Michigan Dance Heritage was formed in 1987 from a meeting and collaboration of music, song and dance leaders from across the State of Michigan. These leaders were called together by a handful of devotees who had sought to provide a rich educational base in traditional dance, music and song in a fashion similar to their experiences at Berea Christmas Country Dance School in Berea, Kentucky.

These next few paragraphs will further acquaint you with the activities that we support and point you toward events that we're sure you would enjoy participating in. Thank you for visiting with us.

º   The most current information about MDH Spring Camp Trillium Twirl (April 24 to 26, 2009) and  MDH Fall Camp (September 19 to 21, 2008) can be obtained by clicking on these sites. These are dance camps that begin on Friday evenings and conclude on Sunday afternoons, complete with meals, lodging, workshops, concerts and evening dance programs.

º   The LES RABER MEMORIAL fund was established to provide monetary support for musicians and dance leaders to further their education in traditional music and dance. If you would like to submit a candidate for a grant and/or recognition, please utilize the MDH GRANT REQUEST form in the next paragraph and note that the request is for a Les Raber Memorial grant and/or recognition.

º   If you are planning a traditional dance, music or song activity in your community, please consider an MDH GRANT to help you provide live presenters. Please utilize the MDH GRANT REQUEST form here and follow the instructions in the form. We're proud of the outreach programs that we've been a part of throughout the State…a small sampling of which is listed below for 2004.

º  Our MDH BOOK "Great Contras and Squares from the Great Lakes State" is in its second printing. This 74-page book is in 8-1/2" x 11" format and contains 52 traditional style dances written in or about Michigan. It also contains dance author biographies and a history of contra dancing in Michigan including bands and callers from up and down and across the State. The price of the book is $20. Standard shipping is $3. If you would like to obtain a copy, please e-mail mhillegonds@comcast.net to place your order or arrange to pick one up where available in your neighborhood.

In recent years, MDH is proud of its many accomplishments . . .

• A grant to the Ann Arbor Public Schools Adult Education "English as a Second Language" Program (ESL) helped provide a caller and musicians for their family dance. This dance was part of their "Step into the Community Week" and introduced ESL students from over 30 countries to traditional music and dance in Michigan.

• A grant was awarded to the Bayside Travelers Country Dance Society for their Dream Floor Project. Bayside raised enough money to install a new wood floor in their new dance home, The vintage Gilbert Lodge in Traverse City. Ribbon cutting and dancing commenced on the new floor in April, 2005, Over 100 residents of the Traverse City area dance there monthly   

• A grant to Elms Elementary for their Intergenerational Family Dance provide live musicians for a gathering of 160 children, parents and grandparents in Flushing, Michigan. This event was in collaboration with the Parent Teachers Organization of Elms Elementary who supported traditional dance instruction for two days in the school before the evening dance.

• A grant to Ann Arbor Council for Traditional Music and Dance (AACTMAD) helped finance the mailing of the AACTMAD Events Listing to organizations outside of Ann Arbor allowing broad communication of music, song and dance events across the state.

MDH was bequeathed the professional sound system of the late Michigan Recreational Leader "Arizona" (Harold) Rice of Mount Clemens, Michigan. Through our MDH Outreach Grant Application process, the components of the sound system were distributed to both an existing dance community in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a start-up dance community in Waldron, Michigan.

MDH was bequeathed a collection of the dance books and records of the late Al Hards of Orchard Lake, Michigan, one of Henry Ford’s dance leaders and a colleague of Benjamin Lovett. This collection of 41 books dating from 1893 to 1958, and 267 records both 78 and 45 rpm, was successfully transferred to the Ann Arbor Council for Traditional Music and Dance (AACTMAD) library. The completion of this project avails Al Hards’ dance materials to all dance leaders.

Each of our annual Spring Dance (Trillium Twirl) and Fall Dance Camps brought in 120+ dancers, musicians and singers from Michigan and neighboring states and Canada to share weekends at the water’s edge in Hastings and Lexington.

Our MDH Tourism Brochure was reprinted and reissued to the public through the 13 Welcome Centers throughout the upper and lower peninsulas in Michigan.

It has amazed and pleased us that since 1987, Michigan Dance Heritage has touched a great number of communities around the State with outreach programs and grants such as the five listed above. Please take a moment and visit a map of these many activities to see a town near you where people gathered to have fun with traditional music, dance and song. If your town is not shown, please consider an event to bring your community together and enjoy each other's company. A grant request form is accessible through this web page.

Your Michigan Dance Heritage membership dollars will provide support for these types of dance, music and song activities to continue here in Michigan.

If at anytime you would like to know more about MDH, please email your questions or comments to mhillegonds@comcast.net