Ben Schreiber, a fiddler and tune writer rooted in the contra dance scene, brings a diverse musical palette influenced by his Midwest upbringing and years in the San Francisco Bay Area. Having started with the Suzuki method at an early age, Ben’s musical journey has been enriched through exploration of folk music. While best known for his contributions to contra dance bands like Uncle Farmer, the Dam Beavers, Offbeats, and Potent Brew, he also performs with the newly-established chamber-folk trio,
Read More
Gillian has been teaching and performing sword dancing on both sides of the Atlantic since 2004. Hailing from the vigorous folk scene surrounding Boston, MA, she also indulges in morris, pub singing, percussive stepdance, and social dancing of many stripes. Her teaching has been described as “engaging, high energy, and accessible”. She currently leads Orion Longsword and dances with Candyrapper VSOP and Muddy River Morris. In her copious free time she enjoys social singing,
Read More
Karen Axelrod left the world of classical music over 40 years ago, and has found her home in the folk world. She is highly regarded for her creative piano playing at English, American and Scottish dance events around the US (including Pinewoods Dance Camps, Ogontz, Buffalo Gap, Berea Christmas Country Dance Week, The John C. Campbell Folk School, and BACDS events) and abroad. Her improvisational playing is lyrical yet touched with humor and whimsy.
Read More
Melissa Running discovered she could take folk dance for PE credit in college in the early ’90s, and hasn’t looked back since. A few years later she started playing for dances and then calling English in the Philadelphia area. She now lives in the Maryland suburbs of DC, calls nationally, plays piano for English and Scottish country dancing, and plays the nyckelharpa for pleasure and for Swedish dancing (and a little Norwegian and sometimes English).
Read More
You know Audrey Jaber (Knuth) is performing if the room is buzzing at a higher level. Her fiddling, featured in bands including The Free Raisins, The Gaslight Tinkers, Audacious (with Larry Unger), and Wake Up Robin, has electrified dance and concert halls across the US and Europe. Hailing from Honolulu and now living in California, she cut her folk teeth in the Boston area, attending Berklee College of Music and spending years exploring the thriving New England folk scene.
Read More
Scott Higgs began dancing in college, and started teaching soon thereafter (when the knowledgeable dancers graduated !). For over 30 years he has traveled the world, calling contras and English country dances. From Seattle to Antwerp, dancers praise Scott’s engaging programs, dynamic presentation, and emphasis on fun.
At home, Scott is one of the co-founders and leaders of Renegade Morris, organizes an ECD series, and regularly appears at local contra and ECD events.
Read More
Dance, Music, & Song Camps