Hey Days Staff 2022
Hey Days Staff
Hey Days Committee
- Jim Oakden, Program Director
- Rebecca King, Camp Manager
Hey Days Auxiliary Staff
Kalia Kliban (CA) has been part of the California Bay Area traditional dance scene since the mid-80s, performing and teaching in a wide range of styles. At dance camps and festivals across the country she has taught morris, longsword, English and American clogging, English country dance and contra, and she's a regular contra and English caller in the vibrant Bay Area dance community. Her welcoming and relaxed teaching style has helped dancers of all levels experience the joy of traditional dance.
Kalia will teach ECD.
Bridget Whitehead (Canada/OR) conveys warmth and enthusiasm in her dancing and calling, encouraging kindness, community and the love of dancing together. She first experienced the pleasure of social dance accompanying her parents to vintage balls as a young child. In 2005, after many years of ballet, and several of modern dance, swing, and tango, Bridget fell in love with English country dancing in Toronto, Ontario. Returning from a couple of years exposure to ECD in Montreal, Quebec, she founded a bi-weekly English country dance in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, which she led from 2009 to 2011. She has also called in Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario and in Columbia, Missouri. Bridget now lives in the Ashland, Oregon area where she is a regular caller and workshop deviser. With her husband Kyle, Bridget co-leads youth English country dance events. In addition to her dance background, Bridget has a degree in education and a knowledge of music theory, yoga, and Pilates.
Bridget will teach ECD and lead a stretching class.
Bruce Hamilton (CA) is a thoughtful and energetic teacher of English country dancing. He started dancing in college, and took up teaching in the early ‘70s. He founded the San Jose English dance and has taught English country dancing for over 30 years, all over the US and abroad. Lately he’s been focusing on non-choreographic elements of ECD: moving well, musicality in dancing, how to recover from mistakes, how to be a good partner, body mechanics, and the social and mental aspects. He doesn’t teach many new or complex dances (claims he can’t remember them!) but instead focuses on skills that apply across all dances. He carries this focus into his sought-after callers workshops, which he’s done for the last couple of decades. Learning to teach takes years, but even in a weekend or week-long mini-course he’s been able to point students in useful directions, and some have made great strides. Bruce served two terms as president of the Country Dance and Song Society.
Bruce will teach ECD.
Lynn Baumeister (MD) discovered dance at an early age, accompanying her father to the international folk dances on the University of Rochester campus when she was in middle school. After college she left the land of Eastern European dances and migrated towards the clogging, square dance, and contra dance universe. She performed with the Coal Country Cloggers while she was living in Pittsburgh and taught a wide variety of couple dances with Lisa Tamres (Swing, Lindy Hop, Waltz, Vintage Tango to name a few) both locally and nationally. Since moving to Maryland in 2000 she has expanded into a diverse set of dance activities: Scandinavian, Hungarian, English Country Dance, and English display dances. Lynn performs with Tisza Ensemble (Hungarian) and teaches Moldvai and Gyimesi dances with Szikra Banda. Lynn and Laura Robertson both perform with Just In Time (step dance), and Cutting Edge Sword in the Washington DC area. Her love of Balfolk comes from spending many summers at the grand-mère of Balfolk, Le Grand Bal de L’Europe. She has been leading Balfolk workshops in the DC area as well as further afield at NEFFA. When opportunity knocks, she likes teaching couple dances that let people to gradually expand their leading and following skills. Her Longsword class will cover a non-traditional choreography for six dancers from Cutting Edge Sword’s repertoire.
Lynn will teach Longsword, Couple Dance, and Balfolk.
Jeff Warner (NH) is among the nation’s foremost performer/interpreters of traditional music. His songs from the lumber camps, fishing villages and mountaintops of America connect 21st century audiences with the everyday lives–and artistry–of 19th century Americans. His songs, rich in local history and a sense of place, bring us the latest news from the distant past.
Jeff grew up listening to the songs and stories of his father Frank Warner and the traditional singers his parents met during their folksong collecting trips through rural America. He accompanied his parents on their later field trips and is the editor of his mother’s book, Traditional American Folk Songs: From the Anne and Frank Warner Collection. He is producer of the two-CD set, Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still, the Warners’ recordings of rural singers, many of them born in Victorian times. “The scion of one of the nation’s most eminent families of folksong collectors, he represents a tradition that is fundamentally unbroken since preindustrial times” (Stuart Frank, Senior Curator, New Bedford Whaling Museum).
