Every Monday night, a group gathers for two-and-a-half hours at Lake Street Church not to worship, but to folk dance. Since the 1980s, the Evanston Monday Night Folk Dancers’ mission has been to keep the international folk dance repertoire alive.

Following each other’s steps and holding hands, the group performs dances, taking inspiration from Greek, English and Serbian styles. Anyone can participate, with their first visit free of charge and a $5 fee at each following session.

One of the instructors, Nina Lusterman, who comes up with each week’s setlist and started dancing during high school in New York City, teaches two dances of varying difficulty levels to members. 

“This group is close to 50 years (old) now, and some of us have been dancing for that long or longer,” Lusterman said. 

Lusterman’s husband, Michael Goff, has been dancing with the LSC group since 2008. He said he did not fall in love with folk dancing until his time at the University of Chicago. 

Not having much dancing experience, he was introduced to the art form by Chicago resident Paul Collins, who ran the UChicago group at the time. 

“A lot of these people are my friends,” Goff said. “The people and the ability to dance to this music are the things that keep me coming back every week.”

Evanston’s group was started in the 1980s by Sanna and Mars Longden. They were first housed at another church before moving to LSC in the 1990s.

Judy Solomon and her husband started dancing with the Evanston Monday Night Folk Dancers in 2000. Solomon said at the time, the Longdens had planned to transfer the group to another person. When that person decided to move away, Solomon and her husband formed a committee to keep the music going.

Solomon started dancing in Philadelphia in the early 1970s and said she initially found folk music intriguing. Most members of Evanston’s group are older, having started folk dancing in high school or college in the 1970s. Solomon added that the club hopes to attract younger members, too. 

One of the group’s younger members, Jennifer Kim Goldfarb, said she found out about the group three years ago. She took a dancing class in college and knew she wanted to join a group in Evanston, but understood it would take a while to feel at home.   

“It is a little intimidating anytime you enter into a group that’s been going on for 40 years, and people know each other,” Goldfarb said. “I just was persistent because I wanted to do it.”

Lusterman said the sessions represent an opportunity to exercise and socialize, allowing people from different cultures and backgrounds to connect with one another. After the group introduced Zoom classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the group continued dancing virtually once or twice a month. 

Carol Borysowicz has been a member of the group since 2005 and explained she takes advantage of online classes because dancing at home is easier on her arthritis.

Through Zoom, Evanston Monday Night Folk Dancers reach a nationwide audience, including those who have recently moved to the Chicago area, Borysowicz said. 

David Schonfeld and his wife have been dancing in Evanston for over a year, after moving here from Connecticut in 2024. They folk danced there and were looking for a place to continue. Through the network created by the group’s growing online presence, the Schonfelds soon joined the Monday night sessions. 

“This has been our anchor culturally and socially,” Schonfeld said. “You can mess up, but that does not matter — because you’re doing it together.”  

Outside of Monday nights, some members participate in other folk dancing events, too. Susan Frankel goes to Wisconsin to dance in the Folk Ball, which occurs at the end of January, and participates in June Camp, which is hosted each summer in Lake Forest, Illinois. 

In addition to events, the group hosts a picnic on the lakefront in the summer and parties on holidays and birthdays. 

“I feel accepted here,” Borysowicz said. “I feel safe here, in a way I’m not always feeling in other places.” 

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