Laurie Andres
Laurie Andres has played accordion and piano for music and dance festivals, concerts, and dances all over the US, Canada, and Europe. He has been a featured performer at Carrefour Mondial de L’Accordeon Montmagny in Quebec and the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA. His whimsical and infectiously rhythmic performance style is well known in English country dance, old-time New England contra and square dance communities.
Intermediate English Country Dance, Advanced Dance Band
Jennifer Beer
Jenny teaches English Country Dance in Philadelphia and at Swarthmore College. When she can tear herself away from the dance floor, she enjoys playing piano and recorder for English and Scottish. Over the years she has danced with groups in Earlham College, Vermont, Japan, and Berkeley, CA.
Advanced English Country Dance, Callers Workshop, Open Mic & Band Session
John Bealle
John attended his first Sacred Harp singing more than thirty years ago in Alabama at the suggestion of Bicky McLain. He has since published a book and several articles on the subject and has been a steadfast supporter of this music in the Midwest. His most recent work is an annotated CD recording of the National Sacred Harp Singing Convention. John currently resides in Cincinnati.
Sacred Harp Singing
Adian Broadbridge
Aidan began playing for dancing at the age of twelve, and has played for the annual Assembly Ball in Scotland every year since. After leaving school he spent two years in Sweden, where he continued violin and piano studies, returning to Britain to take a degree course at Trinity College of Music (London). His teachers have included Douglas Lawrence, Angus Ramsay, Hu Kun and John Crawford. Despite his classical training, he is noted for his driving fiddle style of playing for dancing and an exceptional ability to extemporize.
Renée Camus
Renée grew up in the folk dance tradition, attending Pinewoods camp since age 8. She now teaches and performs many styles of dance, from Appalachian clogging and Irish and English step dancing, to Latin, swing, and ballroom dances, to Renaissance, Baroque and 19th and early 20th century social dances, to tap and jazz. A former cast member of Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble and the show Dancing on Common Ground, she currently performs with Tappening, a rhythm tap ensemble; and PedAntics, a clogging group, in the DC/MD area. She has also performed with the Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance, and with various musical groups such as Connemara, Moonfire, and Clandestine. She recently founded her own company for historical social dance called Centuries Historical Dance. She is very excited to be a part of the CCDS staff. For more information access Renee’s website.
Beginning Appalachian Clogging, Advanced Percussive Dance, English Clogging
David Crandall
David has been active as a dance musician for over 30 years in Kentucky and around the eastern seaboard, performing for many Christmas Schools and as a member of the Capital Quicksteps, Evening Star, and most recently, Microchasm. He currently resides in Baltimore, MD, where he works as an artist, commercial designer, teacher, and writer.
Liz Donaldson
From Bethesda, MD, Liz is a full-time musician, plays piano and accordion and has been playing for dancing for many years. She is known for her innovative back-up style incorporating exciting rhythms, textures, and harmony lines in her music. In addition to playing for Scottish, English and American contra and square dances, Liz teaches all these styles, and dances, too!
She is a member of Terpsichore, Dance du Jour, and Waverley Station! In addition to her latest recording Waverley Station: First Stop!, a recording of Scottish Dance tunes with fiddler David Knight and bassist Ralph Gordon, Liz has a CD, Terpsichore, Scottish Dance Music with fiddler, Elke Baker, and another of American Contra Dance tunes with Alexander Mitchell, SummerTunes. She’s also Artistic Director and pianist on two hot live Scottish Country Dance recordings Memories of Scottish Weekend (’98) and More Memories of Scottish Weekend (’02). She has also published Rain in the Desert: a collection of her own compositions, and Scottish Dance Class Tunes.
Liz has taught and played at numerous dance weekends and music workshops including Scottish Weekend at Ramblewood (MD), Pinewoods (MA), and Asilomar (CA). Her travels have taken her to Berea (KY), Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Ames (IA), Tucson (AZ), Mendocino (CA), Seattle (WA), San Antonio (TX) as well as to Great Britain, Canada and Japan. Liz was invited, as a traditional pianist, to lead Performance Tours for the Smithsonian Institution’s Piano 300 exhibition. She also performed with Terpsichore at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in 2003.
Liz also teaches BandAid a regular ensemble-playing workshop, and enjoys composing tunes, especially waltzes. For more information access Liz’s website.
