W. Dudley Laufman – Dancing Master, Musician, Poet, National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, Pacifist, Teacher, Mentor and Curmudgeon
b. 2/7/31 – d. 7/13/26
The eldest child of M. Miller Laufman and Marjorie Dick Laufman was born on February 7, 1931 in Newton, MA and went to live on Pleasant Street in Arlington, MA. Dudley attended local schools until he went to Norfolk Aggie in Walpole, MA where he was introduced to square dancing through Ralph Page. He worked in summers at Mistwold, a dairy farm in Freemont, NH beginning in 1946 where he called his first dance in 1948.He earned an associate’s degree from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture (Mass Aggie) in Amherst, MA in 1952 . A special commencement ceremony was held on June 10, 2006, to award degrees to over 300 alumni from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, specifically those who graduated between 1920 and 1960. This event was unique as it honored graduates from several decades in a single ceremony.From 1952 to 1955, Dudley worked at the Brattleboro Retreat as an Occupational Therapist to fulfill his Civil Service Duty for being a Conscientious Objector. He later worked at the New Hampshire State Hospital in Concord, NH as a Recreational Director from 1956 to 1961. There he met a fiddler and caller (or ‘prompter’), Arthur Hanson, who said; “I was a fiddler before I came here”. They became fast friends. After Arthur had a heart attack in 1976, he said he didn’t want to be buried in a paupers’ row. Dudley arranged to have him buried at his family gravesite in Ossipee, NH
Dudley bought 1.75 acres of property from the Shakers in Canterbury, NH in 1959. The homestead was named ‘Wind in the Timothy’. There, with Cynthia Dunbar, they built the house, grew most of their food and raised their 4 children. Dudley was influenced by reading about Scott and Helen Nearing, and the back to the land movement. He never quite forgave the Nearings for failing to mention their financial resources which provided a safety net to their self sufficiency.
He self published and hand made several books of poetry during these years. He wrote poetry and called for dances in many Town Halls and public spaces in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire, Club 47 (now Club Passim) in Cambridge, MA and at the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA)
“For lack of a better name, let’s call our-selves The Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra.
Dudley is the only one from Canterbury, but how many of the Buda- pest String Quartet are from Budapest?” - Newt Tolman
Laufman was hired to play at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. He got a group of musicians and dancers together to perform there to great acclaim. It was there that he met Bob Beers who invited the family to Petersburg, NY where Bob was imagining a music festival at Fox Hollow for the next summer. In 1966, the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra was first recorded at the Fox Hollow Folk Festival. This was a cut of “Chorus Jig” on the compilation album from the festival, “Clitter, Clatter, Down Come The Water (Vol. II)” The Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra was comprised of a core group of musicians, some of whom have played with Dudley since the 1950’s. They always welcomed sit-ins at public dances. Many New England callers, musicians and dancers got their start from Dudley and the CCDO. Notably, none of the original group had this music passed down to them from family roots, except for Newt Tolman. They came to the music as something heartfelt and new.From 1967 to 1971, he worked at Southern New Hampshire Typesetting, Concord, NH, as a proofreader/billing clerk. 1968 brought his fifth child, and with the help of Patty Laufman, the 1970’s were spent lining up, hiring for, and playing / calling dances throughout New England, Canada, and Great Britain. It was a busy time which also included more poetry books, printed then bound and mailed from the kitchen table.
In 1972 the first Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra LP (fondly called the Blue Album) was made in a chapel at Middlesex School in Concord, MA.Many recordings followed. Many of the CCDO cuts have been used in movies and on TV, the first notable example was as background music for the tv network coverage of the Tall Ships in Boston in 1976. The music just seemed to fit.In 1974 CCDO went to the National Folk Festival held at Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, VA. Also in 1974, Dudley was on the staff of Pinewoods Dance Camp in Plymouth MA. It was there that he really fell in love with Morris Dancing. Morris was completely different from social dancing. To acknowledge a sense of place, to honor the seasons with music and song, enrolling a group of people, gathering to practice these ritual dances together in his rural town sparked a sense of community and this really appealed to Dudley.
He started the Phenix Morris which later became the Canterbury Morris. It was made up of dancers of all ages and genders from Canterbury, much like the traditional village teams from England (except for the inclusion of women and both sexes dancing together). The morris team would practice infrequently and rarely performed away from Canterbury. They would have a few gigs in May and at the Canterbury Fair (always the last Saturday in July). Each year on January 1st, they would do “The Ride”, travelling door to door for food and drink, to sing seasonal songs, perform a mummers play and sword dance for neighbors.
