English-Scottish Session
July 2 - 6, 2007

Ron’s love and understanding of Scottish dance and music make him a familiar name on workshop staffs internationally. Scottish Country, Highland, Step and Cape Breton comprise the majority of the classes Ron teaches with some Welsh and English thrown in for balance! 2007 marks Ron’s 39th year as a teacher of Scottish dance. Invitations have brought his infectious enthusiastic teaching to many Scottish dance centers in the United States and Canada as well as in Australia and numerous European venues.

Graham has been teaching English Country Dance since 1998; he has led dances in England, Belgium, and the West Coast, as well as all over the Northeast. He teaches regularly at the CDS Boston Centre, Boston's Experienced Dance Series, the Jamaica Plain dance in Boston, the Harvard Square dance, and Amherst's Monday Night Dance. He leads his own monthly series of themed dance evenings, the Amherst Assembly. He is the author of a regular column on dance history for the CDSS News, and is at work on a successor volume to The Playford Ball, to be published by CDSS. He is a doctoral candidate at the University of Massachusetts.

Karen has been teaching Scottish country dance in Northampton since passing her prelim test in 1998. She now is in charge of the Northampton class after Virginia "retired" and share teaching responsibilities of the mixed level class with Kent Smith. Karen tries to infuse class with a mixture of fun and technique, since she believes that people should enjoy the dancing most of all. Phrasing and technique are important, but if the dancers are not having fun, we have failed them - it is social dance after all! Karen highland dances as a hobby and is learning to play the Scottish highland and small pipes. She is self employed as a massage therapist.

Doug Creighton, of the English country dance band Pleasures of the Town, is an extraordinary musician on the button accordion, flute and concertina. He is a fine step dancer in the Cape Breton style, having studied with well-known dancer Harvey Beaton. He brings a wealth of experience as dancer and musician for numerous display dance teams as well as country dance, and his rhythmically precise style and finesse make him an outstanding accompanist for Morris. When he's not playing and dancing, Doug is the manager of The Button Box in Sunderland, MA.

Laurie has been winding her way in and out of sword dancing for almost twenty years as a member and past teacher of Toronto Women’s Sword. She loves to work with novice dancers and those with experience to bring a strong sense of team support and deep physical connection to all who participate in this impressive display of swords and skill.

John Mayberry went to his first dance at two weeks old, carried in a basket. His love of dance, music, performance and craft has led to a career including carpentry, performance, writing, teaching, directing and almost everything else. He is the “Fool” of the Toronto Morris Men, and a traditional singer who started singing with his favorite singing partner Jamie Beaton when they were both in their teens. John is an experienced street theater and mumming performer, and a professor of theatre production in the Department of Theatre, York University, Toronto. A high point of last year was dancing with the Toronto Morris Men in the Carnival Parade in Santiago de Cuba. He sings whenever possible, often with The Bilge Rats, the shanty-singing alter ego of the Toronto Morris Men. John will be leading Singing on the Porch in the afternoon, and is the official Master of Incidental Revelry for the week.

Dave Wiesler is a skilled pianist and avid Scottish country dancer and enjoys the chance to participate in both at Scottish Weekend. In addition to his Scottish dance music, he plays regularly for contra dance, English country dance, couple dancing, concerts, and has substantial studio experience. He has been on staff at Pinewoods, Augusta, Ashokan, Buffalo Gap, and Sierra Swing and has performed at the Kennedy Center and at the Smithsonian. His music has taken him to Hawaii, Canada, England, Scotland,and the Galapagos Islands. Check out his CDs including Cracks and Shadows and Many Happy Returns with Hanneke Cassel, and Dave Tunes, his book of original tunes. You can also find out more about Dave on his website at www.azaleacityrecordings.com/davewiesler.

Karen Axelrod plays piano for English, American and Scottish dance and has been on staff at numerous dance events around the country, including Pinewoods, Ogontz and Buffalo Gap camps, Berea Christmas Dance School and Brasstown Winter Dance Week. Karen is highly regarded for her creative and rich piano accompaniment. She also plays accordion for the renowned longsword team, Orion Longsword. She plays in the band Foxfire (with Daron Douglas) and Woodlark (with Earl Gaddis and Chris Rua).

Daron Douglas plays fiddle for dancing. She thanks her grandmother for passing on family ballads (many of which were collected by Cecil Sharp from Daron's great-grandmother, Jane Gentry, in 1916 and 1917) and also for her love of gardening. Daron has played with the Knoxville Early Music Project and the Hominy Mamas (a trio once billed at a library party as “providing an evening of song and comedy” even though they thought of their work as traditional Appalachian singing games!). She also plays with the contra dance band Misbehavin’, known for their original waltzes CD's, “Just Over the Mountain” and "Somewhere Between Here and Home." Daron has been on the staff at Country Dance and Song Society dance camps, at Ashokan fiddle & dance camps, and at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C., teaching and playing English country dance fiddle. She now lives and plays music in New Orleans, and tours throughout the USA to play English country dances and contra dances at festivals and dance camps on her own and with the bands Goldcrest and Foxfire.

Earl Gaddis is a full-time dance musician, having played fiddle and viola for a mixture of English, Scottish, American, and international dancing for well over 40 years. He plays for dance camps, workshops, balls and other dance events throughout the United States and abroad. Earl is a member of Bare Necessities, which has released about a dozen recordings of English Country Dance music so far, and of Woodlark (with Karen Axelrod and Chris Rua), and he has recorded with a number of other musicians as well. He lives in great contentment on ten acres of woods in Plainwell, Michigan with his wife Sherry Brodock.

See teaching staff, above.

Dan has been Piping for 26 years. He was formerly the Pipe major of the Cameron Highlanders Pipe band of Philadelphia, and has numerous piping students in the Philadelphia area. Dan got his first taste of playing for RSCDS at Pinewoods 1987 Scottish session. Dan has been the piper for Scottish session from 1987 to 1997, and 2003, and several English-Scottish sessions. He has also been the piper for all of the Scottish Weekends from Buffalo gap to Ramblewood to Timber Ridge, and has, for the last five or six years, been playing dances along the east coast from Boston to Richmond. He can be heard playing pipes on “Memories of Scottish Weekend I” and pipes and Flute on “Memories of Scottish Weekend II”

Belgian native Paul Oorts (seen here in a contemplative moment with his cittern) displays his astonishing versatility and virtuosity on many "things with strings" (including mandolin, cittern, guitar, and banjos), and on musette accordion. He plays Celtic and Continental European repertoire in duo with his wife, Karen Ashbrook, as well as English, Scottish, vintage, and contra with Goldcrest and various DC area bands.

Howard Lasnik has been involved with folk and traditional dance and music since the mid-1960's. He is the drummer in several Scottish Country Dance bands, including Highland Whisky (for which he regularly does sound) and The Sprig of Ivy. This will be his 4th year doing sound at ESS. He is also a longtime dance teacher. In the mid-1970's, he founded the Black Jokers morris team, and was its teacher for 20 years. He currently specializes in Scottish dancing. He received his Scottish Teacher's Certificate in 1995, and has taught Scottish dance classes and workshops all over the US and in Japan. He was a tutor for the RSCDS Boston Branch teacher candidate class in 2001-2002. Since 2001 he has been the teacher of the Branch Demo Team. In his spare time, he teaches linguistics at the University of Maryland, where he holds the title Distinguished University Professor.