guide new and returning students, and it’s one of the reasons Mike came back. “There’s not enough coffee and there’s never enough sleep,” he says with a laugh, “but there’s always plenty of happy emotions.” Peg felt it, too. “I was so honored to receive of the scholarships and have this experience,” she says. “I want my musician friends to come!” For Kathryn, it’s a way to remember her friend. “I always, always, always hope that I can be a good partner when I encounter people who are just starting out on their fiddle journey. That’s what David was to me.”
Click here to learn more about or apply for a Folk School scholarship. If you are interested in providing financial assistance for students like Mike, Peg, and Kathryn, visit Scholarship Support.
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