We've put together a top-notch group of callers, instructors, and musicians that will keep you moving throughout the weekend.
Bill Olson is a talented caller, dance author, and musician. A longtime fan of old time music, Bill started contra dancing in 1977 and calling in the 1980s. Highly regarded for his clear calling style, Bill has called up and down the east coast, and is a regular at the Cambridge VFW and Glen Echo. Bill is also a talented dance choreographer; a number of his dances are considered modern classics. he also plays with the bands Ti' Acadie, Scrod Pudding, and Jimmyjo and the Jumbol'ayuhs.
Bill will be teaching American Contra and Cajun dances.
Brad Foster has been teaching and playing for country dancing for 35 years, starting with performances and gatherings in high school. He travels extensively, giving workshops and teaching throughout the U.S., Canada and overseas. Brad is a frequent staff member at CDSS programs at Pinewoods Camp, Ogontz and Buffalo Gap, plus the Berea Christmas Country Dance School and at the John C. Campbell Folk School. He has taught at Mendocino, Augusta, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Lady of the Lake, NEFFA, the Dance Flurry, St. Croix and many other venues in the U.S., as well as leading workshops in the Czech Republic, Belguim, Denmark and Canada. Brad is the Executive and Artistic Director of CDSS, a post he has held for over 20 years. He has produced or been involved in the production of a number of CDSS recordings with Chuck Ward, Marshall Barron, Grace Feldman and others. He co-founded the Mendocino Country Dance English and American dance weeks and was a founding director of the Bay Area Country Dance Society. Brad plays piano, accordion and concertina for country dances.
Brad will be teaching English Country dances.
Mary Devlin leads contras, English Country dance, triplets and squares. She's known for calling dances that emphasize great connections. She teaches workshops in dance calling, neurolinguistic programming (NLP) insights applied to dance leadership, Contra, English Country dance and couple dancing. Besides calling and dancing, Mary is President of the Country Dance and Song Society. She also served on the CDSS Board of Directors and the Executive Board from 1996 to 2001. Mary was recently program director for two CDSS English-American Weeks at Pinewoods, and was program director for two BACDS English Dance and Music Weeks at Mendocino. Mary has called dances, taught workshops and appeared at festivals throughout the United States.
Mary will be teaching American Contra and Square dances.
Ti' Acadie is a dance band and folk trio from Maine, part of the region including the Canadian maritime provinces known as Acadia (Ti' Acadie means "a little Acadia"). This versatile group is equally at home playing for concerts, contradances, or Cajun dances. Band members are Pam Weeks on fiddle, mountain dulcimer, guitar, singing; Jim Joseph on button acordion, 5-string banjo, mandolin, fiddle, jaw harp, percussion, feet, singing; Bill Olson on guitar, bass, singing, calling. They play a variety of music including traditional French Canadian and New England dance tunes; Cajun waltzes, two steps, Cajun blues and Zydeco tunes; old time southern tunes and songs often sung a capella in 3 part harmony; original tunes written by band "tunesmith", Pam Weeks, which range from sizzling reels and jigs to mezmerizing aires and sweet waltzes. In a contradance setting, they will get everyone moving to the beat with Quebecois reels and old timey southern "hoedowns", but the evening will often be punctuated by Pam singing a Cajun waltz, or by a contradance done to a set of old time Cajun reels started off with just fiddle and ti' fer (triangle); and when these guys REALLY get going, with fiddle howling, guitar pulsing, accordion pumping, feet tapping.... LOOK OUT!!!
Pam Weeks is a talented multi-instrumentalist as well as a tunesmith. This weekend she'll be playing Cajun, Old Time, and Quebecois fiddle and mountain dulcimer in an amazing flat-picking style all her own, but also plays piano, mandolin, guitar, viola, cello, Celtic harp, flute, and saxophone. Her solid, rhythmic fiddle and dulcimer playing, always trading off harmony and melody with Jim, is the backbone of the Ti' Acadie sound.
Jim Joseph normally plays three button accordions (a 3 row Castignari A,D,G; a single row Acadian Cajun accordion in C; and a single row Martin Cajun accordion in D). These, along with everything else he plays, make it hard to see him on the stage through all the instruments. But he is back there, having a blast with all his toys!
Bill Olson takes care of the "bottom end" normally on guitar, but occasionally on upright bass. His driving guitar "chunk" can be heard on most of the band's Cajun and French Canadian tunes, and on old timey tunes he uses the familiar "bass run" flat picking style. Bill is also the band's caller for contradances (while playing guitar - how does he DO THAT??), a number of his dances have been picked by callers worldwide.
For more information about Ti' Acadie, please visit their website.
No security clearances are required to enjoy Seattle's KGB. With fiddle, mandolin, guitar and piano, KGB creates subversive music, lulling the unwary with traditional New England contradance tunes, then jumping off into Balkan modalities, tango riffs and bluesy jigs. Claude slides from growling grooves to impossible high notes on the fiddle. Dave creates percussive energy and dazzling riffs on anything with strings. Julie explores the emotional range of the keyboard from majestic to down and dirty.
Claude Ginsburg's violin melts, swings, growls, soars. He infuses KGB's music with passion, rhythm, hitting notes high on the fingerboard with power and sweetness. Claude deftly inserts elements of Klezmer, Latin American, jazz fusion and French Romantic music into New England fiddle tunes, while years of contradance playing keeps his music connected to the dancers.
Dave Bartley strikes sparks with his wicked mandolin, driving guitar and lush cittern. He glides from melody to harmony to rhythm to counterpoint, throwing in rock riffs, cross-rhythms, classical motifs and Eastern tonalities.
From beater pianos to concert grands, Julie King fully exploits the percussive range of seven octaves. Her piano style is driving, richly chordal, providing KGB's music with emotional tension. Julie has been the rhythmic backbone in numerous bands for over 15 years. Waiting for Snow, one of her superb waltzes, is included in The Waltz Book II. The recently published Waltz Book III contains two more of her waltzes, Flathead Lake and Call It a Night.
For more information about KGB, please visit their website.
Chuck Ward has been on the country dance scene for more than forty years. He was keyboardist for the Berea College Country Dance Troupe in Kentucky and toured widely with this semiprofessional dance team. He has been on the staff of the Berea College Christmas School, John C. Campbell Folk School (North Carolina), Pinewoods Camp (Massachusetts), Mendocino International Folklore Camp (California), BACDS English Week (California), and numerous weekend camps throughout the United States including Alaska. He is co-founder of the Bay Area Country Dance Society and is heard on several recordings released through The Country Dance and Song Society.
Jon Berger has played music for morris, English country, and contra dances since 1976. A former musician for Berkeley Morris, he now plays for Apple Tree Morris in Sebastopol, and in Flashpoint, a Santa Rosa-based contra dance band. 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 (not to mention his sense of humor, and grand singing voice). He is a regular musician at Bay Area and North Bay English country dances. Jon is also a former member of Tempest, a Celtic rock band that plays for an entirely different style of dancing.
Carlo 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.
Carlo's song-leading has been delighting Spring Weekend attendees for over ten years.
Last Updated: Sun Jan 4 14:07:23 2009