Pete Campbell
Pete of Greensboro, NC, plays piano and bass for contras, squares and English country dancing with Footloose, piano or accordion for Scottish country dancing with The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band, and bass with the bluegrass-style klezmer band The Sinai Mountain Ramblers. Over the years, he has served on the musical staffs of many dance camp weeks and dance weekend venues from coast to coast for Scottish, English, American contras and squares, and international folk dancing. Dr. Pete also teaches Scottish ceilidh and country dancing as well as colonial American and English dance, does calling for contras and squares, and always loves to join in on any song-fests to share his wealth of silly songs.
David Crandall
David Crandall grew up in Berea during the ’60s and ’70s, still misses Dodge Gym, and was a fixture at the Berea Christmas School for a decade or two, both as a dancer and staff musician. He is also a veteran of such notable mid-Atlantic area dance bands as Evening Star and the Capital Quicksteps Quadrille Orchestra, and has appeared on the staff of the John C. Campbell Folk School Winter Week. He now lives in Baltimore, Maryland, where he does other things.
Eric Crowden
Eric is a graduate of Berea College, a Fine Arts major in Textiles. His festive banners, paper cuts, and decorations grace Seabury Center at CCDS. He has been making temari for over 20 years. This will be his 10th year of teaching Temari at CCDS. Beginning Temari Craft, Intermediate Temari Craft
Laurie Cumming
Laurie is thrilled to help celebrate CCDS’s 75th Anniversary! She has long been a fan of old Ontario-style step dance and will be teaching a routine, suitable for beginners, from the repertoire of the Mulligan Dancers. More recently her newest passion is the South East Asian dance form known as Bollywood. Sure the movies are cheesy, but they do have great dance numbers! Ontario Step Dance; Bollywood for All
Brad Foster
Brad has been dancing and teaching English country, contras and squares, and Morris and sword for over forty years. He is well known for sharing the joy found in dance, and has taught throughout the US, Canada and Europe, including at Berea, Pinewoods, Mendocino, John C. Campbell Folk School, and Augusta. He is now Executive and Artistic Director Emeritus of the Country Dance and Song Society, after serving as its Director for 28 years. Advanced English Country Dance; English Dance Callers Workshop; English Country Dance Open Mic
Earl Gaddis
Earl, a trained classical violinist, with a special passion for Baroque music, found that his orientation shifted when he discovered the excitement of small-ensemble music improvisation for dancers. He is now a full-time dance musician who has played violin and viola for a variety of English, Scottish, American, and international dancing for well over 40 years. Earl performs at dance camps, workshops, balls and other dance events throughout the United States and abroad, and he has made twenty-some recordings with various musical groups. When not on the road, he lives in great contentment on ten acres of woods in rural Michigan with his wife, Sherry Brodock.
Katy Tarter German
Katy is a native of Berea and long-time participant of CCDS. She has 15 years of experience teaching traditional English and American song and dance at family dance camps across the country, including at Berea, Pinewoods, Buffalo Gap, Lady of the Lake, and Cumberland Dance Week. She specializes in beginner-level dancers, child and youth dancers, and intergenerational (family) dances. Beginning English Country Dance
Svend and Anna Hamborg
Anna and Svend Hamborg, Denmark, have been dancing Danish, Scandinavian and international folk dances for 35 years. Most of the time they have been dance leaders for several groups in North West Jutland and Svend has specially studied traditional folkdances in the local area. They have organized Danish American Folk Dance exchanges several times. Svend was a guest teacher at Berea Christmas Country Dance School back in 1989 and both Anna and Svend were guest teachers in 2005. Danish Folk Dance One; Danish Folk Dance Two; Scandinavian Couple Dances
Wayne Hankin
Wayne , a leading artist of period woodwinds, has performed over 4000 concerts, playing every major city in the United States, Canada plus countless performances venues worldwide. Wayne has done 9 productions with Cirque du Soleil, music directed for top theatre companies (Schaubühne, Long Wharf, Alley, Center Stage, BAM, Odeon Paris), record for many major labels (ECM, RCA, BMG, SONY), television (CBS, ABC, NBC, HBO, BRAVO) and made his conducting debut at Houston Grand Opera. He has composed over 300 works for period instruments and received numerous awards and commissions for this work (ASCAP Awards, National Endowment of the Arts). His new film 7 SOLOS was recently awarded best short subject by the World Music and Independent Film Festival. Recent film and tv work includes SAFE and Breaking Bad on AMC. Recorder Two; Jaw Harp Recorder One
Dean Herington
Dean has been playing for contra, Scottish, English, international, and couples dancing since he relocated to North Carolina in the late 1970s. He co-founded the band FootLoose and played piano and clarinet with it for 20 years. He helps organize a family and community dance series in the Triangle area. Intermediate/Advanced Dance Band