Jeff has performed widely, from large festivals in the UK, to clubs, festivals and schools across America. He plays concertina, banjo, guitar and several “pocket” instruments, including bones and spoons. And “he inhabits a song in a way which few singers can do” (Royal Oak Folk Club, Lewes, UK).
He has toured nationally for the Smithsonian Institution, taught at Pinewoods, Ashokan and Swannanoa summer music programs and recorded for Flying Fish/Rounder, WildGoose and other labels. His 1995 recording Two Little Boys received a Parents’ Choice Award. Jeff is a past president of the Country Dance and Song Society, a founding officer of the Folk Alliance, and a producer of the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival.
Jeff will teach singing classes. You will find more information at www.jeffwarner.com
Persons of Quality features Jon Berger on fiddle, viola, and melodeon, Rebecca King on piano and woodwinds, and multi-instrumentalist Jim Oakden. Their first recording (before they decided on a band name) is Farnicle Huggy, an album for reconstructions of 18th century English country dances by the same name. Next of Kynaston is a compilation of tunes from earlier collections of dances. The Elephant Stairs album accompanies a dance book by the same name.
Jim Oakden (CA) is our program director. He started playing piano and clarinet at an early age and stumbled into early music from the classical music scene. After six years performing early music, he discovered the world of traditional and ethnic music. Having diverse tastes, he has played in many bands and performs on an absurd number of instruments, including accordion, mandolin, several styles of bagpipes, recorders, whistle and zurna (to name but a few). A dancer himself, he specializes in playing for dancers in a bunch of bands for ECD, contra, morris, Irish, Breton/French, Greek, and Bulgarian. He has been on staff at myriad dance camps throughout the country. In addition to the PoQ CDs, his recordings include 7 albums with Roguery.
Jim will play for ECD.
Jon Berger (CA) has played for morris, sword, English country, and contra dance in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1976. He is well known for his powerful music, and, while playing for morris, his ability to maintain a connection between the music, the dancers and the dance. His recordings include three albums with Persons of Quality. Jon is also a former member of Tempest, a Celtic rock band that plays for an entirely different style of dancing.
Jon will play for ECD.
Rebecca King's (CA) classical piano training took a detour when she began playing for folk dances. She found that English Country Dance music was the perfect combination of classical chamber music with the improvisation of jazz. She plays for dances throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and has played in England, Italy, and throughout the US. She has recorded 3 albums with the trio Persons of Quality, including Farnicle Huggy for Andrew Shaw, played on Dances from the Greenery for Sharon Green, and released a solo piano CD and book of her own compositions titled Nearer & Farther. Listen at rebeccakingmusic.com
Rebecca will play for ECD.
Shira Kammen (CA), a multi-instrumentalist (primarily violin, vielle, and viola) and vocalist, has spent most of her life exploring the worlds of early and traditional music. She is a favorite at dance camps and events around the country. A member for many years of the early music ensembles Alcatraz, Project Ars Nova, and Medieval Strings, she has also worked with Sequentia, Hesperion XX, the Folger and Newberry Consorts, Anonymous 4, the Boston Camerata, the Balkan group Kitka, and the Oregon, California and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals. Shira is the founder of Class V Music, an ensemble dedicated to performance on river rafting trips. She has performed and taught in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel, Morocco, and Japan, and on the Colorado, Rogue and Klamath Rivers. Shira happily collaborated with singer/storyteller John Fleagle for fifteen years, and performs now with many ensembles, among them the English Country Dance band Roguery. Shira has recorded many albums in a variety of styles of music and has played on several television and movie soundtracks, including 'O', a modern high school setting of Othello and ‘’The Nativity Story’. Some of her original music can be heard in an independent film about fans of the work of JRR Tolkien. The strangest place Shira has played is in the elephant pit of the Jerusalem Zoo. You will find more information at shirakammen.com.
Shira will play for ECD.
Chip Prince (CA), originally from New Hampshire (via Utah and New York), is a lifelong pianist who also dabbles in choral singing, euphonium playing, and background acting. His main gig, from which he recently retired, was conducting and/or playing keyboards for Broadway shows in New York City and on the road. He first found folk dancing in 1975 as a freshman in college but didn’t pursue English and Contra dance music until 2000. While in NYC, he was a member of the English band Hudson Crossing and contra dance bands Gig Economy and Three Wise Guys. Currently Chip jams with Chris Peoples and his Prickly Pears Celtic jam group in Rancho Mirage CA, and is looking forward to the development of a Contra/ECD scene in the desert. He was on staff at CDSS English Week at Pinewoods In 2018, and Hey Days in 2019.
