TOPSHAM – The DownEast Country Dance Festival will celebrate its 17th season of traditional music and dance Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31, at Mt. Ararat Middle School and the attached Orion Performing Arts Center.

The annual event draws hundreds of folk arts fans from throughout Maine and New England for hours of nonstop dancing and music-making. Saturday features a full afternoon of dance performances and a concert by popular Vermont band Nightingale on the main stage in the performing arts center, while the adjacent cafeteria, gym and multiple classrooms will be transformed into dance halls, workshop areas and spaces for mini-concerts and jam sessions.

Festivities kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with an evening of traditional New England country dancing in the gym to music provided by Nightingale and the Maine trio Frigate. Typically called “contra” dancing, this style of dance has its roots in the English country dances enjoyed by American colonists some 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 waltz.

Activities will resume at 10 a.m. Saturday, with more contra dancing as well as opportunities to learn everything from waltz and tango to folk dances from Israel, France, Scotland, Scandinavia and beyond in workshops that will take place simultaneously in multiple different venues throughout the day. An equally wide variety of activities is planned for those who want to enhance their musicianship, including instrumental workshops in fiddle, guitar, piano, hammered dulcimer and hand drumming, and vocal sessions in improvisation, round singing and songs from around the world.

“The folk arts have always been about community and family, so we’ve built into our 2007 Festival a wide range of choices to keep people of all ages engaged, whether as spectators or active participants,” said festival director Lynn Plumb. “At the same time, we’re committed to keeping the event affordable, with kids age 10 and under admitted free and students up to age 21 given a substantial price break.”

With this in mind, a number of Saturday’s daytime activities are designed especially for children, including arts and crafts, singing, barn dancing, instrument making, and an opportunity to march in the colorful Festival Parade.

The Saturday night schedule features contra dancing until midnight, in addition to tango and swing dancing and an international folk dance party.

Live music will be played throughout the festival, with appearances by more than two dozen musical groups from Maine and elsewhere, including the contra dance bands Scrod Pudding, the Sea Slugs, Catharsis, Calliope, Racket Factory, Perpetual Motion and the Oakum Bay String Band; the Latin dance combo Tango Mucha Labia; the Maine Squeeze accordion ensemble; and the Cajun group JimmyJo and the Jumbol’ayuhs.

Tickets to the 2007 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 students age 11-21) to $35/$25 for the entire festival. Children age 10 and under are free at all times.

The Orion Arts Center/Mt. Ararat Middle School are on Route 201 (Main Street). For more information, go online to www.starleft.org/decdf.