Dancers who wish to perform with the branch at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival (MRF) are required to familiarize themselves with the performance participation guidelines established by the board and teachers of the branch. Please direct any questions or concerns to Dan Grundtner (e-mail: danger [at] surfbest.net). » Go to the Performance Participation Policy

Rehearsal Information

Regular rehearsals will be held Mondays and Fridays beginning Monday, July 6th through Monday, August 17th, except there will be no rehearsals on Friday, July 10th or Friday July 17th. There will be a special performance skills workshop on Saturday, July 11th, 9am to 12noon.
Instructors are Joy Gullikson and Sherry Gwegorryn.

All Monday and Friday rehearsals will be 7:30 to 9:30pm. All will be at Tapestry Folkdance Center in south Minneapolis, except Friday August 7th, which will be an outdoor rehearsal, at Hidden Falls Park in St. Paul. More info TBA.
Saturday, July 11th will be a special performance skills rehearsal at Tapestry, from 9am to 12noon.

Unless other specific arrangements have been made with the FOD, dancers are expected to be on site, costumed and ready to perform by the 9am opening cannon at the latest. We typically do 4 half-hour performances throughout the day, plus the parade. Please meet near the Irish Cottage immediately following cast call (about 8:25am) to check in with the FOD, get any last minute announcements, and do walk-throughs. Out of professional courtesy, please be on time. Lateness may get you eliminated from the line-up for the day.

Dates and FODs

The 2009 Minnesota Renaissance Festival runs weekends and Labor day from August 22nd through October 4th. The Branch typically performs 6 out of the 7 weekends, including Labor Day. Exact schedule TBA.

Getting Out to Renaissance Festival

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is located here.

Tip from One of Our Members:

There is now a quicker way than US-212 (or US-169, I suspect) to the RenFest: Currently it's called MN-312. Once you're on it, it's divided freeway with no stoplights and mostly a speed limit of 65 mph. Saves 10 minutes of driving.

From either US-169 going south, or from MN-62 going west, get onto US-212 going south (in Eden Prairie). Stay on US-212; it merges into MN-5 (the current US-212 continues off to the left), and MN-5 merges into MN-312 (the current MN-5 splits and goes off to the west). Stay on MN-312 until you reach MN-41, at which point you take MN-41 left (south) about 1.5 miles to Chaska and another mile or two to the RenFest "exit" road.

Alternatively, going west one can get onto the new road via I-494 to MN-5 to MN-312.

MN-312 is now open in both directions as far as MN-41. MapQuest and Google Maps don't seem to know about it. I've driven it a couple of times coming back from Chaska. It's nice.

When completed west of Chaska, the system will be re-numbered: The road currently called MN-312 will become the new US-212! The current US-212 will get new county road numbers and also be called Flying Cloud Drive. I am told this could happen in mid-July, before the RenFest begins, although the original target date was the end of the calendar year.

• Attend cast call/morning meeting at 8am to get the day's performance schedule and any important RenFest news
• Run warm-ups and/or a brief walk-through in the morning
• Assign dances and partners for each performance during the day

NOTE: All 3-couple dances will be performed in 3-couple sets. All 2-couple dances will be performed in 4-couple sets.

Follow Me Home	32 J 3C	RSCDS 38
Seagreen	32 S 3S	Drewry/Brodie
Shiftin' Bobbins	32 R 3C	Ormskirk
~~Festival Frolic or Step Dance~~
Brudenell Jig	32 J 2C	Leeds Ann'y
Ha Ha! The Wooin' O'it	32 R 2C	MMM
~~Festival Frolic or Step Dance~~
Scotland's Gardens	32 R 3C	Goldring
Asilomar Romantic	32 S 3C	San Francisco Coll'n v. 2
Australian Ladies	32 R 3C	Glasgow Assembly

Dance instructions are available from the Performance Repertoire page.

Information about Renaissance Festival costumes is available in the RSCDS Twin Cities Branch Costume Guidelines. If you have never performed with the branch at the RenFest before, you should get your costume approved by the RenFest chairs. If you have any questions at all about costumes, contact the Wardrobe Master. Jim will be glad to answer you any questions you have, make suggestions for costumes, and help with patterns, etc.

Where to Get Costumes:

Contact branch wardrobe master Jim Morehouse (E-mail: jmorehouse01 [at] hamline.edu) for patterns and tips on sewing your own costume.

If you don't sew, there are several people in the group who are willing to sew costumes for reasonable compensation (contact Jim for information). There are also several commercial vendors who sell reasonably priced items*:

• Lady Rogue Historical Clothiers
  Northern-Minnesota based seamstress makes men's shirts, and womens' chemises, skirts, and bodices.
• Museum Replicas
  Good source for reasonably priced footwear, shirts, and doublets.
• Celtic Croft
  Good source for reasonably priced shirts. They also sell great kilts and arisaids, as well as sporrans and belts.
• Deva Lifewear
  Good source for reasonably priced shirts (the "Frontier" and "Bucaneer" shirts make good RenFest garb).

A Few Costume-Related Tips:

• Do bring a basket or rustic cloth sack to carry things (and in which to hide watches, water bottles, sunscreen, and other modern items that must be kept out of sight).
• A leather, wooden, or ceramic mug or goblet for drinking water is a must.
• Do not wear sunglasses (prescription eyeglasses are OK), visible wrist watches, modern clothing, or obviously modern fabrics.

• Listen carefully to the FOD's instructions and be on time when meeting for performances.
• Be sure to let the FOD know if you are injured or not feeling well.
• Wear shoes (see the Renaissance Festival costume guidelines for suggestions). It's safer and it is required by Festival regulations. You may want to add insoles to your shoes for extra support and comfort (it's a long day on your feet out at the RenFest).
• Apply sunscreen and reapply regularly throughout the day, even if it is overcast.
• Drink water and/or gatorade whenever you get the chance. Learn the locations of water out at the festival (there are water coolers in several locations on site).
• Familiarize yourself with the first aid kit.

Renaissance Festival-Related Links

• Official Minnesota Renaissance Festival Web Site
  Includes some maps and directions and an event schedule.

• Minnesota Renaissance Festival Friends
  Home page for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival mailing list, an e-mail-based bulletin board (listserv) for people associated with the MN RenFest. The web site includes information on how to subscribe to the MRFFriends listserv and a directory of some of the listserv participants. It also includes some useful information such as how to earn points to redeem for RenFest admission tickets and/or food coupon books, lyrics to some of the most popular songs sung out at RenFest, and tips on use of language during the Renaissance.

• RenFest Parade Info. Check this site for the schedule of upcoming parades where you can earn points to redeem for RenFest admission tickets and/or food books.