Chip will play for ECD.
Audrey Knuth (CA) hails from Honolulu. She moved to Boston in 2008 to attend Berklee College of Music and to explore the thriving New England folk scene. After graduating, Audrey has made a name for herself in the music community, as a dance fiddler specializing in English dance, New England, Celtic, and Old Time tunes, and as an audio engineer. With her bands, The Free Raisins, The Gaslight Tinkers, Audacious (with Larry Unger) and Wake Up Robin, she has travelled across the US and Europe, playing for dances and concerts. She’s equally adept at teaching workshops, and has been on taff at various camps including CDSS English week at Pinewoods, Ashokan Northern Week, BACDS American week, and Halsway Manor. Audrey’s fiddle playing is rhythmically lively and spontaneous; she's guaranteed to get you up and dancing. You will find more information at audreyknuth.com
Audrey will play for ECD.
Charlie Hancock (CA), pianist and accordionist, is equally adept playing for English country, Scottish country, contras, and display dancing. Performed with brilliance, drive and clarity, his music is infused with jazz, swing, and Irish influences. In addition to playing for dancers, he currently plays in Bay Area ensembles Erica & Friends (British isles songs & tunes), Bistro Moustache (French cafe music) and The Bogues (a Pogues tribute band). He has recorded with Sylvia Herold, Holly Tannen, and Cathie Whitesides.
Charlie will play for ECD and longsword.
Miranda Arana (OK) originally from western New York, is a professional flutist who teaches World Music at the University of Oklahoma. After receiving classical training at Eastman School of Music during her high school years, she spent her 20s living in Southeast Asia, where she discovered her passion for improvisation and world music collaboration. She has performed locally, nationally and internationally with Irish, Middle Eastern, Latin American, Tibetan, Vietnamese, English Country, and contra dance music ensembles, including The Phong Nguyen Ensemble, Dadon, Ladies at Play, Banish Misfortune, Arabesque, Alma Latina, Nur, and most recently with her duo Nuclear Okra. Her performance venues have included Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian, Symphony Space, and internationally in Spain, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Some of her most exhilarating experiences have been playing English, contra, and international folk music at various dance weekends throughout the country. Her captivating playing is featured in two albums with her trio Ladies at Play (“Once Upon A Waltz” and “Swimming Down the Stars”) and on two albums with her duo Arabesque (“Glen Road to Cordoba” and “A Turk in Galway”). She loves to teach, dance, play music, write tunes, learn languages, and spread joy as much as possible.
Miranda will play for ECD.
Alan Roberts (WA) will return as our fabulous sound engineer. A regular sound engineer at dance events in the Northwest and at CDSS weeks at Pinewoods, he is also a fiddle player and dancer. Aware of the nuances that make us happy, he is able to provide a great experience for callers, band members, and dancers.
Hey Days Committee
Jim Oakden, Program Director, started dancing at Ren Faire, International Folk Dances, and Octoberfests in the late 70s. He began programming the Santa Cruz contra dances in the mid 80s, and has continued off and on to the present. For BACDS he has programmed dance weekends, and in 2003 was founding artistic director for the resurrected American Week, which ran from 2004 to 2018. This is his second stint programming English Week. In his other life Jim is a researcher in marine biology, but now spends most of his time running several non-profits, focusing on disturbance ecology and coastal habitat restoration. He also plays music.
Rebecca King joined the Hey Days Committee as Camp Manager, just in time for our pivot to an online camp. Her former job as a classroom music teacher and band director with the Sonoma Valley Schools gave her a lot of experience in large groups, patience, and working towards goals, which she hopes to put to good use at Hey Days in June. Besides playing the piano, Rebecca enjoys hiking and the great outdoors.
Allen Dodson became involved with English Week/Hey Days when he and Alisa lived in Berkeley (1993-1999) and has been a constant on the committee from 2009 to the present. He’s "the budget guy”, has shared bookstore/auction responsibilities with Alisa and others, and always enjoys working on the “wine by the glass” extravaganza that is part of the live auction. And when there’s time, he loves to sing, play melodeon, dance, and cook paella.
