No more late-Sat.-early-Sun. blogging this summer: I have a steady date to go folk dancing with the Punster in Central Park on Sundays at 1 PM :)

For those in the New York City area, Alex is running an international folk dancing session, heavy on the Israeli (probably because he’s Israeli), Sunday afternoons this summer from 1-3:30 PM. It'll take place at the traditional folk dancing spot, directly opposite the Delacorte (Shakespeare in the Park) Theater at the other end of Belvedere Lake, er Turtle Pond (or whatever they’re calling it these days), in front of what’s known to the folk dance crowd as “the Polish statue” (to a king whose name none of us can remember). Come join us! (It’s free, by the way.) I recommend that you wear comfortable, thick soled shoes, such as athletic shoes, since the “dance surface” is flagstones (uneven and literally hard as rocks).

Here are the only rules you have to know about folk dancing (swiped from a previous post of mine):
1. Never get in front of the leader (in a dance that has one) unless you know the dance well enough to be the leader!
2. Don’t join the circle unless you know the dance well enough not to trip over your own two feet, or anyone else’s. If you don’t know it yet, just stand outside of/behind the circle, preferably behind someone who knows the dance very well and whose footwork is easy to follow, until you pick up the steps. Then, feel free to break into the circle.

Also swiped from a previous post:
And don't forget that, if you're not into holding hands with a member of the opposite sex, for religious reasons (see http://jewish.com/askarabbi/askarabbi/askr329.htm), you don't have to! Just dance behind the circle. Kippah-clad men, and women wearing skirts covering the knees, do that all the time.

Come and enjoy!

Update: Oops—I forgot to give you travel directions! The best way to get there is to take the C (subway/underground) train to 81st Street and Central Park West. Upon crossing CPW and entering the park, just walk as straight up the path as the path goes, pass the Delacorte Theater, and continue along Turtle Pond. Toward the end of the pond, there’s a fork in the path. Take the right fork. From there, it’ll be only a few minutes before you see the “Polish statue” on your left—and the folk dancers on your right. See you next Sunday!