Tony Parkes (caller)

Tony Parkes (November 10, 1949 – May 6, 2024) was an American professional square dance, contra dance and folk dance caller and choreographer who was active in the region surrounding Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.^[3]

He wrote the book Contra Dance Calling – A Basic Text in 1992 and updated it in 2010.^[4]

Parkes was born in 1949 in New York City,^[2] and grew up in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.^[1] His father, Philip Parkes,^[1] was a department store advertising executive, working for Lord & Taylor in New York and later for Emporium-Capwell in San Francisco.^[2] His mother, Katherine Parkes,^[1] was a law librarian who worked for the Institute of Judicial Administration at the New York University School of Law,^[5] and later for the Alameda County Law Library in the San Francisco Bay Area.^[6]

Parkes studied contra and square calling with several well-known callers, including Ralph Page.^[3] He began calling folk dances in 1964 and called dances in 35 states, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, England, and Canada.^[3]

He wrote more than 90 dances, with many published in the compilations Shadrack's Delight and Son of Shadrack.^[3][7][8]

He also taught at dance events at well-known locations including Pinewoods Camp and the John C. Campbell Folk School^[8] and called at the New England Folk Festival every year from 1969 until 2023.^[9]

Parkes served on the boards of the Country Dance Society (Boston Centre), the New England Folk Festival Association, and the Folk Arts Center of New England. He co-founded the band Yankee Ingenuity.^[3]

In 1973, Parkes moved to the Boston area^[10] where he lived with his wife, Beth Parkes, in Billerica, Massachusetts.^[11] Beth Parkes is also a square and contra dance caller.^[3]

Parkes was a Jeopardy! champion during 1989.^[12]

Tony Parkes survived colon cancer in 2018, but was diagnosed with a brain tumor in November 2023. He died on May 6, 2024.^[13][14]