2017 Callers / Bands / Teachers
More information coming soon! We're still putting together this year's schedule, but hope to include a mixture of new and familiar faces. We'll continue to update this page as we confirm the talented artists that help to make this weekend possible.
We'd also like to extend a special thanks to the people who helped us pull off a wonderful weekend in 2017.
We'd also like to extend a special thanks to the people who helped us pull off a wonderful weekend in 2017.
Phil Jamison
Caller and Workshop Leader
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We are thrilled to have Phil Jamison back for another year at Dare To Be Square, this time for the entire weekend! Phil (along with Nancy Mamlin) envisioned and crafted the original Dare To Be Square event held in Asheville in 2003. He spent many years researching the origins of southern Appalachian Dance and he literally "wrote the book" on this. Check it out at http://www.philjamison.com/hoedowns-reels-and-frolics/!
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Hannah Johnson
Caller and Workshop Leader
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Hannah hails from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She got interested in old time music as a teenager attending fiddlers' conventions in the region, and promptly took up the fiddle, banjo, and guitar, learning from local old timers and musicians near and far. Her passion for music and long time love of dancing led Hannah to start calling square dances. She attributes much of her calling style and repertoire of figures to a friendship and apprenticeship with Ellen and Eugene Ratcliffe, from Monterey, VA, who grew up dancing and calling in the region and are still the driving force behind the local dance scene. Though she still lives in her same old home town and remains dedicated to her local traditions, Hannah has traveled the world playing in old time bands, swapping tunes, dances, and songs along the way.
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Janine Smith
Workshop Leader (Open Mic Calling Practice)
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Janine Smith calls square, contra, ceilidh, and family dances in the Washington, DC area. She shares her humorous (OK, sometimes goofy) style and infectious love of music and dance with dancers from Glen Echo, MD to Seattle, WA, and specializes in singing squares. She is one of the Hot Square Babes, a quintet of female square dance callers who throw an occasional square dance party in College Park, MD. She is a founding member of the DC Square Dance Collective.
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Amy Alvey
Musician and Workshop Leader (Fiddle, Harmony Singing)
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Originally from Orange County, CA, Amy graduated from Berklee College of Music with a performance degree in 2011. She freelanced locally in Boston's music scene while making pilgrimages to Clifftop and Mt. Airy. She performs nationally with the duo Hoot & Holler. She is now based in Asheville, NC.
https://www.hootandhollermusic.com/ |
Mark Kilianski
Musician and Workshop Leader (Guitar, Harmony Singing)
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Mark is a versatile guitar player, singer and composer from New Jersey now residing in Asheville, NC. He tours regularly with Bluegrass and Old-Time acts Hoot and Holler, The Moonlight Ramblers, and as a solo artist. He plays blues-rock, jazz, and country music with The Country Shuffle. He writes songs about real life and imagination, and composes music for horns, strings, and anything else. https://www.hootandhollermusic.com/
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Brad Kolodner
Musician and Workshop Leader (Clawhammer Banjo)
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Baltimore-based clawhammer banjoist Brad Kolodner represents the next generation of Old-Time musicians pushing the boundaries of the tradition into uncharted territory. Regarded for his delicate touch, expressive style, and original compositions, Kolodner has rapidly gained national attention for his unique approach to the banjo at just 28 years of age. Awarded the 2016 IBMA Momentum Award for Industry Involvement, Kolodner is helping to lead the charge as a performer, teacher, DJ for WAMU’s Bluegrass Country, jam leader, community builder and ambassador for Old-Time music. He regularly performs across the country in a duo with his father Ken Kolodner, a world renowned hammered dulcimer player and with the acoustic roots quartet Charm City Junction.
http://www.bradkolodner.com/ |
Jack Dwyer
Musician and Workshop Leader (Mandolin)
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Jack Dwyer is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, and teacher based in the Pacific Northwest. He records and performs original music under his own name and works as a freelance picker with some of the most respected Northwest and nationally-based musicians. He tours year round, teaches privately, and operates a recording studio in Port Townsend, WA. Formerly a resident of Portland, OR, he taught on the music faculty at Lewis and Clark College for 7 years.
http://jackdwyer.com/wp/ |
Jess Eliot Myhre
Musician
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A native Floridian, Jess Eliot grew up singing in church and swinging from banyan trees. After performing in hip hop and funk bands at Wesleyan University, she moved to New Orleans and became mesmerized by the big, uproarious glory of the old sounds of the street bands and second lines. She dusted off her lonely old clarinet, built herself her iconic frog washboard, and turned a 180 towards the traditional. She now performs all over east of the Mississippi, playing her original songs and traditional American Roots music in performance halls, swing dances, contradances and square dances, house concerts, and busking in your city's streets. She's a two-time winner of the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest in the jazz and vocal categories.