Andrea Hoag
For more than 30 years, Andrea has devoted herself to traditional fiddling. Living in Berea in the early 1980s, she pursued Appalachian fiddling and played for her first contra dances. A growing passion for Swedish fiddling led her to study at Malungs Folkhögskola in Sweden, where she earned the certificate in Folk Violin Pedagogy in 1984. Andrea’s music has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and Performance Today and has garnered a Grammy nomination. Her most recent projects are the collaborative group Dovetail’s CD/DVD Old Doors/New Worlds, and a trip to the Faroe Islands with the band Serpentine. She is also involved in starting a folk school in the D.C. area. www.freydashands.org, www.andreahoag.com
Atossa Kramer
Atossa Kramer has been a long time musician and staff member of Christmas School, playing piano, clarinet, recorder and accordion. Now fully retired from Berea College, she has moved to Black Mountain, NC where she is enjoying the beauty of Western North Carolina as well as becoming involved in the music and folk dance communities in the area. English Country Dance Open Band
Lewis & Donna Lamb
Native Kentuckians, this remarkable father-daughter duo have been making, preserving, teaching, and sharing traditional Appalachian music for many years. With Lewis on fiddle and Donna on guitar your feet don’t stand a chance of remaining still! They began playing for the Berea College Country Dancers in the 1960s. They perform and teach old time square dance music and traditional songs at festivals and workshops throughout the region. Lewis is also known for his folk-art woodcarvings and he and Donna together have crafted numerous musical instruments. Lewis and Donna are 2007 winners of the Kentucky Folk Heritage Award.
David Macemon
David started dancing and attending Christmas school in 1974 where he was in an English Country dance class taught by Genny Shimer. He has been dancing and teaching ever since. David is known for his patient and clear teaching style. He communicates the joy of dancing through his teaching and enthusiasm for the dance. David currently calls for the weekly English dance in Portland, Oregon. He has also been a regular caller in Baltimore, San Jose and Austin. He has called English Country Dance, Morris and Sword at numerous dance weeks, weekends and he has been the “Dance Master” at many English Balls. Having grown up in Kentucky, David considers Christmas School as home and is looking forward to coming back this year. Intermediate English Country Dance
Robbin Marcus
Robbin resides in Atlanta, Georgia and is an ATI certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. She teaches classes and private lessons in both Alexander Technique and piano. Robbin serves as the Summer Kodaly program director and folk music analysis teacher at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Previously, Robbin spent twenty-five years as the lower school music specialist at St. Paul’s School in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a well-known traditional dance leader and an advocate for accurate performance styles in the music classroom. She was program director for CDSS Family Week at Pinewoods Camp 2005-2007 and has served on staff for numerous CDSS and Lloyd Shaw Foundation weeks. Robbin was initially drawn to the Alexander Technique to help her with back and neck pain from years of playing piano and teaching small children. She now specializes in helping musicians, dancers and others unlearn habits which make them uncomfortable at their daily activities. Building Community: Carrying on the Tradition; Contra for All; Alexander Technique for Dancers and Musicians
John Mayberry
John went to his first dance (International Folk, if his memory serves) at two weeks old, carried in a basket. His childhood was full of dance and music of every kind, from classical to folk, ballet to limbo. Early memories include many neighborhood performances of magic shows, puppet shows, science experiments, and dance demos. He got his first real set of carpentry tools at age five while living in Tokyo, and has combined his love of performance with his love of “making stuff” to make a career in Theatre Production. He is now a professor in the Theatre Department of York University, Toronto, with an interest in stage illusions. A trip to England in 1973 sparked a lifelong love of morris dancing and mumming, and he is now the Fool of the Toronto Morris Men, who proudly take their dances to far-flung places, including Newfoundland (1997), Cuba (2006), and Iceland (2012). Morris Dance; Mummers Play
Elise Melrood
Elise is a classically trained pianist whose specialty is a rhythmic, lyrical, dynamic style of piano playing. She is a well-known dance musician in the region, and currently plays contra, English, Vintage, and couples dances with the Berea Castoffs, Dreamdance, Intellectual Property, and many other musicians. She is also a member of the Reel World String Band. Since her retirement as an art teacher, Elise has focused on her passion for jazz piano. This year she received a grant from the Kentucky Arts Council to study jazz piano, and brings her love of improvisation to the ensemble setting. Elise looks forward to another great year at Christmas Country Dance School.
