Aiyeeee!!! You can actually get to dance to Cajun/zydeco music in the southeast Michigan area twice this Labor Day 2013 weekend. On Saturday, August 31, Monsieur Guillaume & His Zydeco Hepcats play at 11:15am (until around 12:30pm) on the FirstMerit Bank International Stage at the Arts Beats & Eats festival in Royal Oak, Michigan. There is a $3 fee to enter the festival before 3pm, plus you most likely will have to pay to park. Do NOT park where you’re not supposed to, or else expect a $50 ticket! You also can not bring in chairs or your own food or beverages. (What!? Dancers can’t bring their own water bottles?) It’s also sort of amusing that the festival puts a zydeco band on the “international” stage. Um, haven’t the Arts Beats & Eats folks heard that zydeco music is from Louisiana, and Louisiana is a part of the United States? Although, if you’ve ever visited southern Louisiana, it can almost seem sometimes like it is a different country.
Then on Sunday, September 1, head over to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for their annual Dancing in the Streets. The city of Ann Arbor shuts down S. Main St. around Washington and Liberty Streets between 2pm and 7pm, and there are several areas where you can try out different kinds of dancing. There’ll be swing, contra, folk, waltz, English Country dancing (no, it’s nothing like “American” country dancing), even some Polynesian dancing and a Charleston workshop. And for folks like me, there is the pièce de résistance with Creole du Nord playing Cajun and zydeco music on Main St. between 5:30 and 6:30pm. Susan Filipiak will be giving some Cajun dancing lessons, also. Dancing in the Streets is free, parking in downtown Ann Arbor is free on Sundays, and you can bring your own chairs and water, although you probably won’t need the chair because you’ll be dancing, right? Check out the DITS schedule at http://aactmad.org/dits/.
Bayou Joe
