Overview:
A monthly Zydeco meetup at Boulder's Avalon Ballroom brings Louisiana music, culture and community to Colorado's Front Range.
Music fills the Tango Studio in the Avalon Ballroom as dancers shuffle, spin and laugh across the wooden floor. Some glide easily through the steps. Others pause to watch, then try again. For a few hours each month in Boulder, the rhythms of southwest Louisiana take over at the Zydeco Dance Party.
At this event, accordion-driven melodies and syncopated beats from the Zydeco tradition fill the hall during monthly dance nights hosted by Colorado Friends of Cajun and Zydeco, a Boulder-based nonprofit dedicated to preserving Gulf Coast musical culture far from its roots.
“It’s the music that’s great about Zydeco,” said Andy Malkiel, treasurer of Colorado Friends of Cajun and Zydeco. “I got into Zydeco a long time ago in Seattle because I was doing other dances and somebody brought in Zydeco. When we started doing that, I just fell in love.”
Zydeco music originated in the Creole communities of southwest Louisiana, blending French Creole traditions with blues, rhythm and blues, Afro-Caribbean beats and Cajun influences.
The music typically features accordion, washboard-style percussion called a frottoir, guitar and drums. Its driving rhythm was designed for dancing and historically filled small dance halls across rural Louisiana.
“Local artists, many of which were drummers, would call it French music,” said Dan Willging, founder of Colorado Friends of Cajun and Zydeco. “Then country influences were incorporated, then urban sounds like blues and R&B.”
Willging first discovered the music during a trip to New Orleans. The experience changed his perspective.
“It was eye-opening,” he said. “It was a culture shock compared to what I was used to in Colorado.”
Inspired by the scene he encountered there, Willing founded Colorado Friends of Cajun and Zydeco (CFCZ) in 1997. Since then, the group has hosted dance events, concerts and classes aimed at introducing people in Colorado to the music and its culture.
One of the group’s most visible traditions is its monthly dance night. On the fourth Saturday of each month, dancers gather at the Avalon Ballroom just east of Boulder for an evening that begins with a lesson and ends with an open dance floor.
Volunteer instructors help newcomers learn the basic Zydeco step before the music begins. At a recent March dance night, Malkiel led the introductory class while Julie Batten, vice president of the organization, helped guide participants through the patterns.
“It’s such a fun dance,” Malkiel said, “and we just wanted to bring that everywhere we can.”
The event drew approximately 12-15 people, mostly older groups, but the lively atmosphere brightened the small ballroom. Live bands are essential for traditional Zydeco dancing, but bringing musicians to Colorado can be difficult, so the group relies on recordings at the parties.
“The best thing we could do to make it grow is have live music,” Malkiel said. “Because that really brings people out.”
However, the cost of flying bands from Louisiana makes frequent performances difficult.
“Unfortunately, there’s not a local Zydeco band,” he said. “So with dances like this on Saturday nights, we can’t bring in a band from elsewhere because it would be too expensive.”
Still, the group occasionally hosts live performances during larger celebrations.
“For Mardi Gras, we bring in a live band,” Malkiel said. “Then this summer, we’ll have two or three times when we’ll have a live band and those always attract a lot of people.”
Many attendees at recent dance nights were experiencing Zydeco for the first time. Among them was Diana Phillips, who grew up in Mississippi but has deep ties to Louisiana.
“I call Louisiana my home,” Phillips said. She travels to the region several times each year and discovered the Boulder event through social media.
“I was watching something on YouTube today — it was an excerpt from 60 Minutes — and it was talking about how Zydeco is coming back and how Cajun culture in Acadiana is growing again,” she said. “A lot of people want to learn the dancing and want to learn about the music and keep the culture alive.”
Nearly three decades after founding Colorado Friends of Cajun and Zydeco, Willging hopes the tradition will continue to grow on the Front Range. Future events could include more live bands and expanded summer programming if funding allows.
Still, for organizers, the goal remains simple: keep the music and dance alive. As he observed the couples dancing at the March event, Willging said that, above all, we must recognize the artists who “keep the legacy alive and moving forward.”