Emily Miller
Emily was born in Kansas and raised in Hong Kong, where her family band performed traditional American music on television shows and in shopping malls throughout the city. Her main musical role these days is as singer in a honky-tonk country band, The Sweetback Sisters, which tours regularly around the US and the world. When she’s off the road, she plays fiddle for her local square dance in her new home of Elkins, WV. Group Singing for All; Duet and Trio Singing –Country Style
Glen Morningstar
Glen teaches and leads traditional dance for adults, K-university schools, and intergenerational communities in the subjects of English country dancing, contra dancing, and historical dancing. He leads workshops for dance callers, dance writers, dance musicians and dance community organizers in the United States and abroad. He led the American Contra Dance series at Lovett Hall from 1981 to 2005. In addition to weekend dance camps and monthly dances, he’s thrilled to lead huge English Country Balls and Regency Period Cotillions for young adult and homeschool associations (like 200-500 dancers, wow). Advanced Contras; Shape Note Singing; Contra Calling Workshop *Congratulations to Glen and Judi Morningstar, recipients of the Country Dance & Song Society Lifetime Contribution Award for 2013!
Judi Morningstar
Judi has been playing hammered dulcimer and contra dance piano since 1979 and teaching these instruments to others since 1981. She co-directed the Ruffwater Stringband at Lovett Hall, Greenfield Village for 23 years, & has organized & led the Paint Creek Country Dance Orchestra for the annual Starry Night for a Ramble Dance for 20 years. She appears on numerous recordings with the groups: The Olde Michigan RUFFWATER STRINGBAND, Just Friends, Aunt Lu & the Oakland County All-Stars & most recently played piano for Midwest dulcimer player, Bob Hubbach on his recording, “Out the Buckhorn Way”. As a member of the quartet, Just Friends, she has performed at such festivals as the Philadelphia Folk Festival, PA; the Old Songs Festival, Altamont New York; The Great American Dulcimer Festival; Pine Mt. Kentucky; Great River Folk Festival, the Madison Folk Festival Wisconsin and numerous others throughout the Mid-West. Hammered Dulcimer; Beginning Dance Band
Jim Morrison
Jim has been a traditional dance enthusiast since his first Christmas Country Dance School in 1968. He is a collector of traditional community dance in the Southeastern US, New England, England and Ireland, and was a pioneer in the study of historic American social dance. Jim plays fiddle and guitar, performing with the Morrison Brothers Band, In Wildness… and the Albemarle Morris Men. English Village Dances
Owen Morrison
Owen is an accomplished rhythm and lead guitarist, at home in many styles of traditional music. His playing, laced with rhythmic power and skillful finesse, has made him popular among dancers and fiddlers alike. Owen has toured the U.S. and abroad with bands such as Elixir, Airdance, Night Watch and The Morrison Brothers Band. He frequently appears on staff at Pinewoods, Augusta, Ashokan and many other camps, and is thrilled to be returning to CCDS this year.
Naomi Morse
Naomi Morse grew up surrounded by music and dance in the folk communities of New England. She is known for her energetic and driving fiddle playing for both contra and English dancing in many bands, including Night Watch, Housetop and the mega-fiddle-band Childsplay. She has toured extensively with the world music ensemble Northern Harmony and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, where she sings professionally.
