Shuffle and Slide

Loudoun Gets Out And Gets Down With Dancing

BY RENSS GREENE

From the barn to the brewery to the bar, and the two-step to the Electric Slide, beginner-friendly dances are the new old way Loudouners get out, get together and make new friends—or something more.

“When I grew up, we would square dance like in elementary school gym class, but I never liked it back then. It was terrible,” said Georges Mill Farm owner Sam Kroiz, an eighth-generation farmer who started hosting barn dances at his family’s farm in 2015. “And then I was living out in Seattle and there was actually a bar that had a weekly square dance, and it was always packed.”

From there, he learned to love it. And since rediscovering square dancing on the west coast, he’s come home and started playing the fiddle. “The whole point of square dancing is every- body mixes together a lot. You start off with a dance partner, but you end up kind of moving around and dancing with everybody, so it’s a really great way to meet people,” he said.

Kroiz and his family farm land at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains first settled by their ancestor John George in 1750, where today they raise goats, pigs and chickens, and make goat cheese on their 50 acre farm. Baby goat season is a hit, with families coming out to meet and cuddle the friendly, rambunctious newborns. And in the farm’s historic stone barn, the monthly barn dance could be a scene from 150 years ago—a place out of time, and an escape from the day-to-day where people gather for a potluck, dancing, a good time and a sense of community.

Kroiz said they’ve had as few as 10 people at a dance and as many as 200, but no matter what always manage to get a few dances in. Some of the dances are square dances, others are reels or circle dances, and Kroiz said the last couple dances have started with a limbo.

“There’s some regulars, there’s a lot of people locally, but there’s also some regulars that come from kind of far away, like in the Fairfax area,” he said. “And then it seems like every time, there’s always at least a few people that show up for the first time.”

The monthly Sunday gatherings start with a potluck dinner at 4:30 p.m. before the dancing starts at around 6. The barn dance is usually the third Sunday of the month but is taking a month off this month because of the unusually hot weather.

The dances are generally kid- and beginner-friendly, sometimes evolving into more difficult dances by the end of the night.

“Some of the best dancers are kids,” Kroiz said. “Sometimes the kids drop out in the middle of the dance, and that’s not the best because that really screws things up.”

And, of course, you can’t have a dance without music—Kroiz used to play fiddle at the dances with his band at the time, the Short Hill Mountain Boys, but has moved on to calling the dances.

Other musicians have stepped in, often Kroiz’s friends and acquaintances, mostly for love of the dance. Nobody’s getting rich—there’s a $5 suggested donation to attend. A recent dance featured music from four-time Grammy award winner Dirk Powell. Many dances feature Kirk Evans, who’s been playing the fiddle for 48 years, and playing at the Georges Mill barn dance since about 2018.

“I just fell in love when I got out there,” Evans said. He met Kroiz through their musical connections, and in 2018 even recorded an album of old-time string music in the barn with a band he called the Potluck String Band. That CD is still available for sale at the Georges Mill Farm store.

Evans said what keeps him coming back is the sense of community. The dances aren’t advertised—the Kroiz family posts about them on the farm’s Facebook page, and otherwise the word spreads by word of mouth.

“There’s a lot of community going on, and people that lives in the area that are meeting each other for the first time and end up dancing together and becoming friends, and that’s the thing I like about it,” Evans said.

Evans plays regularly at the barn dances with his band Hopping Molly. But often, the barn dance bands tend to be composed of whichever musicians turned up to play.

“A lot of young folks are picking it up, because it’s so earthy,” he said. “It’s kind of natural and gets you away from all the other stuff you’re doing during the day.”

Line Dancing Out of COVID

Young folks are exactly who Danielle Schill sees coming out in droves as her free line dancing classes resumed after a COVID-19 pandemic break.

She has been line dancing since the ‘90s, when steps like the Electric Slide and Boot Scootin’ Boogie were enjoying their heyday. In 2005, she said, she was single and looking for something to do, and wound up at a bar that was teaching line dancing.

SHUFFLE AND SLIDE FROM PAGE 9

“It was so fun at the time,” she said. “I went there by myself and met so many nice people that after that I never every brought anybody. I just came out and made friends there.”

Within a few months she had also started teaching the dances at the bar, and when the bartender who started the lessons moved away, she continued teaching until she became pregnant with her first child in 2013.

She had built up such a large following that she hired an instructor to take over while she was out and kept the instructor on when she came back from maternity leave. And it grew from there, with four instructors teaching five classes a week—until the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the pandemic ended social gatherings, and with two children and a full-time job, she had decided to stop the classes permanently. But after 14 months of no classes, and with restaurants fighting to stay afloat during the pandemic, she started a class at The Loudoun Kitchen & Bar, hoping to help bring in business. She said she offered to do it for free as restaurants fought to stay afloat during the pandemic, but Loudoun Kitchen owner Dave Park insisted on paying.

The line dances were a hit once again—but this time she saw a new crowd coming out.

“We came back with one night a week, and it just blew up,” she said. “And the nice thing was, coming back from COVID, it was an interesting change in our demographic. The first people to come out from COVID tended to be some of the younger people, and it was kind of perfect for social distancing. So, the age group of our demographic dropped quite a bit since COVID— now the average dancer is like 25, where before COVID it was probably 45.”

But they still get all ages mingling at the dance.

