Dance, Music, & Song Camps
Rachel Bell is a performer, composer, and music teacher based in Brattleboro, VT. She is in demand throughout North America and abroad for concerts, contra dances, French bal folk dances, English country dances, workshops, and festivals.
Drawing inspiration from Celtic, French, English, Quebecois, and New England traditions, Rachel enjoys surprising audiences with an accordion style that is much different than the stereotypical oom-pah polka sound. Her playing spans an enormous range of emotion, from nuanced and sensitive to exhilarating and powerful.
Rachel thrives on ensemble work, evidenced by her flourishing bands Eloise & Co., Andromeda, Peregrine Road, Alchemy, and Constellation. She is a prolific tunesmith, with compositions traveling all over the globe and a book of sheet music that sold 800 copies in just the first few years. She collaborates with choreographer Susan Kevra, and they published Trip to Provence, their collection of English country dances and tunes, in early 2026.
Rachel plays a major role on 5 full-length albums and appears as a studio musician on numerous others. Her band Eloise & Co. released a new album called avec Elodie in October 2025, available on her website and on Bandcamp. Rachel was awarded a Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant and spent much of 2025 writing new bal folk (French dance) music for that project. Rachel’s work is infused with a contagious enthusiasm for her instrument and a deep respect for the musical traditions she carries.