Teaching Staff Bios
Rachel Pusey
Rachel has danced since her teens, starting with barn dances, leveling up to English, taking to Scottish with the zeal of a convert, briefly digressing into salsa, and lately catching the contra bug. For her, dance is a magical combination of cerebral pattern-making and the chance to express music as movement. She has taught SCD since 2004 and started calling ECD in 2016. Introducing new dancers to the joy and community of dancing is what motivates her as a caller and organizer.
back to top
David Macemon
More years ago than he would like to admit, David was fortunate to be introduced to dance when he was invited to help start a high school based performing group that demonstrated English Country Dance, Contra, Morris and Sword dancing. He has been dancing and teaching ever since. He has called at many different weeklong and weekend camps including BACDS Hey Days and Mendocino, Pinewoods weeks, and CDSS weeks at Pinewoods. He is a regular caller for the weekly Portland (Oregon) Country Dance Community Friday English dance and the monthly advanced dance. David is known for his patient and clear teaching style and communicates the joy of dancing through his teaching and enthusiasm. David calls positionally.
back to top
Sharon Green
Back in 1988 Sharon found country dancing and found joy. Since then, Sharon has danced and called in England, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, and throughout the United States. She has organized dance weekends and weeks on both coasts and has served on the boards of both the Bay Area Country Dance Society and Country Dance New York. In addition, while living in New York she edited the introductions to three books of dances written by her mentor Fried de Metz Herman. Emulating Fried, Sharon has also choreographed some forty dances herself.
In 2024 Sharon had the great honor of being chosen to receive CDSS's Lifetime Contribution Award for her and her household's work promoting English country dancing. Sharon maintains that it has been her great joy to be part of CDSS, and now in her eighties she is both happy and honored to serve on the CDSS Board. She is especially delighted to be back at Fall Frolick, a weekend she first programmed in 2008.
back to top
Music/Sound Staff Bios
Alicia Cover
Alicia Cover is excited for their fourth year at Fall Frolick! Alicia is a dancer, fiddler, sound person, and community organizer. As a classically trained violinist with an ear for music theory, she loves balancing harmonies and timbres in a dance hall. Alicia has run sound systems for Fall Frolick, Mad Robin Ball, Circle Left contra dance, Improper English, and various BACDS contra and English dances in the East Bay. In her spare time she knits, explores bookstores in Oakland, and takes care of her many houseplants.
back to top
Audrey Jaber
You know Audrey Leigh Jaber (Knuth) is performing if the room is buzzing at a higher level. Her fiddling, featured in bands including The Free Raisins, The Gaslight Tinkers, Audacious (with Larry Unger), and Wake Up Robin, has electrified dance and concert halls across the US and Europe. Hailing from Honolulu and now living in California, she cut her folk teeth in the Boston area, attending Berklee College of Music and spending years exploring the thriving New England folk scene. Audrey’s fiddle playing is rhythmically lively and spontaneous; she's guaranteed to get you up and dancing. She specializes in English dance, New England, Celtic, and Old Time tunes (and did we mention she’s also an audio engineer?!). You might also have taken a workshop with Audrey, as she’s been on staff at various camps including various weeks at Pinewoods, Ashokan Northern Week, BACDS American week, New London Assembly and Halsway Manor. For more on Audrey, visit her at audreyleighjaber.com
back to top
Ben Schreiber
Ben Schreiber (MO), a fiddler and tune writer rooted in the contra dance scene, brings a diverse musical palette influenced by his Midwest upbringing and years in the San Francisco Bay Area. Having started with the Suzuki method at an early age, Ben’s musical journey has been enriched through exploration of folk music. While best known for his contributions to contra dance bands like Uncle Farmer, the Dam Beavers, Offbeats, and Potent Brew, he also performs with the newly-established chamber-folk trio, Long Story Short. Ben’s musical experience also extends into English country dancing, where he is a regular presence at local ECD dances in addition to playing for workshops at various camps and weekends. Beyond music, he enjoys cooking, running, coding, and digital art/design.
back to top
Betsy Branch
Betsy is a versatile musician who loves to explore multiple genres of music. She got her start at age 5 in classical music, and then in her 20’s fell in love with folk fiddle music. She has wandered her musical way through music from Ireland, Scotland, Appalachia, Quebec, Sweden, England, and New England, to mention a few. She plays regularly for contra and English Country Dances, and also for Irish ceilis and Scottish County Dancing. At times you can find her playing at a local Irish pub. She loves to collaborate with a wide variety of musicians from Portland and beyond.