Playing for Dancing
Brad Foster
Brad has been dancing and teaching English country, contras and squares, and morris and sword for over thirty years. He is known for sharing the joy found in dance, and has taught throughout the US, Canada and Europe, including at Berea, Pinewoods, Mendocino, Brasstown, and Augusta. He has been Executive and Artistic Director of CDSS for almost 20 years.
Advanced English Country Dance, Playford, Ceilidh and More
Kristin Graham
From St. Louis, Mo., Kristen plays piano in a variety of country dance ensembles. As part of the English country trio, the Tu’Penny Uprights, she plays for Dance Discovery, an English Country performance troupe led by John Ramsay. She plays with Martha Edwards (fiddle) in a New England style duo, Reel Women, and in an old time trio with Ted Vasquez (fiddle) and Mike Brown (bass), the Nightcrawlers, for contra dances around the St. Louis area. By herself, she enjoys performing traditional music from Ireland, England and America on the autoharp.
Mary Harrell
Mary was a performance dancer under Frank Smith, Berea College. She taught English dancing at Pinewoods, CCDS and in the Baltimore/DC area.
Beginning English Country Dance
Atossa Kramer
Atossa has been a dance musician and teacher in the area for 40 years. In addition to playing for dance workshops, she plays for the Berea College Country Dancers. She is a member of the music faculty at Berea College.
Open Band Session
Donna & Lewis Lamb
Donna and Lewis began playing for the Country Dancers in the 1960’s. They perform and teach old time square dance music and traditional songs at festivals and workshops throughout the region.
Tully Larew
Tully of Greenville, WV is a Berea College graduate, a Berea College Country Dancer alumnus, retired Ag Ed teacher, current farmer, and a Ruritan. He has taught woodcarving at Buffalo Gap Family Week since it has started in 1990. He is a great craftsman and the nicest, most encouraging teacher with a pocketknife.
Woodcarving
Liz Lewis
Liz Lewis loves harmony singing, which she credits to years of singing alto (and playing bass clarinet in junior high school). Her taste in music is eclectic, ranging from international folk songs to barbershop to Gilbert and Sullivan. She sings with Constellations, a women’s sextet, as well as the church choir, and was a founding member of Lingua Franca and DreamCatcher.
Harmony Singing
John Mayberry
A Morris dancer for more than 20 years, John is the “fool” of the Toronto Morris Men. John’s experience in the theatre includes juggling, clowning, medieval and folk drama, and scenery and props production. He is also a traditional singer, sometimes performing with his partner, Jamie Beaton, as the Irish Music Hall duo, “The Bullero Brothers”. He is a professor in the Department of Theatre, York University, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Beginning Morris, Mummers’ Play
Rick Mohr
Rick has been enthusiastically leading and choreographing dances for 15 years in both the Contra and Morris worlds, as well as making and leading music vocally and instrumentally. Known for clear and well-paced teaching, good humor, and fresh tradition-based choreography, Rick keeps an active schedule calling contra dances and serves as foreman of Boston’s Commonwealth Morris Men.
Fun & Easy Contras, Advanced Morris, Harmony Singing
Jim Morrison
Jim, foreman of Albermarle Morris and Old Swan Tavern Border Morris in Charlottesville, VA, has been teaching morris and sword dancing, calling dances, and playing fiddle and guitar steadily for over 25 years. He is a former director of CDSS.
Appalachian Square Dance, Advanced Rapper, Longsword
Owen Morrison
Owen, a talented up-and-coming guitarist, has grown up in the thick of the music and dance community. He’s currently a member of The Morrison Brothers contra dance band and has traveled with them throughout the southeast.
Dr. Patrick E. Napier
Pat is an Appalachian square dance caller, author of Kentucky Mountain Square Dancing, storyteller, and Presbyterian minister. He is also on the CCDS policy committee. This is his fifty-third year at CCDS.
Kentucky Set Running, Storytelling for All
Janet Northern
Janet is a self taught basket maker from Rockcastle County, KY. She has been making baskets for eight years and teaching basketry for six years. This will be her fourth year with CCDS. She enjoys working with materials native to her region and truly loves to share the joy and knowledge of basketry with other interested individuals.
