Tony Parkes (caller)

{{Short description|American choreographer and writer (1949–2024)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Tony Parkes

| image =

| caption =

| alt =

| birth_name = Anthony Philip Parkes

| alias =

| birth_date = November 10, 1949{{cite web | url=https://www.legacy.com/funeral-homes/obituaries/name/anthony-tony-parkes-obituary?pid=206922361&v=batesville&view=guestbook | title=Anthony "Tony" P. Parkes | date=May 13, 2024 | publisher=Legacy.com | access-date= May 26, 2024}}

| birth_place = New York City, NewYork, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|5|6|1949|11|10}}

| death_place =

| origin =

| genre = American folk music

| occupation = Folk dance caller and writer, musician

| instrument = Piano

| years_active = 1964–2024

| website =

}}

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.{{Cite web |title=The Society of Folk Dance Historians (SFDH) – Tony Parkes |url=https://sfdh.us/encyclopedia/parkes_t.html |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=sfdh.us}}

He wrote the book Contra Dance Calling – A Basic Text in 1992 and updated it in 2010.{{Cite web |title=Contra Dance Calling – A Basic Text, 2nd Edition • Little Shop of Horas |url=https://facone.org/store/product/contra-dance-calling-a-basic-text-2nd-edition/ |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=Little Shop of Horas |language=en-US}}

Early life

Parkes was born in 1949 in New York City, and grew up in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.{{cite news | url=https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2024/05/an-obituary-tony-parkes/ | title=An Obituary: Tony Parkes | newspaper=The Bedford Citizen | date=May 14, 2024 | access-date=January 16, 2025}} His father, Philip Parkes, was a department store advertising executive, working for Lord & Taylor in New York and later for Emporium-Capwell in San Francisco. His mother, Katherine Parkes, was a law librarian who worked for the Institute of Judicial Administration at the New York University School of Law,{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q0xFMAfnbKMC&dq=katherine+parkes+librarian&pg=PA17 | title=Directory of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Associations and Research Centers | volume=13 | first=Brenda J. | last=Latka | publisher=National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce | date=June 1973 | page=17}} and later for the Alameda County Law Library in the San Francisco Bay Area.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxAXAQAAMAAJ&q=%22katherine+parkes%22+%22alameda+county+law+library%22 | title=AALL Directory and Handbook, 1988–89 | edition=18th | publisher=American Association of Law Libraries | year=1988 | page=308}}

Calling career

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

He wrote more than 90 dances, with many published in the compilations Shadrack's Delight and Son of Shadrack.{{Cite web |title=The Caller's Box |url=https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/?author=tony+parkes&show_all |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=www.ibiblio.org}}{{Cite web |title=Tony Parkes |url=http://www.folkdancecamp.org/tony-parkes |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=Stockton Folk Dance Camp |language=en-US}}

He also taught at dance events at well-known locations including Pinewoods Camp and the John C. Campbell Folk School and called at the New England Folk Festival every year from 1969 until 2023.{{Cite web |last=Parkes |first=Beth |date=2024-04-20 |title=NEFFA |url=https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tonyparkes/journal/view/id/66243558c3b59928bcb368ac |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=www.caringbridge.org}}

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.

Personal life and death

In 1973, Parkes moved to the Boston area{{Cite web |title=Tony Parkes |url=https://www.socalfolkdance.org/master_teachers/parkes_t.htm#:~:text=Born%20and%20raised%20in%20New,and%20Wilderness%20Camps%20in%20Vermont. |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=www.socalfolkdance.org}} where he lived with his wife, Beth Parkes, in Billerica, Massachusetts.{{Cite web |title=Tony Parkes – biography · Dare To Be Square Weekend 2011, Brasstown, NC – caller interviews · Square Dance History Project |url=https://squaredancehistory.org/exhibits/show/brasstown-interviews/tony-parkes---biography |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=squaredancehistory.org}} Beth Parkes is also a square and contra dance caller.

Parkes was a Jeopardy! champion during 1989.{{cite web | url=https://www.j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=15856&highlight=parkes | title=Tony Parkes | publisher=J! Archive | access-date=January 26, 2025}}

Tony Parkes survived colon cancer in 2018, but was diagnosed with a brain tumor in November 2023. He died on May 6, 2024.{{Cite web |last=Parkes |first=Tony |date=2023-11-16 |title=Tony shared on Facebook |url=https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tonyparkes/journal/view/id/6556cad83c4e7b8a42ae4db2 |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=www.caringbridge.org}}{{Cite web |date=2024-05-10 |title=National Folk Organization |url=https://nfo-usa.com/ |access-date=2024-05-09 |language=en-US}}