Her main work is teaching fiddle, and helping both kids and adults to find joy in the instrument and music. For more information on her teaching, see Lessons.
Her musical adventures have also taken her down other interesting paths. From 2006-2022, she was the Associate Music Director for Portland Revels, and has had the opportunity to work with some amazing musicians along the way. Revels has also provided exciting opportunities for her to arrange choral music and overtures for brass quintet. Her musical arrangements can be heard on the Portland Revels CD Down Through the Winters, available on the Revels website.
In summers, she is able to teach around the country, including an annual teaching gig in the mountains of North Carolina at the John C. Campbell Folk School, and at multiple dance camps throughout the country.
Bill Tomczak
BIll Tomczak started playing the clarinet at 9 years old. For all the wrong reasons. Blah, blah, blah, music major, blah blah.... DANCING!!! Bill was an avid dancer throughout the 80s of any kind of folk social dance, International, Scottish, English, Morris, Contra, whatever was on offer in the Boston area at the time. Sometime in there he started playing for dancing. Initially for Boston area International Folk Dances and forming his own band that ended up specializing in Balkan music. After a stint with a local Greek folk band and filling in here and there with small outfits of The Klezmer Conservatory Band, he moved on to Contra and English, playing as a guest with many bands around the Northeast. The contra and English band BLT became heavily involved in the Vintage Dance scene and played for the Cincinnati Vintage Week for many years. Along the way, he's appeared as a member of Reckless Abandon, and a large version of Notorious.
Today he continues to play with the Latter Day Lizards around the US, but is more focused on the local scene around Portland, OR. He plays with Fine Companions (Erik Weberg, Betsy Branch, Lisa Scott) for English Country Dance and Campaign for Reel Time (Betsy Branch, Mark Douglass) for contras and English. He is also the arranger and leader of the horn section in the Portland Megaband run by Sue Songer.
back to top
Chip Prince
Chip Prince, originally from New Hampshire (via Utah and NYC), is a lifelong pianist who also dabbles in euphonium, melodica, and Barbershop. Now “retired,” he used to conduct and/or play keyboards for Broadway shows in New York and on the road. He first found folk and square dancing in 1975 as a freshman in college but didn’t discover ECD and Contra until 2000. While in NYC Chip was a member of the English band Hudson Crossing and contra bands Gig Economy and Three Wise Guys. He was on staff at CDSS English Week at Pinewoods in 2018 and Hey Days in 2019 and 2022. When at home in Southern California Chip loves to play random gigs and make up band names with Audrey Jaber. He also occasionally jams with Chris Peoples and his Prickly Pears Celtic jam group in Rancho Mirage CA; all of us there are looking forward to the eventual development of a Contra/ECD scene in the desert.
back to top
Christopher Jacoby
Christopher Jacoby (he/him) plays accordion, mandolin and guitar for Contras, English, and Scottish country dancing. He has performed in many bands and combinations over the years[1], but you might have seen him with: Audrey Jaber (and others), Wind Weavers, Ground Lift, Switching Protocols, Phoenix, and Last Exit. He can be heard on "Last Exit's Greatest Hits (by Last Exit)" [2], and the recently released "Remember Restaurants...?" by Audrey & Christopher. Christopher's non-dancing related hobbies include (but are not limited to): singing, sourdough and fermenting, Digital Audio & Audio Engineering, training computers to understand music, and workshop facilitation. He would be more than happy to talk to you about any of those things, should you end up at the same lunch table!
In addition to playing for Fall Frolick, Christopher Jacoby is our fabulous sound engineer.
[1] frequent conversation with his wife: "How many bands are you in?" "How do you define a band exactly? How many gigs do you need to play to be a band?"
[2] Only on CD! Contact Christopher for copies. You don't want to miss out, it's a great record.
back to top
Karen Axelrod
Karen Axelrod’s piano playing combines expressiveness, energy, lyricism and power. She is equally at home with styles ranging from traditional folk melodies to passionate tangos to old world French musette waltzes to English Country dance tunes and much more. Her playing is soulful yet touched with humor and whimsy. Her elegant and rich piano playing and her colorful, gorgeous accordion playing are enlivened by her off-beat humor. Karen plays with a number of bands, including Alchemy, Peregrine Road and 3rd String Trio.
back to top