The Bay Area Country Dance Society Website

BACDS Fall Ball
"Our 15th Year"

November 21, 2009

David Newitt, forced at Swarthmore College to choose between football and folk dancing, made the obvious choice and has been dancing, teaching and playing for English, Scottish, contra, morris and rapper ever since. He now teaches and plays concertina for regular English and Scottish dances in the Bay Area. He has taught at many events including BACDS weeks and weekends, Pinewoods, Lark Camp, Lady of the Lake, Heather & Rose weekends, and RSCDS workshops in Bellingham, WA and Honolulu, HI.

Katherine Carvajal discovered Scottish and English Country Dance in Pennsylvania's Delaware Valley while studying classical music there, and her two worlds collided when she began playing the flute for dance classes and parties.  Katherine has been playing in the Bay Area for the last eight years, and is perhaps best known as the Blowfish of the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a & Strathspey Society Band.

In the last few years, Bay Area and North Bay dancers, poets, and musicians have enthusiastically welcomed Erik Ievins' expressive voice on cello.  Classically trained since he was old enough to hold a bow, Erik joined professional symphony and pops orchestras while he was still in high school.  At the beginning of the millennium, Erik discovered fiddle music and quickly became a sought-after addition to jam sessions, English Country Dances and contra dances in Florida and California.  He also enjoys improvising for songwriters in the recording studio. When collaborating with poets, Erik gives musical expression to the emotions of the poem, adding layers of musical subtext with alchemical word magic. Erik is a versatile player, capable in any key and nimble enough to shine on the melody line.

Versatile dance pianist Rebecca King has been playing dance music in California since 1982.  She can be heard playing English and Contra Dance in the greater San Francisco Bay area and the North Bay, mainly with the bands Flashpoint and Luceo.  Her strong classical training and her love of jazz shows in her rhythmic and lyric piano accompaniments.  By day, she teaches music in the Sonoma Valley schools.  She can also be heard on Cowboy Dancing by Ray Bierl, and on BACDS' recent music CD Swinging On The Gate in which she was also executive producer.

Michelle Levy studied classical viola with Consuelo Sherba and David Rubenstein as well as Old Timey fiddle/banjo with Professor Jeff Titon at Brown University. After receiving the McKasson scholarship to Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School, she fell in love with the spontaneity of folk music and began a career focused on accompanying vocalists, improvising, and performing ancient music. For two years she toured with improvisational world music ensemble Cantiga, which was accepted to the Special Events roster of Cirque du Soleil. She is continuing her musical studies on medieval vielle with Shira Kammen while performing throughout the country with an eclectic variety of ensembles and vocalists, including Abby Green, Maia Archote, and Istanpitta Early Music Ensemble. Most recently she was awarded the Jude Biggs scholarship to study English country dancing & music at BACDS English Week in the Mendocino Woodlands. She especially loves to play for dancers and to teach!

Charlie Hancock plays piano and accordion for contra, swing, English and Scottish country dancing. He has played for BACDS dances, camps, and balls for more than 15 years, with occasional gigs further afield, including Pinewoods American English week and the Portland (OR) English ball. He is also a member of Bay Area folk ensemble Euphonia, and has recorded with Sylvia Herold, Holly Tannen, Shira Kammen, Cathie Whitesides, and Ray Bierl.

Anne Goess grew up in Palo Alto, California, where she studied violin with Jenny Rudin and played with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. After a transformative session at Lark Camp, Anne now enjoys playing in seisúns and for céilí and set dancing in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a member of the Wild Hog Céilí Band (with Bob Laughton, Daniel Schoenfeld and Kristine Robin) she performs at weddings, festivals, restaurants and pubs. She has also appeared with Melanie O’Reilly and Aisling, savoring their innovative mix of jazz and traditional Irish music, and with the Three Irish Tenors and now enjoys playing for Contra and English Country dances as a member of the Raggedy Annes (with the inimitable Charlie Hancock and Andy Eggleston).

Cathleen Myers is the Dance Director of The Great Dickens Christmas Fair, and Artistic Director of PEERS (the Period Events & Entertainment Re-Creation Society, which produces full-scale historical costume balls and dance classes almost every First Saturday). A dancer since childhood, she has researched and taught historical and vintage dance in the Bay Area since 1988. In her copious spare time, she also performs with the Alameda Vintage Dancers and with her own group, the PEERS Flying CirCUS, a historical music, dance and theater performing group, most notorious for their recurring Peerless Music Hall and Le Theatre des Vampires.