https://www.bumperjacksons.com/ |
Chris Ousley
Musician
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A Maryland boy, Chris tramped off to the hills of western Pennsylvania to study the 3 B’s: books, beer and banjos. There he woodshedded with old hill cats in barns outside of abandoned steel and coal towns playing any instrument he could take a turn on. Hitting mountain trails, biking over rough terrain, rafting down rivers, all with a bottle of whiskey and a banjo on his back. Chris’s deep jazz pocket and graceful Kentucky-style banjo is only outmatched by the snarlyness of his beard. He was the one bold enough to believe that he and Jess could make music for a living and is solely responsible for all of the shenanigans that embody the Bumper Jacksons.
https://www.bumperjacksons.com/ |
Kim Forry and Jan Scopel
Workshop Leaders - Flatfooting / Clogging
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If you've ever thought about learning to flatfoot or clog, look no further than these two extremely talented, long-time dancing teachers. They promise that there is something for everyone, from basic steps to advanced percussion. Being the "inactive couple" in a square dance takes on a liberating slant when you know how to bust loose with some cool steppin'. Those spare moments in the elevator will have the maintenance staff going crazy!
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Steve Hickman
Musician
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With his fine fiddling and stage presence, Steve Hickman has electrified audiences for close to 30 years. Besides playing for Childsplay and for numerous bands in the Washington, D.C. area, Steve has toured the world as a featured fiddler for the Fiddle Puppets and Evening Star. One of the world's leading authorities on the arcane art of hambone, Steve is renowned for his hambone antics (not to mention his handlebar mustache). Steve occasionally lives in King George, Virginia, but spends much of his time traveling to play at dance workshops, festivals, and camps throughout the United States and the world.
http://www.childsplay.org |
Alex Lacquement
Musician
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Rooted in the sounds of American-born music Baltimore based bassist, Alex Lacquement has crafted a unique style that is dazzling, lyrical, and transcends musical genres. Whether on stage playing jazz, old-time, bluegrass, or playing with singer song-writers his tone is unmistakable and joy for performing is obvious and infectious. In addition to being an energetic, assertive, and groovy ensemble player and imaginative soloist, he is a skilled arranger, composer and producer.
Alex tours across North America playing at performing arts centers and festivals with the WAMMIE-awarded Bumper Jacksons, as well as the critically acclaimed acoustic roots quartet Charm City Junction, Ken and Brad Kolodner, and Letitia VanSant. When he is not on the road performing, he can be found at home cultivating Baltimore’s Bluegrass scene through leading jams and teaching lessons. https://www.alexlacquement.com |
Jake Blount
Musician
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Jake Blount is a fiddler, banjo player and scholar based in the Washington, DC area. He has studied with modern masters of old-time music, including Bruce Molsky, Judy Hyman (of the Horse Flies), and Rhiannon Giddens and Hubby Jenkins (of the Carolina Chocolate Drops). He centers and venerates his racial and ethnic heritage through his approach to music and its history. In 2016, Blount became the first Black person to make the finals at the prestigious Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, WV, and the first to win in the traditional band category. In the following year, he received his B.A. in Ethnomusicology from Hamilton College and released his debut EP, “Reparations,” with award-winning fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves. Blount has since been invited to share his music and research at the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA and numerous other museums, colleges and universities.
http://jakeblount.com/ |
Susan Taylor
Workshop Leader - Singing Squares; Open Mic Calling
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Susan Taylor can't remember a time when the boogie didn't rule her socks. She fell in love with the music and the moving and knew she was born to be the hostess of the dance party. A founding member of the Hot Square Babes and one of the Too Hot Mamas (with Janine Smith), Susan calls American and English country dances far and wide. Having studied with Bob Dalsemer, Larry Edelman, and Kathy Anderson, Susan is humbled by learning from each dancer, community, and party she's ever had the privilege to teach. Susan's high energy and irrepressible sense of humor harmonize with her quick, clear teaching and her let's-get-down-to-the-fun style of calling. She calls dances that focus on flow and rockin' dance drive that'll have you squealing with delight! From the East coast to the West, North to South, every dance is a party when Susan's in town. http://www.catapultshowcase.com/susan-taylor.html |
Marsha Searle
Workshop Leader - Hamboning
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Marsha Searle grew up studying ballet and Scottish Highland dancing. She studied at Brigham Young University earning BFA degrees in both Composite Dance and History, focusing on Modern and World Dance.
During her time at BYU Marsha performed with the International Folk Dance ensemble, touring the United States, British Isles, Canada, and Belgium and performing in the opening cerimonies of the 2002 Olympics. Shortly after moving to Maryland in 2004 she became a principal dancer with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble. She has been dancing professionally with Footworks for 10 years and is currently Footworks' Company Manager and Rehearsal Captain. http://stageworkz.com/footworks.html |
Sandy Hofferth
Workshop Leader - Northern Virginia Fiddle Tunes
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Sandy Hofferth was influenced by North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia fiddling, with some New England and Cape Breton fiddling thrown in. She has won ribbons at numerous fiddle conventions over the years, including the Carroll County, MD, Farm Museum, the Friendsville, MD, Fiddlers contest, and the Appalachian String Band music festival in Clifftop, WV. She has performed at such diverse locations as the Carter Fold in Hiltons, VA, and RFK stadium. In 2006 she taught beginning fiddle at the Augusta Heritage October Old-time Week.
https://backstepcindy.com/ |