Small Honeysuckle Wall Basket, Bread Basket
Charlie Pilzer
Charlie plays piano, bass, and button accordion (and occasionally tuba) in a number of dance bands and plays accordion for the Foggy Bottom Morris Men. He tours with Spaelimenninir, a Scandinavian band. He works as a mastering engineer and does historic audio restoration. Charlie produced and played piano for the Berea Cast Offs first CD. Charlie and his wife Cecily have been program directors for Pinewoods Family Week and were instrumental in the founding of the CDSS programs at Buffalo Gap and were Camp Directors for a number of years.
Bruce Rosen
Bruce has been part of Boston’s contra and English country dance community since the mid-70s as a dancer and musician. He plays contra dance piano in the Boston-based band, Phantom Power, with New York’s The Fish Family, and with lots of other great New England-style fiddlers. Bruce is seen most years conducting the NEFFA Festival Orchestra. In the early 90s, he took up the button accordion, playing for Ha’Penny Morris for many years; Bruce is now musician for the Commonwealth Morris Men.
Sue Rosen
Sue Rosen, an accomplished caller and choreographer from the Boston area, will treat you to the best contra and square dances from around the country. She’s been dancing all her life and has written dances that have travelled the world. Dancers of all levels will enjoy Sue’s clear teaching and spirited calling.
Challenging Contras, Squares for All, Callers Workshop
Chris Rua
Chris Rua is a versatile musician who has performed a wide spectrum of music, from Medieval to Jazz, on instruments and voice. She has performed in New England and abroad with her own ensembles Jadis, Dove’s Figary and Promised Land as well as with Ex Umbris, Piffaro, New York’s Ensemble for Early Music, Voice of the Turtle, Boston’s Emmanuel Music and the Boston Early Music Festival. She plays frequently for English Country dancing throughout New England, was on staff at English American Week at Buffalo Gap in 2001 and will be this year for English American Week at Pinewoods in Plymouth MA. Chris has been on staff at Pinewoods Early Music Week for over 15 years and was program director from 1998 – 2000.
Beginning Recorder, Intermediate/Advanced Recorder
Lissa Schneckenburger
Lissa grew up in Maine as an active member of the contra dance community, where she cut her teeth both as a musician and a dancer at a very young age. She has now played and taught all over the world as a fiddler and vocalist, including appearances in Russia, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Canada, and of course, the United States. Lissa has opened for artists such as Alasdair Fraser, Skyedance, and Judy Collins. She received a BM in performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2001.
Susan Spalding
Susan Spalding has taught dance to children and teachers in school, recreation, and community settings for more than 20 years. She has served on state and national task forces working on dance content standards and programs of study. She directs the Berea College Country Dancers, who really know how to make dance fun for children and adults wherever they go.
Dancing in School
Maureen Spencer
Maureen Spencer is a member of the Angleterre Morris Dancers of Louisville which has performed Morris, Rapper, and English Clog Dancing for the past 15 years. Her other dancing interests include ritual and step dancing from England, Scotland and Ireland.
Beginning Rapper
Joe Tarter
A dance leader and organizer for more than twenty years, Joe has been Program Director of CDSS Family Week at Buffalo Gap and is Squire of Foothills Morris Men in Berea. He was the interim Director of CCDS in 1990 and 1991, and has served as Director of CCDS since 2000.
Paty Tarter
Patty is a member of the Ritchie Family of Eastern Kentucky with a repertoire of traditional Appalachian songs and singing games. She plays dulcimer and sings for Elderhostel groups in and around Berea.
Will coordinate Morningsong and Stories, and Evening Parlor
Katy Tarter-German
Katy is a Berea native and former member of the Berea Festival Dancers. She has taught Appalachian songs, dances, and games at a variety of dance camps, including Pinewoods, Buffalo Gap, Cumberland Camp, and Lady of the Lake. Katy is also a member of the CDSS Board of Directors.
Play-party and Singing Games, Molly Dancing
Al White
Al teaches Appalachian music for string instruments at Berea College and is best known for his mandolin, fiddle, guitar, and banjo playing, teaching any and all of these when asked. Al plays fiddle in the Berea Cast-Offs dance band and has been an artist-in-residence for the Kentucky Arts Council in storytelling, folk music and dance. He also has been a staff member at Pinewoods, Buffalo Gap, KY Summer Dance School, and other dance weeks.
Alice White
Alice grew up singing and playing traditional, bluegrass and gospel music with her family in the McLain Family Band. She is an early elementary school teacher and plays bass in the Berea Cast-Offs.
Sound by Doug Dorschug |