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for booking, email or call Bill at 413-442-9172

 Spare Parts in Lenox

Spare Parts has performed for period events, contradances, English dances, weddings, parties, concerts, and dance camps from Alaska to Maine. Our historic dance music has been used worldwide in motion pictures (Bright Star) and theater productions as well as television programs including Mercy Street (PBS), Antiques Roadshow and numerous programs on the History Channel (even SpongeBob SquarePants!).

photo Ed Eckersdorff

Bill Matthiesen on piano and Liz Stell on flute combine with one or more "spare parts du jour." Some of our favorite "spare parts" include fiddlers Eric Buddington, Ruthie Dornfeld, George Wilson, Naomi Morse, Frank Orsini, Mark Bagdon, Cathie Whitesides, Susan Conger and Rebecca McCallum ... and bassists Mark Murphy and Larry Unger.

2025 schedule:

January

  • Saturday, Jan 18, Lenox MA (www.lenoxcontradance.org/)
    Contradance at the Lenox Community Center, Liz and Bill with fiddler Eric Buddington, Mark Murphy on bass and caller Quena Crain, 7:30-10:30 pm (intro lesson 7:15)

February

  • Saturday, Feb 8, Berlin MA (https://goreplace.org/whats-on/winter-regency-ball/
    Winter Regency Ball: Get dressed in your Regency finery and dance the night away in the Great Hall of the Gore Mansion. Spare Parts will play English country dances from the Regency era
    SOLD OUT!

  • Friday Feb 14 through Sunday Feb 16, Saratoga Springs NY (www.flurryfestival.org/)
    DANCE FLURRY! schedule for Spare Parts:
    Renaissance Love Chase Friday 6 pm Saratoga Music Hall
    Waltz Music Styling Friday 8:30 pm Hilton Whitney
    Zwinging Zweifachers Saturday 8:15 pm City Center Rm ABC
    1930s English Sequence Dances Sunday 11 am City Center Rm ABC
    Cross-Step Waltz 101 Sunday 10 am City Center Rm ABC
    Waltz Book Jam Sunday 3 pm Hilton Pavilion

March

April

  • Saturday, April 26, Salem, MA (vintagedancers.org)
    Jane Austen Ball: an evening of Regency dance in the beautiful 1816 ballroom of the Old Town Hall, with Eric Buddington on violin, sponsored by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers, 7-10 pm
    Please wear Regency clothing or modern formal wear; all dances will be taught

May

  • Sunday, May 4, Wethersfield, CT (www.hcdance.org/mostly-waltz/)
    Hartford Mostly Waltz: waltzes, waltz mixers, and other dances (every third tune is a foxtrot, tango, swing or other couple dance), 3-5:30 pm, with Eric Buddington on violin. Free beginner lesson at 2:30. No need to come as a couple, there are mixers and plenty of dance partners

August

October

  • Friday, Oct 3, Cooperstown NY (https://otsegodancesociety.weebly.com/)
    Contra Dance with Eric Buddington at the First Presbyterian Church Chapel in Cooperstown

  • Saturday, Oct 4, Holliston, MA (vintagedancers.org/)
    Vanderbilt Vampire Ball: a spooky ball set in the faded elegance of the 1890s, in the gracious ballroom at Holliston Town Hall, with Eric Buddington on violin, sponsored by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers

November

  • Saturday, Nov. 8, Jamaica Plain, MA (lcfd.org/harvest-ball.html)
    27th Annual Harvest Ball: Gender-role-free Victorian ball, with Eric Buddington on violin and calling by Chris Ricciotti
    elegant, period, or festive attire encouraged but not required.
    candlelit potluck supper 5:30 pm, fabulous dessert potluck at the break;
    elegant waltzes at 7 p.m., followed by chestnut contras, quadrilles, mixers and couple dances

December

  • Saturday, Dec. 20, Salem, MA (vintagedancers.org/)
    annual Fezziwig's Ball: an evening of dance and merriment from the era of Dickens, with Susan Conger on violin, sponsored by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers; costume from the lifetime of Dickens (1812-1870) or modern evening dress requested

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