Dave Napier
Dave is an accomplished dancer and second generation caller who has attended CCDS many times. He is committed to the preservation of Kentucky mountain square dancing. Kentucky Running Set
Janet Northern
Janet, a basket maker from Rockcastle County, Kentucky, will proudly be joining the CCDS staff for her 13th year. Janet will be offering classes in both traditional and nontraditional styles of basketry with plenty of room for freedom of expression in your individual baskets. Basketry One, Basketry Two
Emily Oleson
Emily Oleson is co-Artistic Director of Good Foot Dance Company with her husband Matthew Olwell, a group that specializes in “trad dance theater.” Emily is a crossover artist interested in a wide variety of dance forms, and earned her M.F.A. in Dance at the University of Maryland College Park in 2012; her on-going thesis research is available at www.vaudevival.com. She is also an Artistic Director with Washington DC-based Urban Artistry, whose project in collaboration with Good Foot and Baakari Wilder, The Meaning of Buck Dance, recently received the Kennedy Center’s Local Choreographer’s Commission. Oleson’s performance highlights including appearing with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Chieftains, Lunasa, the Performatica Festival in Cholula, Mexico, Wheatland Music Festival, Tanglewood, the Newport Folk Festival with Seeger’s Clogging All-Stars, and Battle of the Crews: USA vs. France. She is excited to be joining the faculty at Davis & Elkins College, in Elkins, WV as an Assistant Professor of Dance, creating a brand new American Vernacular Dance Major. Rural/Urban Movement Remix
Frederick Park Frederick was born and raised in Appalachia, now residing in Celo, NC. A Berea College graduate, he was a Country Dancer and with Loyal Jones and Jim Gage, founded the Berea College Celebration of Traditional Music. Frederick is widely regarded as a dance teacher, historian and practitioner of American, English, French and Scandinavian couple and set dances. He was the first recipient of the May Gadd Scholarship to Pinewoods and while working as the Dance Director at the Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC founded their Winter Dance Week in 1980. In Asheville, NC with Jennifer Armstrong, he founded the Black Mountain Festival and the Old Farmers Ball, now one of the largest dance communities in America. He is also well known as a master storyteller and has been a guest teller several times at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. Appalachian Big Circle; Square Dances; Play Party/Singing Games
Deborah Payne
Deborah of Berea, KY plays the fiddle for folk dances, has accompanied a number of bluegrass and folk bands, and currently plays and sings with the band Sugar Tree, a trio of female musicians. Deborah has led children’s folk dance and currently teaches fiddle lessons to local students.
Jim Pfitzer
Storyteller, writer, playwright, and actor Jim Pfitzer would rather paddle a canoe than drive a car and prefers watching birds to watching television. Jim has performed and taught storytelling from coast to coast and is currently performing his one-man play, Aldo Leopold – A Standard of Change. This year marks the fourth year Jim has taught at CCDS. I Can Tell A Story! What Do I Do With This?
Jamie Platt
Jamie has been running sound for dances and concerts, mostly in the Washington, DC area, for many years. He is a regular at Glen Echo Park and specializes in all types of traditional music. He has also been running sound for a number of dance weekends and other events much further afield—from Gulfport, FL to Ann Arbor, MI. This will be his 4th adventure at CCDS. Jamie’s approach has been to make each instrument and voice sound as close to natural as possible, work hard to make the musicians happy, and let them carry the show. Sound Manager.
Gillian Stewart
Gillian Stewart has been doing rapper since the tender age of 9, when she managed to persuade a teacher at a dance camp that she was, in fact, strong enough to bend a sword. Since then, she has performed, taught, and judged rapper on both sides of the Atlantic whenever her schedule permits. After falling in love with the statelier graces of longsword in her teens, she joined Orion Longsword, with whom she currently dances. She also enjoys doing morris whenever possible, as well as any kind of stepdancing that she can get her feet on. Intro-mediate Rapper; Advanced Performance Rapper; Longsword for All
Patty 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 and enjoys leading groups in song. Will coordinate Morningsong and Stories, and Evening Parlor
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, Kentucky Summer Dance School, and other dance weeks.
Alice White
Alice, third generation participant and CCDS staff member, plays bass and sings with her husband, Al. She’s performed across the US and abroad, from the Grand Old Opry to the Kennedy Center, to a school gym north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, to another in Hobart, Tasmania. Locally, she and Al can be heard accompanying the Berea Festival Dancers, playing for contras with the Berea Cast-offs, or doing concerts with her sister, Ruth McLain Smith. Will coordinate evening staff music
Nathan Wilson
Nathan plays the double bass, fiddle, and tenor banjo to express his musicliciousness. He plays with Footbridge, Mostly Music, The Lamb Family Band, and Elise and Nathan. His greatest thrill, however, is making music with his daughters Adéla and Anna in their band called Dreamdance. Nathan brings his love for music to others through teaching strings in the public schools, and as music director at his church in Lexington. He is also, without a doubt, the world’s most under-appreciated random storyteller.