Westen North Carolina and east Tennessee have rich social and performative dance traditions. From small square dances held at local homes to the modern incarnation of Warren Wilson’s Old Farmers Ball, from groups of flat-foot dancers cutting a rug at a front porch string band jam to cloggers performing on stage at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, WNC residents have long enjoyed dancing together. Local dancer and dance caller Jesse Edgerton will present a program of southern Appalachian solo percussive dancing along with musings on the history of social and performative dance in Western North Carolina.

This event will take place as a Zoom webinar in order to make this event accessible to all. Registrants will receive a Zoom link before the event begins. 

Jesse Edgerton was born in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, and raised in Asheville. He began dancing and calling square and contra dances while a student at Warren Wilson College. He has studied with, and stolen licks from, such masterful dancers as Rodney Sutton, Phil Jamison, and Thomas Maupin, among others.

About History Cafe
Ever wonder how Asheville came to get its drinking water from Black Mountain? What slavery looked like in western North Carolina (Yes, there were enslaved people here.)? How wagons, stagecoaches, and trains made it up the steep grade from Old Fort into Ridgecrest? Come to the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center one monday a month at 10:30am for a discussion about local history. Come start off your morning getting to know our region a little better!

Designed for adults and modeled after the popular Science Cafes taking place across the nation, Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center’s monthly History Cafe offers lectures and workshops led by local experts and researchers on regional history topics. These hour-long meet-ups engage the many stories that have shaped our southern Appalachian community as a place — from geological changes to native histories, musical innovations, pioneer experiences, and labor struggles — and will end with informal discussion bringing our shared history into context with contemporary issues.