The Sunday Night Jammers are (back row, red coat) Camill Streeter; (middle row, from left) Alicia Sullivan, Ed Silvia, Esperanza Tannehill, Paul Wilde, Judith Schrier, Marian Margolies, Janet Szymankski; (front row, from left) Dan Warren, Bob Elliot, and Deb Ross.

It's a cold, quiet night in a quiet Rehoboth neighborhood. A group of ten men and women is gathered on the mostly empty wooden floor of the Goff Memorial Auditorium, listening to instructions from a woman with long, gray hair. Meanwhile, on a small stage at the back of the room, six musicians confer on the proceedings, a couple holding recorders, a couple more flutes, one a violin, and one seated at a piano on the right of the stage.

The small ensemble has just finished running through a moderately fast, traditional dance piece, and are trying to decide what to do next.

"I think we are a little faster than they are," one of the recorder players says, watching the dancers below.

After conferring for a little longer, one of the group members exchanges a few words and hand signals with the woman with the long gray hair below. Seconds later, the group launches into a slow to mid-tempo polka piece. The group gathered on the floor responds by breaking into couples, walking in circles, arm in arm. After some time, five of the dancers stop, form a circle and begin clapping in time, while the other five skip around them.

They repeat this routine a couple more times before the tune ends, at which point their instructor, Judith Schrier, takes to the stage and gets out her recorder for the next number. Camilla Streeter, who had been playing the flute during the previous number, steps off the stage to coach the dancers in their next routine.

Kick out the jams

This is a Sunday night jam session at Goff Memorial Hall, and the group on stage is known, unsurprisingly but appropriately, as the Sunday Night Jammers. Jammers present this evening are violinist Chris Jastram, recorder players Deb Rossi and Lorraine Weinmann, flutists Camilla Streeter and Dan Warren, mandolinist Paul Wilde, guitarist/violinist/horn player Bob Elliott and newly recruited pianist Charles Strauss. Ms. Streeter steps off stage to coach the dance participants in one song this night, but most of the dance step teaching is done by Judith Schrier and Leife Wheeler, both of whom also double on the recorder occasionally.

The Sunday Night Jammers play dance music. Not the kind of dance music that kids dance to in techno clubs, but traditional dance music of many types. The members say Celtic tunes are a favorite, but they also throw in tunes from Scandinavia, most of Europe, Israel and occasionally Greece. But the jammers do not just play "the classics" of their chosen genres. They have also been known to play tunes in a similar vein written by Ms. Streeter, an accomplished composer. Her fellow musicians respect her abilities and enjoy playing her tunes, though her tendency to throw in tricky runs sometimes flusters them.

"Camilla, what's all this jazz stuff?," asks flutist Dan Warren while going over her composition "Four of a Kind Polka."

The revolving lineup

The group has a revolving lineup, with no one expected to show up for every performance, and newcomers being encouraged to try their hand at the music.

"It's fun," says recorder player Deb Rossi.

"They're just a real welcoming group, and they're not judgmental like a lot of groups are. This is very free."

"It's a participatory culture," Ms. Streeter adds.

"It's not passive."

Jam with the Jammers

The Jammers meet on Sundays from 7 to 9 p.m.

Goff Memorial Hall is located at 124 Bay State Road in Rehoboth.

For more info, call Bob Elliott at 508/669-5656 or Judith Schrier at 401/751-4554.

By Vinaya Saksena

vsaksena@eastbaynewspapers.com