All DFO members are encouraged to attend the DanceFlurry Organization’s Annual Membership Meeting on Friday, May 29, 2026, during the break of the Albany Contra Dance (approximately 9:15 pm). The meeting will be held at the Albany Elks Lodge, 25 South Allen Street, Albany, NY.

DANCEFLURRY ORGANIZATION ANNUAL MEETING AGENDA
Friday May 29, 2025, ~ 9:15 PM

I.  Introductory Remarks and Review of 2025-2026
II.  Election of DanceFlurry Organization Board Member and Officer

You must be a member in good standing to vote, with dues paid for the current membership year.  If you are unsure about your membership status, please contact dfoadmin@danceflurry.org. Members who only wish to attend the Annual Meeting, which will be held in the smaller room off the main dance hall, are not subject to an admission fee. See the webpage for information about the May 29th contra dance. Information on the slate of nominees is below. Please vote, using only one of four options:

• Attend the meeting in person on May 29, 2026 during the break at the Albany Contra dance (about 9:15 pm) — no admission fee for those only attending the meeting;
• Complete the online ballot form by 5:00 pm (Eastern) on May 29, 2026;
• Complete and mail the ballot form via US Post to DanceFlurry Organization, PO Box 448, Latham, NY 12110, to be received by Friday, May 29, 2026; or
• Attach the completed ballot or complete, copy, and paste your responses into an email to nominations@danceflurry.org – please include your name and community in the body of the email, which must arrive by 5:00 pm (Eastern) on May 29, 2026.

Download the full announcement and ballot here.
Download the ballot in Word here.

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THANK YOU to retiring board members Rindle Glick, Harvey Raufman, and Sarah Stew

Rindle Glick and Harvey Raufman were elected to the board in 2020, but would not meet fellow board members in person until later in the pandemic.  Rindle became involved with the Community Culture committee, working on the Principles of Community Respect Policy, and joined the Albany Contra Dance Task Force and then organizing committee.  Having taken the contra dance callers workshop in 2024, Rindle has become a caller for both adult and student dances and also developed and has been running the Troy Queer Contra Dance which debuted in 2025.  Both Rindle and Harvey Raufman served on the Program Support committee, which Harvey chaired, to review grant applications for funding provided to other organizations for traditional music and dance events.  While Harvey is completing his second round of service as a board member (the first being in the early years of the DFO), he will continue his involvement as Volunteer Coordinator for the Flurry Festival and event organizer for the Adirondack Dance Weekend.   Sarah Stewart joined the board in 2023. A swing and blues dancer and instructor, she served as liaison to the 1st Friday Swing Dance event in addition to working with other board members on evolving policies and organizational management.

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THANK YOU to the amazing event organizers  who contributed so much time and energy
to providing wonderful dance and music events for our community year-round.

Adirondack Dance Weekend  Harvey Raufman, Laura Perrault
Albany Contra Dances & Contra Fest  Rindle Glick, Kevin Musick, Mike Patterson, Laura Perrault, Jill Wheat
Albany Family Barn Dance & Octagon Barn Dance Social  Paul Rosenberg, Patricia Kernan, Jim Mead, Sue Mead
Albany First Friday Swing Dance   Jim Dolen, Candy Dolen, Will Anderson, Katie Brennan, Phyll Brienza, Heather Coleman, Jason Fenton, Janice Joyce, Marissa Thorburn, Christina Van Hoesen
Albany Sacred Harp Singing  Tarik Wareh
Buhrmaster Barn Contra Dance  Cindee Herrick, Kathryn Wedderburn
Cajun/Zydeco  Ron Bruschi, Marie Bruschi, Cynthia DeMichele, Nancy Hewitt, Rich Pisarri
Capital District Megaband  Judy Pardee, Terry Klein, George Wilson
Capital English Country Dancers Melanie Axel-Lute, Diane Bell, Laura Paris, Ann Thomas
North Berkshire Community Dance  Doone Mackay, Pat Dunlavey, Nicholas Adams, Katherine Abbott, Seamus Connor, Eric Buddington, Mairi Smith, Pauli Voelkel
Tri-City Folk Dancers  Barbara MacLean, Bob Schulz, Juliana Post Good
West African Drum and Dance  Jordan Taylor-Hill

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DFO Board Members 2025-2026
Kevin Musick,  President    Amanda Stickney, First Vice President
Andrea Ferster, Second Vice President    Noel Kropf, Treasurer     Marie Bruschi, Secretary
Rindle Glick, Jordan Knicely, Harvey Raufman, Anne Seeley, Sarah Stewart (through 1/26)
Board Members, Emeritus:  Co-Founders Pat Melita and Paul Rosenberg

Staff (Contractual)  DanceFlurry Organization:  Peggy Smith, Bookkeeper,  Lorraine Weiss, Administrator
Flurry Festival:   Kathleen Crayne; Marketing Manager; Adam Goodman, Technical Manager; Jonathan Greene, Program Curator; Shira Love, Administrative Manager; Jim Mead, Database Manager; Sue Mead, Administrative Assistant

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PROPOSED SLATE OF NOMINEES

The Nominating Committee presents the following slate of new director and officer candidates.  Additional nominations for Board Members may also be made at the Annual Meeting by written petition of five members, as noted on the ballot sheet.

