Accompanied by the Olde Michigan Ruffwater String Band, Barry Taylor swings Leesha Fagan around the dance floor during the last contra dance held at The Henry Ford in Dearborn.The dances have been eliminated due to funding cuts.Sunday dances take final bow at The Henry Ford
The carmaker built the hall, which is now a museum, to preserve country folk dancing.
Don Hays plays the wooden spoons as dancers whirl around Lovett Hall, now part of The Henry Ford.Error processing SSI file
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DEARBORN -- Somewhere between the Sicilian circle and the first contra dance, Marlene Hickman teared up.
She first danced in the ballroom of Lovett Hall at Greenfield Village, now The Henry Ford, as a teenager at Mumford High School more than 50 years ago. Through the years, she'd danced there often, twirling across the teak floors beneath crystal chandeliers.
Sunday was her last dance at Lovett Hall.
"This hall was built for this dancing," said Hickman, who lives in Midland. "It's an incredible loss."
The Henry Ford is canceling the Sunday afternoon contra dances it's hosted for 24 years at Lovett Hall, which Henry Ford built to preserve the country American folk dancing he loved. For officials at Henry Ford, it's a matter of saving money and making room for new programs. But dancers are angry at an institution they feel is abandoning its roots.
The Henry Ford had held classes in contra dancing -- much like square dancing, except participants dance in lines rather than squares -- eight Sundays a year for almost 23 years at Lovett Hall. In December, officials announced the classes would end, citing the dances lost money. The hall will continue to be rented out for events such as weddings.
Glen Morningstar, who has called the dances since they began in 1981, is devastated by the move. "We're the living history of this place," said Morningstar of Highland Township.
"I don't know what Henry (Ford) would think."
In his youth, Henry Ford danced to this kind of music at Scotch Settlement School bees, socials, and parties. By the 1920s, square dancing was considered old-fashioned by most, but not by Ford.
On a vacation in Massachusetts, Ford became fascinated with the Virginia reels of dance master Benjamin Lovett. Ford, who had a lifelong interest in contra dancing, asked Lovett to come to Detroit. Lovett said he couldn't because he had a contract with the Inn where he held dance classes. That wasn't a problem for the multimillionaire, who promptly bought the Inn so he could take over Lovett's contract.
With Lovett in tow, Ford established a program teaching square dancing in schools and on radio broadcasts in Detroit. Lovett and the Fords published a book on dancing, called "Good Morning," filled with tips for proper etiquette and decorum on the dance floor. The man behind the Model T and the assembly line even bought a Stradivarius violin to try to learn "Turkey in the Straw."
In the 1930s, Ford began plans for a dance hall of his own. He didn't scrimp. The floor is teak, resting on huge springs to provide a bit of bounce for the dancers. The center of the dance floor is 1 1/2 inches higher than the sides, "to keep people from bunching up in the middle," Morningstar said.
Ford danced on the floor often and he encouraged his employees to attend public dances held at Lovett Hall twice a month. "Henry saw the benefit of people dancing, the interpersonal skills, the physical health aspect," Morningstar said.
The dancers, who came from across Michigan for Sunday's finale, can, and do, attend contra dances in other buildings. But there's nothing like dancing at the Lovett.
"This is the only place in the world where you can dance where you can dance the same dances Henry Ford did, in the hall Henry Ford built," said Steve Gold of Oak Park.
End dancing at the Lovett? You might as well end racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or football at the Big House in Ann Arbor, some say. "It's erasing his (Ford's) legacy," Gold said.
Sandy Krueger was more blunt.
"It seems like they're interested in preserving everybody's history but their own," said Krueger, 46, of Hazel Park.
Besides ending contra dancing, The Henry Ford also is ending the Pageant of Power, homage to early engines, another of Ford's interests.
But Henry Ford spokesperson Wendy Metros says the institution is only making way for new programs that also honor Ford's vision, such as an educational program introducing urban youth to the outdoors and tours of the new River Rouge plant.
"A lot of people grew up here. They came here with their families," Metros said. "It's personal for them. When you make changes, people are going to respond to them.
"We're sad for (the dancers)," Metros said. "But it's not that we're forgetting living history - we're providing more of it."
Morningstar ended the last dance with The Goodnight Waltz.
"It's like losing a brother for me," said Morningstar.
Detroit News Staff Writer Tony Manolatos contributed to this report. You can reach Ron French at (313) 222-2175 or rfrench@detnews.com.
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The Detroit News.
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