He got involved with teaching in the public elementary schools and summer camps throughout New England in 1978 and continued doing that until fairly recently. He loved gathering groups of children to teach them community dancing. He formed “Two Fiddles” with Jacqueline Laufman in 1986. It was with her help and direction that he was awarded many arts grants for teaching learners to play and call. Many people who are now performers in the traditional music scene, got their start with Jacqueline and Dudley. In 1990 the University of New Hampshire invited Laufman to submit his collection of recordings, writings, articles, photos, etc., to the Special Collection section of University of New Hampshire Archives: Dudley Laufman Collection No. 107. In 1999 they went to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Washington DC, to present New Hampshire traditional music and dance for the two-week living museum.
Dudley was awarded the New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award for Folk Heritage in 2001, and received several proclamations through the years including one at bedside on June 22, 2026 He received the Lifetime Contribution Award from the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) in 2007. This award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of traditional dance and music.
Dudley was the recipient of a 2009 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts.
Dudley continued writing poetry until the end. He was quite prolific. He would often print Broadsides of his poetry with artwork from favorite artists. He self-published several books of prose and poems over the years. Many people would receive a book or a broadside in the mail. He was the Canterbury Post Office most frequent flyer, for sure. He spent many Saturdays on the bench in front of that post office, playing tunes, telling jokes and stories with his group of “Geezers.”
Dudley spent his later years playing and calling for several regular dances in halls, barns, festivals and weddings around New England as well as Apprenticing and Mentoring fiddlers and callers. Dudley always had a garden. In the early days, it was the primary source for feeding the family. He maintained a good-natured competition with John Rexford as to which of them would enjoy the first corn of the season, calling to eat the corn on the cob over the phone.
A few days before he died, he was able to be taken outside to sit in his garden. He requested a G and T and had a melancholic toast to his garden of 67 years. He knew it was goodbye.
Nanci has lovingly planted and tended the garden this season. He prided himself on (nearly) never missing a gig and at 95 declared himself to be the oldest continually working dance caller IN THE WORLD!!! His 95th birthday in February 2026 was spent at a well-attended dance in Groton, MA, calling and playing with “The Contra Banditos”, not long after being sprung from rehab of a broken hip. “I would like to say what we do is Traditional American Folk Dancing of the Atlantic Northeast. But, that is a mouthful, isn’t it. And, it is too intellectual. Won’t appeal to the person on the street. Calling it a contra dance is a good generic term, I suppose. But, we are looking for something different.
When people hire us for a public dance and ask about what to say on posters, we usually ask them to print TRADITIONAL NEW ENGLAND DANCE in bold print and in smaller print, say Contre Dances (spelling it with an “e” get around the Central America politics) Quadrilles, Squares, Reels, Jigs, Polkas, Waltzes. For private house dances and church functions, we ask them to say something similar. For dances in barns, it is called exactly that.
Person called the other day says do you do “contra” dances? I said no, what we do are old time social dances. Sounds good to me.” – Dudley Laufman
Gathering people together for the joy of making music and dancing to it was at the core of who Dudley was. He was not a perfect person - really, none of us are - but he was thoroughly committed to showing up to nurture and support Community. He encouraged the simple act of holding hands with friends and strangers of every age and dancing together, bringing fundamental and enduring joy to everyone taking part. Dudley was a master of his craft and had an encyclopedic knowledge of tunes and dances. He called his final dance, surrounded by dancers and musicians, in his home on May 2, 2026. It was glorious.
Dudley died and was buried at his home in Canterbury, NH on July 13, 2026.
He is survived by his sisters Ann (Edward) Mason of Barrington RI, Abigail (Blake) Martin of Andover, MA and Johanna (Tom) Walsh of Andover, MA
Partner, Nanci Aguiar of Canterbury, NH
And his 5 children;
Heidi (Jerry) Eide of Wendell, MA
Bronwen (Eugene) Hairston of Clearwater, FL
Nathaniel Laufman of Freeville, NY
Singwen (Daniel) Gobillot of Leeds, MA
Windelyn Laufman of Rumney, NH
He was predeceased by his parents, Miller and Marjorie, His sister Janet, and his brothers, Alan and Philip
There will be a Memorial Service held at the Canterbury United Community Church
5 Center Road in Canterbury, on Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 2pm . We encourage all traditional dance communities, wherever you are, to have celebrations in Dudley’s honor.
May he be remembered in the joy of our music, dance, song and stories.
see the books by Dudley published by
L O N G H O U S E