Returning board members and officers:

Kevin Musick, President (Rensselaer County)  Kevin joined the board in 2020 during the pandemic and has served on the Outreach Committee as chair, the Program Support Committee, and task forces for bylaw revisions and strategic planning.  In 2021, he joined the newly-formed Albany Contra Dance Task Force, later the organizing committee, where he remains active, and has also become involved in helping with sound at a number of dances he attends from the Hudson Valley to western MA.
Kevin notes “I enjoy being able to contribute to this organization and to the great dance community that it serves. In my day job I work full-time as an electron microscopist, specializing in TEM and STEM based analysis.”
Elected as 1st Vice President in 2023, Kevin later stepped up into the President position, and was officially elected as president in 2024. Kevin is nominated for an additional year as a board member so that he can complete the one year remaining in his role as an officer.

Marie Bruschi, Secretary (Albany County)  Active as a dancer and volunteer in the area for decades, including the Eighth Step dances, Marie recently completed 12 years of organizing the Cajun and Zydeco dance series with her husband, Ron Bruschi. She was inducted into the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann Hall of Fame in 2019 for promoting and keeping Irish Set Dance alive in this region.
“I try to understand how and why people learn to dance, develop confidence, and get hooked,” Marie says, and she’s spent many years putting her words into action as an event organizer and dance instructor at the Flurry Festival and dances in the Northeast, in other parts of the country, and internationally via cruises.  In addition, Marie has served as Board Secretary since 2020 and continues to contribute her experience as a member of the Nominations and Budget and Finance committees. 
Marie is being nominated for an additional term as board member and Secretary.

Anne Seeley (Rensselaer County & Queens County)  Though she always enjoyed dancing, Anne found “a certain magic” in contra dancing and the Flurry Festival. Newly relocated to the Capital District, Anne found that DFO was the natural place for her to give back to the dance community, and she joined the board in 2023.  She has been involved with revising the By-laws, developing a Diversity Policy, and chairing the Nominations Committee.
Anne has really enjoyed sampling the various Capital area dance programs that DFO is involved with, e.g.,: Contra, English Country, Cajun/Zydeco, and International/Folk.  Newly-retired from a career in environmental protection and public health, Anne now has some time to devote to other interests and activities and hopes to continue contributing her experience and skills to help support — and hopefully to help grow — the traditional dance community.

All three nominees for new board members were introduced to the DanceFlurry Organization through the Flurry Festival:

Peter Himmelman began contra dancing as a teenager in the Utica area and attended dances in Syracuse and Cooperstown before becoming a participant and a tech and sound crew volunteer at festivals such as the Flurry, Adirondack Dance Weekend, and NEFFA.  He has also been involved with Burning Man for a number of years.  Peter divides his time between New Hartford, NY, where he works for a firm that constructs costuming, puppets and commercial and convention displays, and Mexico, where he is enrolled in courses and teaches English as a Second Language.
He particularly enjoys seeing young dancers at events and is interested in supporting social dancing and working to ensure the future of community-based dance events.  In addition to contributing his experience with working on a number of events, Peter is considering helping with the DFO’s social media objectives.

Contra dance is a “passion” for Kate Parr, who runs her accounting firm in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.  While located outside the Capital District, Kate has attended a variety of events in the northeast and Canada and foresees expanding her dancing in the region since she has family and friends in the area. She’s not only been attending the Festival for a number of years, but has also volunteered on the Lost and Found Committee, and notes that she “tries to volunteer wherever I can” with groups that support the community.  She’s been involved with The Dandelion Romp (Oberlin College’s annual contra dance and folk music festival) and the Cleveland Butterfly Twirl contra dance weekend in addition to helping organize other local dances. 
Kate has observed the challenges and characteristics of various dance and music events led by independent organizers in her region and believes there are advantages to a regional collaborative approach like the DFO.  She is interested in learning more about how the DFO operates, while at the same time providing a larger view of contra dancing outside the Capital Region and contributing her skills as an organizer and accountant to events and financial management.

Ray Qin began dancing in college and is a “Jack of all trades” when it comes to dancing.  They love the variety of the Flurry Festival, thoroughly enjoy trying all different kinds of dance, and observe that each style has a format based on competition and a format based on community.  They are interested in people talking about their own culture in terms of dance language, the history and background of dance types, and learning a different perspective on a culture via dance.  
Ray was involved as treasurer and president of the Asian Student Association while at Smith College and participated in organizing a number of events.  Newly graduated with a degree in computer science and based in Worcester, MA, they are currently working in the field of biomedical research.
Potential areas of involvement include helping with website/app development, computer work in general, outreach, and fundraising.  They note: “I love the community building aspect of social/traditional dancing, and in helping people to understand each other better through the language of dance.”