Jennifer Armstrong is a long time friend of music, story and dance. She grew up performing with her parents George and Gerry Armstrong in the Chicago area and sang on the first Golden Ring recording when she was 5 years old. She has twice been a featured teller at the Jonesborough Storytelling Festival and first taught at Pinewoods Camp when her daughters Georgia Rose and Suzannah Park were babies! She is delighted to still be traveling about with a song to sing,
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. In 2022 Alice was the Ritual Dance Choreographer for the Revels North production ‘A New England Midwinter Revels’ at the Lebanon Opera House,
One of Louisa Engle’s fondest childhood memories is dancing through a long tunnel of clasped hands during a contra dance at her elementary school. She grew up to be a fiddler and fiddle teacher who is passionate about bringing together musicians and dancers of different ages and abilities. She has taught at the Brattleboro Music Center, Maine Fiddle Camp, and Nelson Elementary School, has had numerous private students, and has called and played at family contra dances throughout New England.
Erica Morse grew up surrounded by the folk music and dance community and attended Family Week at Pinewoods throughout her childhood. She was an elementary school teacher for many years, and she currently she teaches preschool music. In addition to teaching she plays bass, cello, and sings. She enjoys working in her garden, hiking, swimming and skiing, and playing with her three-year-old. She lives in Vermont with her wife and daughter.
Roger the Jester started his professional life on the streets of Boston in 1976 after studying at Celebration Mime Theatre with Tony Montanaro for six months. Before that he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Photojournalism and Psychology from Syracuse University. Since then he has left a trail of laughter, smiles and memories scattered throughout 25 countries. He continues to hone and expand his skills as object manipulator, magician, musician and silent comedian to heal the world through laughter.
Sarah has been committed to artistic expression for many years. She has taught art and yoga, Create for the Sake of Joy, and bookmaking classes. Honoring nature has been her recent focus in her daily practice of journaling and sketching.
She was a doula and now offers private care for elders, honoring the end of life process.
Lily Kruskal Leahy grew up attending Family Week at Pinewoods, starting at age 4! The skills she learned there resulted in a lifelong love of music, dance, and community. She has been teaching longsword, morris dancing, and other traditional dances and songs to children for the last 20 years at CDSS Family Camps, and for various other organizations. She also had the privilege of being Program Director for Family Week at Ogontz for 3 years.
The Janine Smith experience is what you get when you cross a howdy-ma’am-BBQ-and-beans Honky Tonk with Zoom contra and sprinkle on some twinkly lights for sass. She’ll bring you a night of fun dances, from squares to contras, heck maybe a Singing Square, whether you’re sitting, standing, or somewhere in between. Her teaching is clear and to-the-point, though she has been known to goof around a bit. She’s one of the “Hot Square Babes”,
Naomi Morse grew up surrounded by music and dance in the folk communities of New England. She is known for her energetic and driving fiddle playing for both contra and English dancing in many bands, including The Poor Cousins, Night Watch, Housetop, and the mega-fiddle-band Childsplay, among others. She has toured extensively with the world music ensemble Northern Harmony and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and son.
Elvie Miller grew up immersed in the New England music and dance community and attended Family Week at Pinewoods many times as a camper. A recipient of the Watson Fellowship in 2005, she studied traditional dance music in northern Europe, and subsequently moved to music-rich County Clare, Ireland, where she now lives with her husband, fiddler Denis Liddy, and their eight-year old twin daughters. She enjoys teaching, playing music, and exploring children’s literature.
Dance, Music, & Song Camps