Reading Dudley and Jacqueline's Barn Dance Book

LessWrong carries a reflection on Dudley Laufman, a central figure in the nineteen-seventies contra dance revival, who died last week at the age of ninety-five. The blogger revisited the two thousand nine book Laufman co-wrote with his wife Jacqueline, "Traditional Barn Dances with Calls and Fiddling," reading it less for its dance instructions than for what it reveals about its authors. What comes through most is Laufman's insistence that live music beats recorded music, even if it's only a harmonica, LessWrong notes, though the book itself ships with accompanying CDs, a nod to the reality that most readers will end up dancing to a recording.

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