Earl Gaddis was originally trained as a classical violinist, with a special passion for Baroque music. But his orientation shifted when he discovered the excitement of small-ensemble music improvisation for dancing, with its unique opportunities for creating harmonies, countermelodies, and lush textures of sound on the spur of the moment – and for offering the dancers a heightened experience of the sensuous and emotional nature of this rich musical tradition.
Earl is now a full-time dance musician and has been playing violin and viola for various combinations of English,
Read More
Amanda Witman is a Vermont singer and song leader with an exuberant love of harmony. She facilitates welcoming, community-based music gatherings where players and singers at all levels are encouraged and supported. Amanda leads the Brattleboro Pub Sing and Brattleboro Ballad Sing, organizes the annual RiverJam Romp music weekend, teaches at the Brattleboro Music Center, performs with Vermont-based a cappella quartet Big Woods Voices, and cheerfully heckles the local Morris teams.
Read More
After decades as a classical violinist, Ben Jackson has recently discovered the joy of making dancers’ feet fly across the floor. Since first encountering the country dance world four years ago, he has appeared at English and contra dances across the country with musicians including Dave Bartley, Rodney Miller, Alex Sturbaum, Audrey Jaber, and more. He studied violin at the University of Michigan with Andrew Jennings, and continues to perform with various orchestras and chamber groups in the Bay Area.
Read More
Laura Robertson is a retired physician who has been an avid step dancer and clogger for more than 40 years. She specializes in Appalachian and English clogging as well as rapper and Morris. As a former member of Footworks, she danced internationally, including a stint in the original London production of Riverdance. With Compass Roses Morris and Cutting Edge Sword she has danced Morris, sword and clog at Sidmouth Folk Festival in England, and taught clog at many camps and workshops in England and the US.
Read More
Carrie Rose, a flutist and composer in the Washington, DC area, freelances with regional orchestras, grooves for folk dances, unfurls a luscious array of chamber music, and wails out avant-garde chamber music. At folk dances (English Country, Scottish Country, Contra, Waltz) Rose can be spotted as a dancer and as a musician who fuses long melodic lines, edgy crunchy effects, and innovative countermelodies, exploring grace and boisterous energy. On YouTube she posts flute and video concerts in nature with performances in streams,
Read More
Jan Elliott has been dancing and playing music for most of her life, starting with recorder lessons at age 3. Her love of English country dance, morris and sword flourished when she first attended Pinewoods as a teen, and since then she has taught morris, longsword and rapper many times at Camp. She currently dances longsword with the Vineyard Swordfish and morris with Thames Valley International, coaches the children’s rapper team Nobska Lights, and plays concertina for the Pinewoods Morris Men and Orion Longsword.
Read More
Anna delights in the nexus of melody, movement, and community. As a dance leader, she channels the discipline of her day job as a certified Iyengar Yoga instructor, striving to teach efficiently and effectively, while calling every body to move with confidence and ease. She is increasingly interested in how the skills one develops on the dance floor can translate into life wisdom. Anna also plays the recorder with ECD bands Hot Toddy,
Read More
Bruce Hamilton is a well-respected teacher of English and Scottish dancing with 50 years’ experience across 5 countries. He has launched classes, trained teachers, programmed camps, coached performing groups and adjudicated festivals.
A retired research scientist, Bruce is always looking for new ways to understand and present ideas. He tries to weave many threads besides technique and choreography into his lessons. Music, sociability and physiology are his current favorites. People often say they come away with things to think about and ways to grow.
Read More
Joanna Reiner Wilkinson has taught English dance for over two decades. In addition to being one of the leaders of the Philadelphia-based Germantown Country Dancers, her calling has taken her from Amherst to Ann Arbor, from NEFFA to Hey Days, from St. Croix to Vancouver, and other points abroad, including many sessions for the Country Dance & Song Society (CDSS) and CDS Boston Centre at Pinewoods Camp. While known for her clear calling and instruction,
Read More
Kathy Talvitie is a musician, tune writer, and dancer. Based in the Philadelphia area, she plays piano for English country, Contra, and Scottish dancing, and guitar with the Contra Dance band Raise the Roof. Her sensitive and creative interpretation of tunes combines moments that range from spacious lyricism to powerful rhythmic drive. Being a dance musician brings her endless surprises and joy.
Read More
Dance, Music, & Song Camps