“People that are in their 70s dance with people that are in their 20s, and they’re just buddies,” she said. “They’re all hanging out. You see parents and their grown children out there dancing. Or even, in my case, parents and their young children.”

Now once again she’s been drawn back in, and the lessons are back in full swing and even growing. Her business LineDance4You teaches classes four nights a week: Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays at Loudoun Kitchen & Bar, and Thursdays at Bluemont Station Brewery & Winery.

The classes are free and offer something for everyone from first-timers to experienced dancers. They’re high energy and a great way to get moving and burn some calories. And once the dancing has started and the endorphins are flowing, she said, they’re a great way to make friends—or even something more.

“We’ve had at least like two dozen marriages born out of it,” she said. Learn more about LineDance4You at linedance4you.com or by following LineDance4You on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Find the next barn dance at Georges Mill Farm and more information about the farm and farm store at facebook. com/GeorgesMillFarmArtisanCheese or georgesmillcheese.com.

Ford’s

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Local

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31 October One Vineyard 7 Loudoun St., SW, Leesburg Octoberonevineyard.com

32 Old Farm Winery 23583 Fleetwood Road, Aldie oldfarmwineryhartland.com

33 Otium Cellars 18050 Tranquility Rd., Purcellville otiumcellars.com

34 Stone Tower Winery 19925 Hogback Mountain Rd., L’burg stonetowerwinery.com

35 Stonehouse Meadery 36580 Shoemaker School Rd., Purcellville stonehousemeadery.com

36 Sunset Hills Vineyard 38295 Fremont Overlook Ln, Purcellville sunsethillsvineyard.com

37 Terra Nebulo 39892 Old Wheatland Rd., Waterford terranebulo.com

38 Three Creeks Winery 18548 Harmony Church Road, Hamilton 3creekswinery.com

39 Two Twisted Posts Winery 12944 Harpers Ferry Rd., Hillsboro twotwistedposts.com

40 Village Winery 40405 Browns Lane, Waterford villagewineryandvineyards.com

41 Willowcroft Farm Vineyards 38906 Mount Gilead Rd., Leesburg willowcroftwine.com

42 The Wine Reserve at Waterford 38516 Charles Town Pike, Waterford waterfordwinereserve.com

Breweries

1 Adroit Theory Brewing 404 Browning Ct., Purcellville adroit-theory.com

2 B Chord Brewing Company 34266 Williams Gap Rd., Round Hill bchordbrewing.com

3 Barnhouse Brewery 43271 Spinks Ferry Rd., Leesburg barnhousebrewery.com

4 Bear Chase Brewing 33665 Bear Chase Ln., Bluemont bearchasebrew.com

5 Belly Love Brewing Company 725 E. Main St., Purcellville bellylovebrewing.com

6 Black Hoof Brewing Company 11 South King St., Leesburg blackhoofbrewing.com

7 Black Walnut Brewery 210 S. King St., Leesburg blackwalnutbrewery.com

8 Crooked Run Fermentations Central 22455 Davis Dr., Sterling crookedrunbrewing.com

9 Crooked Run Fermentations Market Station, Leesburg crookedrunbrewing.com

10 Dirt Farm Brewing 18701 Foggy Bottom Rd., Bluemont dirtfarmbrewing.com

11 Dynasty Brewing Company 21140 Ashburn Crossing Drive, Ashburn 101 Loudoun St, SE, Leesburg dynastybrewing.com

12 Flying Ace Farm 40950 Flying Ace Ln, Lovettsville flyingacefarm.com

13 Harper’s Ferry Brewing 37412 Adventure Ctr. Lane, Hillsboro harpersferrybrewing.com

14 Harvest Gap Brewery 15485 Purcellville Road, Hillsboro facebook.com/HarvestGap

15 House 6 Brewing 4427 Atwater Dr., Ashburn house6brewing.com

43 Walsh Family Wine 16031 Hillsboro Rd., Purcellville northgatevineyard.com

44 Williams Gap Vineyards 35785 Sexton Farm Lane, Round Hill williamsgavineyard.com

45 Zephaniah Farm Vineyard 19381 Dunlop Mill Rd., Leesburg zephwine.com

BREWERIES & WINERIES

1 Bluemont Station Brewery and Winery 18301 Whitehall Estate Lane, Bluemont bluemontstation.com

2 Hillsborough Brewery & Vineyards 36716 Charles Town Pike, Hillsboro hillsboroughwine.com

3 Notaviva Brewery and Winery 13274 Sagle Rd., Hillsboro notavivavineyards.com

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22 Old Ox Brewery Middleburg 14 S Madison St, Middleburg, VA

23 Solace Brewing Company 42615 Trade West Dr., Sterling solacebrewing.com

24 Sweetwater Tavern 45980 Waterview Plaza, Sterling greatamericanrestaurants.com

25 The Craft of Brewing 21140 Ashburn Crossing Dr., Ashburn thecraftob.com

26 Vanish Farmwoods Brewery 42245 Black Hops Ln., Lucketts vanishbeer.com

27 Water’s End Brewing 1602 Village Market Blvd SE #120, Leesburg watersendbrewery.com

28 Wheatland Spring Farm + Brewery 38506 John Wolford Rd., Waterford wheatlandspring.com

4 Quattro Goomba’s Brewery & Winery 22860 James Monroe Hwy., Aldie goombawine.com