For the duration of the pandemic, Roaring Jelly's dances are "on hiatus". We are still getting small groups together for rehearsals, and they will be announced here when scheduled.

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Since March of 2020, the covid-19 pandemic has put all contra dancing in New England "on hiatus". When we are able to have public dances again, we'll tell you about it in our Dance Schedule, below, and on our Facebook group page. In the meantime, here's a bit of the band's history:

Here's the rest of the earlier web site:

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Contra dancing with Roaring Jelly! Roaring Jelly is a community contra dance band that has been playing in the Boston area since 1970. We play for a monthly dance in Lexington on the Green at the First Parish Church, and appear occasionally at other dances in the area. If you want to know what contra dancing is, click here.

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Roaring Jelly, begun in a Lincoln MA living room in 1970, named itself after the tune "Roaring Jelly", a well-known jig. The earliest printings of the tune seem to be as "Roaring Jelly" in Gow's 1806 "Complete repository of old and new Scotch strathspeys, reels & jigs, Part 3" (Edinburgh), and as "Smash the Windows" in G. Graupner's 1808 "Cotillions and Country Dances No. 2" (Boston).

Some believe 'Roaring Jelly' refers to gelignite (aka gelly), however the tune is at least several decades older than any gelatinous explosive - Nitroglycerin (1847), Dynamite (1867), Gelignite (1875). Another explanation is that the boiling required to make jelly can sometimes become furious and noisy 'roaring jelly', and if splattered may 'Smash the Windows' (an alternate name for the tune).

We estimate Roaring Jelly has had around 400 members over the years. Here is a partial list of 357 members. Please send updates, omissions, corrections, or comments to

As part of the 2022 NEFFA Online, we have a 50th anniversary video. (Yes, it should have been made in 2020, but public dancing has been "on hiatus" since then, so we just got around to putting it together with the help of some of the original members.)

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Our monthly dances run from 8-11 PM every third Friday from September through June, except as noted in our flyer (and here). There is a 15 minute introduction to Contra Dancing at 7:45pm before our 3rd Friday Dances.

The address for our monthly dance is 7 Harrington Road, Lexington, MA 02420. It's at the (south-)west corner of the Green. There's a parking lot in back, via the driveway on the left (south) side of the church. The rear door, by the parking lot, is the one to use, and is usually open by 7:30. Take the stairs or the elevator to the 2nd floor. To get there by bus, take bus lines #76 or #62, from Alewife. (Last bus back to Alewife is around 10:15pm; check schedules, or ask for a ride at the Dance.)

For more information, please call Deborah Gerstein at 781-259-0753, or email Michael at: roaringjelly@comcast.net.

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Related sites:

RJ on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/RoaringJelly/ photos: https://www.facebook.com/pg/RoaringJelly/photos/

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Practices are open for any acoustic instrument players to sit in who might join the Band.

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