Other Way Back Dudley Laufman NEA 2009 National Heritage Fellow
2009 NEA National Heritage Fellow
Canterbury, New Hampshire
Photo by Lynn Martin Graton
Bio
The name Dudley Laufman is so closely associated with the contra and barn dances of New England that most long-term residents refer to local gatherings as "Dudley Dances." Two forms of community dances evolved in New England -- contra dances, done in lines with partners facing one another, and square dances featuring sets of four couples. After the Revolutionary War, dances such as these, associated with England, fell out of favor, except in the rural areas of the Northeast where they continued to occur in informal settings such as kitchen parties and barn dances. Laufman came to New Hampshire in 1947 to work at a dairy farm and began to attend these local dances. He called his first dance in 1948 and soon started his own musical group for the dances, which later became the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra. During the 1970s, the orchestra made a number of recordings, and Laufman traveled throughout the region, performing and teaching dance at schools, community centers, and public parks, averaging 300 or more engagements each year. Today he performs and gives workshops with his partner Jacqueline as the duo Two Fiddles. Ernest Thompson, New Hampshire resident and author of On Golden Pond, succinctly conveys Laufman's contributions to New England dance: "I think Dudley Laufman belongs in the pantheon of genuine American artists. He belongs in Franconia Notch, the real Old Man of the Mountain."
