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Alex Cumming is a traditional singer, accordionist, pianist, and dance caller originally from Somerset, England, now based in Brattleboro, Vermont. With over a decade and a half of experience, Alex has performed extensively across the UK and the US, bringing traditional songs and tunes to life with his engaging stage presence and deep knowledge of folk traditions. Alex is also known for his work with award winning UK based a Capella band The Teacups, fiddler Audrey Jaber, celtic trio Bellwether and contra dance bands Crossover and Red Case Band. Alex is also Artistic Director for Revels North. www.AlexCummingMusic.com   /    www.AlexCummingAudreyJaber.com   /    www.RevelsNorth.org

Alice Kaufman is an Eastern Massachusetts native, now transplanted to the green hills of southern Vermont. She has been exposed to folk dance all her life and has over 22 years of experience as a ritual dancer. Alice has most recently danced with Marlboro Morris & Sword, Harbour Steel Rapper and Muddy River Morris, and was part of the creative team behind the stage show ‘Rootbound’ featuring Maple Morris, Morris Offspring, Ian Robb and more. In 2022 Alice was the Choreographer for the Revels North production ‘A New England Midwinter Revels’ at the Lebanon Opera House, NH.

Emily Janssen hails from the wild hills of Sebastopol, where she crafts with her kids and cats in a dome in the woods. She is happily reprising her role as Crafty Lady at Family Week after taking a few years off to pursue hospice work. Leaning in to natural materials and her years as a Waldorf mom, Emily has a relaxed approach to crafting that is welcoming to all ages, including grown ups!

Kalia Kliban (CA) has been part of the Bay Area dance community since the mid-80s, performing and teaching morris, longsword, American clog, English clog, contra, and English country dance. Among her other useful talents are the making of excellent pipe-cleaner sculptures and the juggling of a wide variety of supermarket produce. Her clear and humorous teaching style has gotten feet tapping at camps and gatherings in California and beyond, and she’s been part of the Family Week community since 1996.

Kelly Graham is thrilled to be returning to Family Week this year. After a long hiatus, which ended last year, she is so excited to see all her friends old and new! She teaches Morris Dance and Drama Improv. Be sure to bring your bells and hankies!!

“If you can walk you can dance, if you can talk you can sing.” Fifteen years ago, Noe Venable made this Zimbabwean proverb her motto.  Since then, she has helped more than three thousand Bay Area families to sing more, feel better with her award-winning music offerings centering nature, spirit, and authentic connection.  Noe directs two community choruses – Forest Voices Choir for children and Mothersong Chorus for women and nonbinary folks, as well as serving as children’s music director for the Revels. 

Raffi Maslan grew up in the Seattle Washington folk music and dance communities, folk dancing since he was nine, contra dancing since age 11, and performing with the Radost Folk Ensemble since he was 13. He gained an early love of juggling, magic, and other circus arts from being enthralled by street performers at festivals and fairs. He has performed as a magician’s apprentice traveling to ren faires, done puppeteering with giant puppets, and taught juggling workshops at the Bash on Vashon new years camp.

sTåń Fowler “Dance Ranger” is our camp safety officer and also supervises the ropes course. He’s a strong advocate of prevention, and a hitch in the US Coast Guard plus thirty years with the National Park Service has given him practice dealing with everything from bandaid-sized boo-boos to lifesaving emergencies. Having been on the staff of over 150 music, dance, and family weeks and weekends, and also attended somewhere north of 6,000 dances, he is not surprised anymore by anything that happens at camp. The ropes course fits in well with his history of tree, rock, and ice climbing over the years and running the rigging of the Pride of Baltimore II. Ropes and knots are his friends.

Ben Saylor got his start in traditional dance music in 2006 when he began playing bass with the band Jubilee for contra dances and camps in and around Anchorage, Alaska. This exposure to Irish traditional music inspired him to pick up the mandolin, tenor banjo, and Irish flute, his main instrument ever since. He performed with Irish group Crooked Road before moving to the Bay Area in 2014, where he has frequented sessions and played with the Golden Gate Ceili band.

Cindy Freid and her son Jamie discovered contra dancing in 2018 and immediately knew they found their home. They are thrilled to be part of the Family Camp community. Cindy has been an avid crafter all her life and especially enjoys a variety of textile crafts, including weaving, knitting, tatting and temari. Over the years, she has taught crafts with various scouting and other youth groups. She is excited to share her love of crafts at Family Camp.

Lorraine Kostka has been leading crafts with children for many years at summer camps and public schools.  Her four kids have grown up attending family camp each year and as teens they still enjoy camp.  Lorraine will share her experience and love of tie dye and other crafts to allow campers a place to create.

Shirleigh Brannon has been involved with different kinds of Irish and Scottish dance, music, and singing for many years/decades in various locations. Helping others feel like they can participate at whatever level they are is one of her ideas of  having fun.

Storysmith® Susan Marie Frontczak brings folklore, literature, and history to life; creates stories from thin air; and hones personal experience into tales worth telling again and again. She has performed in 43 of the United States and nine countries abroad. Susan Marie has been teaching storytelling skills since 1991 to both children and adults.  She has led storytelling workshops through CSU Continuing Education, Naropa University, Think360 Arts (formerly Young Audiences), and Colorado Humanities, as well as in her living room. Whether creating stories off the cuff, infusing folk traditions with fresh breath, or presenting a honed dramatic performance, Susan Marie lives up to her motto, “Give me a place to stand, and I will take you somewhere else.”