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Dudley Laufman

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Dudley Laufman
Laufman in 2009
Laufman in 2009
Background information
Born(1931-02-07)February 7, 1931
Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJuly 13, 2026(2026-07-13) (aged 95)
Canterbury, New Hampshire, U.S.
GenresDance
OccupationsCaller, musician
Instruments
LabelsF&W, Front Hall, Two Fiddles

Dudley Laufman (February 7, 1931 – July 13, 2026)[1] was an American contra and barn dance caller and musician widely credited with having helped spur the revival of contra dance in the 20th century.[2][3]

Early life

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Laufman was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on February 7, 1931, and grew up in the nearby town of Arlington.[2] He was the eldest of five children.[4]

Laufman attended his first dance as a boy while working as a dairy farmer at the Mistwold Farm in Fremont, New Hampshire, in 1948.[5] His boss's wife hosted "kitchen junkets" as a community gathering after work, which involved singing hymns and then removing furniture and dancing folk dances called from Henry Ford's Good Morning collection.[6] In 1952, he moved to Walpole, New Hampshire.[2]

Contra calling career

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Laufman later attended the Norfolk County Agricultural High School in Walpole, Massachusetts,[4] where there were square dances every Monday night.[6] There he met caller Ralph Page, who became his mentor.[6] He took up calling, modeling his style after Page's, after a warm winter disrupted his ice hockey hobby and because he noticed that callers received romantic interest from women.[6]

Laufman graduated from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at the University of Massachusetts.[4] In 1957, his first wife, Cynthia, gave him a fiddle and he began to learn to play.[6] He also learned the accordion, concertina, melodeon, and harmonica.[2]

A contra dance called by Laufman in Richmond, New Hampshire, in 1964 or 1965

In 1959, he moved to Canterbury, New Hampshire.[2] In 1965, he was hired to perform at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.[6] Together with other musicians who went there with him, he founded the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra that year.[7][8][2]

He began calling and playing for dances, which became known as "Dudley Dances".[9] At times, he was the only remaining caller of contra dances with live music.[2] In the 1970s, his orchestra averaged more than 300 engagements per year.[5] He worked to spread the tradition, which became popular as part of the countercultural movement of the 1960s and ultimately caught on.[6] It has since spread across the United States.[10]

Later career and death

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In the 1970s, more aerobic "modern urban" contra dances, in which there was no longer an inactive couple, came into fashion. These were of less interest to Laufman, so he turned his attention to traditional barn dances.[6] Beginning in 1978, he started working with the New Hampshire Artists-in-the-Schools program, teaching dances to children.[2]

Laufman died on July 13, 2026, at his home in Canterbury, at the age of 95.[11][5]

Personal life

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BERJAYA
Laufman's house

From 1959 until his death, Laufman lived in Canterbury in a house called "Wind in the Timothy"[2] which he built himself.[12] His home garden provided much of his food.[12]

Recognition

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Laufman was a recipient of a 2009 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[6]

The recreation barn at Camp Quinebarge, a children's sleep away summer camp, on Lake Kanasatka in Moultonborough, New Hampshire, which hosted 'Dudley Dances' for fifty years, is named in his honor.[4]

Works

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  • Okay, Let's Try a Contra, Men on the Right, Ladies on the Left, Up and Down the Hall; or Blow Away the Morning Dew and Other Country Dances. New York: Country Dance Society. 1973. ISBN 9780917024023.[8]
  • Numerous poetry books[5][13]

Discography

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With Jacqueline Laufman

  • Where'd You Get Them Great Chunes (alongside the Sugar River String Band) (Two Fiddles, 2007)[14]

With Canterbury Country Orchestra

  • Mistwold (F&W Records F74-FW-5, 1974)[15]
  • Swinging On A Gate (Front Hall Records, 1974)[8]
  • Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra With Dudley Laufman (F&W Records CD-01-FW8, 2001)[8]
  • Welcome Here Again (F&W 74WWC, 2016)[16]
  • Here's to Every Country Dancer (F&W F72-FW-3, 2019)[17]

References

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  1. ↑ "Notable New Hampshire Deaths: National Heritage Fellow Dudley Laufman of Canterbury". InDepthNH. July 16, 2026. Archived from the original on July 17, 2026. Retrieved July 16, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Guide to the Dudley Laufman Papers, 1962–1998". UNH Special Collections and Archives. University of New Hampshire. December 14, 2007. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
  3. ↑ Pich, Tom (2009). "Picture Perfect". NEA Arts. Vol. 2009, no. 3. National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Koziol, John (August 28, 2023). "Already recognized as a New Hampshire and national treasure, contra and barn-dance caller Dudley Laufman honored by Lakes Region summer camp". New Hampshire Union Leader. Archived from the original on July 18, 2026. Retrieved July 18, 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "National Endowment for the Arts Statement on the Death of National Heritage Fellow Dudley Laufman". National Endowment for the Arts. July 15, 2026. Archived from the original on July 16, 2026. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Reed, Josephine. "Dudley Laufman". National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on July 4, 2026. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Dudley Laufman: Dance Caller and Musician". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. n.d. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Dudley Laufman". Masters of Traditional Arts. Documentary Arts. Archived from the original on June 13, 2025. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
  9. ↑ Vallimont, Julie. "Episode 1: Dudley Laufman". Contra Pulse (Podcast). Country Dance and Song Society. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  10. ↑ Horton, Laurel (2001). "Material Expressions of Communality among Dance Groups". Western Folklore. 60 (2/3): 203–226. doi:10.2307/1500377. JSTOR 1500377.
  11. ↑ Koziol, John (July 18, 2026). "Canterbury caller: Dudley Laufman, RIP". New Hampshire Union Leader. Archived from the original on July 18, 2026. Retrieved July 18, 2026.
  12. 1 2 "Dudley and Jaqueline Laufman". Society of Folk Dance Historians. Archived from the original on July 18, 2026. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
  13. ↑ "And for something completely different – Dudley Laufman". Archived from the original on December 3, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
  14. ↑ Alper, Eric (July 17, 2026). "Contra Dance Legend Dudley Laufman Dies At 95". That Eric Alper. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
  15. ↑ Evans, David (July 1975). "Folk Revival Recordings". The Journal of American Folklore. 88 (349): 333–336. doi:10.2307/538910. JSTOR 538910.
  16. ↑ "Welcome Here Again". Maine Public Broadcasting Network. August 4, 2019. Archived from the original on July 17, 2026. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Here's to Every Country Dancer". Spotify. Archived from the original on July 19, 2026. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
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