Mountain Dance and Folk Festival preserves traditions

The Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, now in its 88th year, returns to the Diana Wortham Theatre, Thursday to Saturday, Aug. 6 to 8. Entertainers at this year’s three-night gathering include ballad singers, bluegrass and old-time bands, gospel groups, solo and duet instrumentalists and vocalists, clogging teams, buck dancers, flat-footers and traditional Appalachian smooth dancers.

The Cockman Family is a Shindig staple

I appreciate the June 29 Xpress article about Shindig on the Green [“Mountain Values”].  However, I take strong exception to the paragraph about The Cockmans. The writer, after interviewing Glenn Bannerman (long-time Shindig host and family-dance team leader), writes that The Cockmans are “peripheral players no one has ever heard of,” and implies even they […]

Mountain values

“Shindig.” It's a fun, if peculiar word, whose etymology, even after a couple of hundred years, remains suspect and mired in speculation. It's most likely of Scottish origin, the experts say, an alteration of “shindy” or shinty,” a hockey-like game once played by the Scots. Over time, the word has alternately come to be defined […]