TOPSHAM — The DownEast Country Dance Festival will celebrate its 25th season of traditional music and dance March 27 and 28 at Mt. Ararat Middle School and the adjacent Orion Performing Arts Center in Topsham.

The annual event attracts hundreds of folk arts fans from throughout Maine and New England for hours of nonstop dancing and music-making. The biggest draw is Saturday – “folk smorgasbord” day – for which the school’s cafeteria, gym and multiple classrooms will be transformed into dance halls, workshop areas, and spaces for concerts and jam sessions.

The festivities kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 27, with an evening of traditional New England country dancing in the gym to music provided by the Maine-based trio Riptide and, from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, The Stringrays. Typically called “contra” dancing, this style of dance has its roots in the English country dances enjoyed by American colonists over 200 years ago. While similar to square dancing, contras are danced in a double-line formation of as many as 20 couples, allowing a great deal of intermingling and socializing. The Friday evening dance will end at midnight with a last waltz.

The action resumes at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 28, with more contra dancing as well as opportunities to learn everything from waltz, swing, tango and Bollywood dancing to folk dances from Israel, France, Scandinavia, Quebec, Scotland, Ireland and beyond in workshops which will take place simultaneously in multiple different venues throughout the day. In the auditorium, a Young Fiddlers

Extravaganza from 2 to 4 p.m. will showcase the talents of string players from kindergarten up through high-school-age, including special guests The Strawberry Hill Fiddlers from New York.

An equally wide variety of activities is planned for those who want to enhance their own musicianship, including instrumental workshops in fiddle, guitar, banjo and bodhran. Singers can choose from sessions in Shape Note and round singing as well as vocal improvisation.

A number of mini-concerts are on deck in the Bistro, while the Rainbow Room will feature a selection of special activities for children and families, including an origami workshop and instruction in how to build and play a membran-o-phone. Because festival organizers are committed to keeping the event affordable and inclusive, children age 10 and under will be admitted free with youth age 11- 21 given a substantial price break.

The Saturday night schedule, more geared to adults, features contra dancing from 7 p.m. until midnight in addition to an international folk dance party and an Argentine tango dance party, both of which run 7 to 9 p.m.

Tickets to the 2015 DownEast Country Dance Festival are available for either the complete two-day event or portions thereof, with admission prices ranging from $12 for the Friday night dance ($8 for age 11-21) to $35/$25 for the entire festival. Children age 10 and under are free at all times if accompanied by an adult.

The Orion Arts Center/Mt. Ararat Middle School are located on Rt. 201 (Main Street) in Topsham. More information, including a full schedule of activities, is available by consulting the Festival website at www.deffa.org/festival/ or by contacting DECDFestival liaison Lynn Plumb at 207- 563-8953.