‘The kids want to dance!’ said one band member
Photo courtesy of West Coast Barn Dances.
West Coast Barn Dances, a group of local musicians, is bringing back the old tradition of fiddle music and social dancing with their monthly events.
Fiddle tunes bounce around the walls and cheers erupt as strangers link hands to dance with one another: this is Friday night done right.
Among the wooden ornamented walls of the Edelweiss Club in James Bay, West Coast Barn Dances — a group of UVic students and alumni, who grew up attending fiddle dances — are resurrecting an old culture. They decided it was time they took up the torch and introduced fiddle dancing to their generation.
“It’s really cool for us to bring back that feeling of the ultimate community and socializing in a way that a lot of people in Victoria have kind of forgotten,” said band member Eamonn Osborne.
What started as a dance with only 60 or so attendees has become a gathering of roughly 180 people — the majority of whom are young folks and university students.
After fundraising for the 2023 tour of their previous band, Coastline — which evolved into West Coast Barn Dances — by running contra dances, the group was drawn to dancing, in addition to musical performance. They started with monthly dances in June 2024, and haven’t looked back since.
Many of the band’s members grew up playing in the B.C. Fiddle Orchestra, and attending dances put on by mentors there. The style and format of the dances the group uses are largely inspired by their upbringing in the dance community.
Unfortunately, these dances, among almost all other events, were stopped due to COVID-19. The larger culture of fiddle music and dancing took a hit.
“We’ve been left with a bit of a tradition to uphold,” said Cynan Thompson, another band member and UVic student. “It’s a great opportunity to keep it alive … and then we can bring young people in.”
On top of reviving dances they used to do as kids, nearly all of the music the band plays are traditional Canadian and B.C. tunes — some of which were written over 100 years ago.
For many of the band members, who grew up attending dances as children and have been learning this music since they were young, it only feels natural for it to be their turn to run the show.
“It’s a pretty natural thing; … it flows naturally for us,” said Osborne, who became familiar with setting up and running the dances from a young age. “We’ve been training for this our whole lives,” he joked.
Back when band members attended dances as kids, the crowds weren’t particularly young. The events would have a room for designated “teen jams” for the group of 10 to 15 younger people in attendance. But now, their own fiddle dances in Victoria are predominantly attended by youth.
“There’s so many young folks coming out. It’s really special,” Osborne said, “[and] the fact that it’s predominantly youth is quite unique.”
The barn dances have served as a way to revive these childhood traditions, as well as offer a space for the musicians to come together more often. Fiddle music is inherently social music, says Thompson, so being able to play together is vital.
“It sounds cheesy, but it’s kind of magical getting to share that with people playing with you, and [the] people dancing to it as well,” said Rosie Said, who plays fiddle in the band. “The community it creates is something that has kind of been lost, in the digital age especially. It’s really hard to find people your age and connect in real life, and this is such a cool thing for connecting people.”
Thanks to the welcoming environment of the dances, people have been able to connect with other dancers and the traditions of fiddle dance. “I have been longing to find that for a little bit,” said Carter Lee, a UVic student who attended the last dance. Coming from Nova Scotia, Lee was familiar with barn dances, and was delighted to find something similar out west.
“It’s very community oriented, and that makes my heart soar.”
Every dance is run by donation, to cover the costs of hall and equipment rentals. Attendees are encouraged to contribute, but are not required to do so. “We want to be as inclusive as possible,” said co-founder Fenna Herwig. “Especially because we know our demographic, which is mostly students like us.”
The next dance will be held on Oct. 17 at 6:30pm James Bay’s Edelweiss Club, where all ages and experience levels are welcome. Band member Camryn Nadeau said, “Everyone’s welcome to just show up as they are and learn some dances.”