Alisa Dodson is an ECD dancer, organizer, caller and choreographer, and has been a member of BACDS since the early 1980s. She has been on Ball committees and has served as a series dance manager. Alisa has been on the Mendocino/Gualala/Hey Days committee for many years, taking the position of programmer, bookstore honcho with Allen Dodson, and has recently stepped down as camp manager. She will happily return to the bookstore in 2022, working with Loretta Guarino-Reid.
Cat Fox found English Country Dance in 2016 and hasn’t stopped dancing since. She has been Hey Days Registrar since 2017.
Brooke Friendly joined the committee in 2007 as program director and has remained involved ever since, in charge of the website and other marketing. She was also program director again 2017-19, including the transition from Bishop's Ranch to SSU. She has taught dance using global/positional language and strategies since 1981 and as a result of the pandemic now teaches a variety of online workshops for callers. Happily retired from arts education and managment, her other loves are theatre improv, gardening, hiking, birding, and singing, dancing, and playing 'instruments' with her grandchild.
Loretta Guarino-Reid is a long time co-manager of the Peninsula English Country Dance in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been on the Hey Days committee in various roles since 2009, serving as manager, treasurer, and most recently, running the bookstore.
Rosemary Murphree has been on the English Dance Week committee almost continuously since 1998, serving as manager, work trade coordinator, and, currently, as housing maven.
New to the Hey Days Committee, Rachel Pusey has enjoyed ECD since her student days, and now divides her affections evenly between Scottish and English.
Bridget Whitehead served on the Hey Days 2019 committee with a focus on youth recruitment, and is delighted to return this year as programmer-in-training. She looks forward to learning a lot and contributing in this new leadership role to the ECD community that gives her so much.
Hey Days Auxiliary Staff
Lisa Tamres (PA) began dancing Squares and Contra dance with friends in high school. Lisa has taught locally and nationally: partner dancing with Lynn Baumeister since the 1980s, various traditional dances of America for the last thirty years, and Balfolk for the last sixteen. She performed with the Coal Country Cloggers, and directed and performed with the Steel Town Stompers Lindy Hop Troupe for six years. After many summers attending Balfolk events in Europe including Gennetines, CaDansa, Les Nuits Basaltiques, and Ététrad, Lisa started teaching Balfolk at both local Pittsburgh dances and at regional events such as NEFFA, Gonzo Balfolk, BalDC, and Pittsburgh Balfolk Blast.
Laura Robertson (MD) discovered the joy of contra dancing in middle school, and by high school graduation had run the local community folk festival for two years. In college, she added competitive ballroom, in grad school, morris, and post-doc added Appalachian clogging. For the next forty years she continued enjoying all these dances and has added, in no particular order, rapper, longsword, English, Canadian, and Irish step dance, and various couple and performance/ritual dances and English country dance. She has danced with, and been foreman on many morris and rapper sides, toured internationally with Footworks and Pedantics Stepdancers, and appeared in the London version of "Riverdance." She has taught morris, sword, and step dance workshops throughout the Northeast, as well as in Canada and Europe. Currently she dances with Just in Time step dancers and Cutting Edge Sword with Lynn Baumeister, and on two local morris teams in the DC/Maryland area.
Sande Gillette (WA) has both feet firmly in the two worlds of dance and classical music, combining technical skill and raw talent with an all-consuming passion for fiddling. As a dance musician she plays inventive English country dance and contra fiddle with Tricky Brits and Bag o' Tricks. As a classical musician she played violin in the Seattle Symphony. Her dual lives provide lucky dancers with superb fiddling music. Sande embodies her band's split personality-one moment her instrument sings through an intricate melody in perfect intonation, while a minute later she's sawing through an old-timey classic.
Gumby Falk (MA) will be an assistant sound engineer. Gumby has been helping Alan run sound for dance weekends since 2013. Her main priority is making sure the band and caller can be heard fully and completely throughout the hall without being too loud. She is an avid English and Contra dancer.
Chris Sackett (OR) will be an assistant sound engineer. He has danced for decades, co-founding the Ashland Country Dancers in 1978. Along with Brooke Friendly, he published six volumes of country dances (the Impropriety collections) and has coproduced and supervised post-production for seven CDs with the band Roguery. A retired professor of Theatre Arts at Southern Oregon University, Chris taught lighting and sound design and sound engineering.