Jimmy Drury

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Balkan
Balkan, international

Jimmy Drury in Romania 2003

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James "Jimmy" Drury is a musician and dancer, teaching English Country, contra, ragtime, and international dances. He teaches monthly dance classes in San Antonio, Texas. He is the contact for the San Antonio International Dancers as well as the San Antonio Ragtime Society and the society's Youth Contest & Ragtime Concert.

Jimmy loves playing fiddle but he also is a gifted pianist who loves performing classic ragtime piano. He teaches classes in both violin and piano. Jimmy plays piano with the Cactus Canyon Contra Band, San Antonio's local long-standing contra band, formed in 1985. They've played mostly for contra dances, but have also played for the annual Victorian Gala (and other Fiesta events), the San Antonio Folklife Festival, and for various other public events as well as for the occasional wedding. The band appeared in a Blue Bell Ice Cream commercial which was aired extensively in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They usually play for the second Saturday dance in San Antonio at which Jimmy teaches. He plays piano in All Strung Out (jigs, reels, and waltzes which are very upbeat and make for easy dancing). Jimmy also directed the much-loved Lost Pines Dance Hall in Bastrop.

Jimmy is the Folk Culture Administrator of the International Folk Culture Center in San Antonio, Texas. On March 10, 2001, at the 42nd Annual San Antonio College Folk Dance Festival, the Texas Folk Dance Award was presented to Jimmy, "long a popular and actively involved dance teacher at the IFCC."

A well known dance instructor, Jimmy has taught international and contra dances at various dance camps and festivals around the United States, including the San Antonio Folk Dance Festival, Mainwoods Camp, and Ted Sanella Memorial Contra Week.

Jimmy is the son of famed dance instructor Nelda Guerrero Drury and is a retired accountant.

Dances Jimmy has taught include many contras, ragtime dances, and Berovka, Blayton Races, Čačak, Grosse Runde, Himig Sa Nayon, Kolo žita, Kritikos Syrtos, Povrateno, Ratevka, Thirteen-Fourteen (1314), Vodarki oro, and Ziguener Polka.