PORT ANGELES — Everybody who loves music, of any age and dance-experience level, is invited to the fifth annual Bob Boardman Memorial Benefit Dance this Saturday night.
The event, to start at 7:30 p.m. at the Black Diamond Community Hall, 1942 Black Diamond Road, celebrates the life of Boardman, a Port Angeles musician, nurse and diabetes educator who died in October 2010, and of Nancy Vivolo, a dancer, Clallam Transit staffer and community volunteer, who died this past October.
Admission to the dance is a suggested $8 for adults and $4 for those age 17 and younger. As in past years, proceeds will benefit the Bob Boardman Fiddle Tunes Scholarship Fund, which helps local student musicians attend the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Centrum foundation’s set of workshops and concerts in Port Townsend every July.
The Possum Carvers, aka Scott Marckx and Jeanie Murphy, will serve as anchors for the band Saturday night. Friends of Boardman will join in while Carol Piening, a dance caller who’s been to many a Port Angeles dance, helps keep everyone moving.
“All band musicians who have played with Bob over the years are invited to participate in the music,” said dance organizer Tom Shindler. Those who are interested in playing Saturday can email him at tom@shindler.us or phone Elizabeth Athair at 360-477-7222.
First off: the 7:30 p.m. beginners’ workshop and refresher in contra dancing, a form of line dance done to traditional Celtic and North American music. Then the band steps up at 8 p.m. to play for at least a couple of hours.
For more information about the first-Saturday-of-the-month dances — including the next one on Jan. 2 with the Powerhouse band — at the Black Diamond Community Hall, see www.blackdiamonddance.org.