Our Staff |
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You're sure going to have fun at Spring Weekend! Our fantastic staff will have your musical pulse racing and your feet flying from elegant to ecstatic.
An excerpt from the Guppies on the BACDS CD Swinging on the Gate -- "Boyne Water" Callers
BandsSong LeaderOther Camp Staff
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Larry Edelman"Larry's motto might well be 'Never a dull dance' for his calling
is characterized by color, humor, and impeccable timing." Larry Edelman has traveled widely -- from Florida to Alaska, and in Europe -- delighting both novice and veteran dancers with his humor, enthusiasm, skillful teaching, knowledge of dance history, and colorful calling. Larry's rich repertoire includes traditional western, mid-western, southern, and New England square dances, as well as contras, circles and unusual formations. His week-long Caller's Workshop is highly acclaimed. Larry is also an avid dance researcher and has intensively studied the traditional dances of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He was awarded a Fellowship in Folk Arts from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in 1987 to study with elder caller Jerry Goodwin, and he produced the videotape Dance to the Music and Listen to the Calls that documented the apprenticeship. Larry is currently studying portrayals of square dancing and country dancing in film and television. Scott HiggsScott Higgs began dancing in 1975, and started teaching soon thereafter (when the knowledgeable dancers graduated !). For almost 20 years he has traveled up and down the East Coast calling for contras and English country dances. Dancers characterize Scott's contras as "high-energy" and "swingy." His English dance programs span the spectrum from exuberant to elegant. In the early 1980's, Scott joined forces with local International dancers to found a special series of Couple Dance Playshops, featuring minimal teaching and lots of dancing. Most recently, Scott has composed dozens of dances, coached a performing group, and introduced Zwiefachers to large numbers of (culturally deprived) country dancers. His first booklet of dance compositions, Early One Morning, appeared in 1995, and went into a second printing in 1997. In recent years, he has led weeklong workshops at Pinewoods, Buffalo Gap, Mendocino, Lady of the Lake, and Mainewoods Camps. David NewittDavid Newitt arrived at Swarthmore College in the fall of 1976 and
was shocked to discover that this pillar of higher education had a two
year physical education requirement. Faced with the alternatives of
being smashed to pieces on the football field and going to "folk
and square Starting with international folk dancing, he was soon dragged into
the local Scottish Country Dance group, the college morris and rapper
sword team, and, when it started in 1978, the Kingsessing Morris team
of Philadelphia. After a couple years in Colorado working for HP and
teaching folk dancing, he came to Berkeley in 1982 to work on a Ph.D.
in physics and to do country and display dancing. Since the dissolution
of the One Shot Morris Team due to MIBS (Morris Induced Baby Syndrome)
he has concentrated on country dancing in the Bay Area, teaching and
playing music for regular Scottish and English dances, and calling contras
and the When not dancing, David takes pictures of people's insides, doing research
in Magnetic Resonance Imaging at UCSF, specializing in body parts that
start with "B." David's priorities
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The Nettles
“Portland dancers were wildly enthusiastic over the Nettles at
their Portland debut. Dancers were coming up at the end of the evening
raving and asking when they'd be playing again. Much hooting and hollering
was heard throughout the evening....vigorous, passionate playing among
folks who very clearly are having fun. ” Right-click to download "The Fermoy Lasses Medley" for mp3 (4.6 MB - recommended for high-speed cable modem, DSL, T1 connections only). Hear "The Fermoy Lasses Medley" for RealMedia. This streaming file is OK for slower connections. If you don't have RealPlayer, click here to download free RealPlayer8. For more information about individual Nettles, their schedule and recordings, please visit their Web site at : http://www.thenettles.com. The Guppies ("Geographically Unsuited Players")
Despite the challenges of distance, we've kept at it, jumping effortlessly and shamelessly between English country, contradance, southern tunes and Celtic music of various flavors, as well as mining rich veins of dance music throughout Europe. We've played countless weddings, have been staffers at Mendocino English Week and BACDS' Fall Weekend, and are a regular fixture in the schedules of community dance in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas. The Guppies ("Geographically Unsuited Players") are: Jim Oakden (recorder, clarinet, whistle, mandolin, banjo, bombarde, hurdy-gurdy, accordion and more), Kathrine Gardner (fiddle, octave fiddle and accordion), Craig Johnson (piano and accordion), and Flipper. Click the play arrow on the controller below to hear an excerpt from
the Guppies' cut on the 2001 BACDS CD "Boyne Water"
(QuickTime Progressive Download- 112K): |
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Carlo CalabiCarlo Calabi has been playing guitar and singing old time country,
folk, cajun, bluegrass, cowboy, and English drinking songs and sea chanties
since he was a coyote pup in 1963. He works part-time as a vineyard
and winery mechanic, is still trying to finish his castle, and is a
member of The Cajun Coyotes. |
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The Nettles
ignite audiences with fiery music that blends traditional Irish and
American music with the spices of rock, jazz, and blues. Laura Brophy's
powerful fiddling melds with Colleen Dick's uillean pipes and Irish
whistle to form strong yet lyrical melodies punctuated by wild improvisation.
The Nettles are propelled by the mighty rhythm engine of Kevin Johnsrude
on guitar and bass and Chris Olds on drums and percussion. 
We've
been playing together since 1981, and we hope it shows. Our band name
dates us: it was originally a joke on the then-brand new coinage yuppie.
Geographically unsuited? Well, back then, with Jim living in Santa Cruz,
Kathrine in Davis, and Craig living midway in San Francisco (midway
but not as the crow flies: an hour or so worth of nasty traffic to get
there), we were talking a total of six hours driving to rehearse.
The
Small Wonder String Band: Greg and Jere Canote, with Maxine Gerber and
Brendan Doyle taking turns on banjo.