My Story:
I've been contra dancing for more than 20 years, and in that time have danced at hundreds of weekends and week-long festivals all over the country and the globe. This wide exposure has helped me develop a large and varied collection of interesting and fun dances. I've seen many callers and pay close attention to the things they do that work well and that the dancers love.
Gainesville FL is my home and I am a frequent caller across the state.
Festivals where I've called:
- Contra Dancers Delight 2018 in Mountain City Tennessee
- Roanoke Railroader 2018 in Roanoke Virginia
- Butterfly Whirl in Atlanta, 2019
- Adirondack Dance Weekend in 2019 in Lake George NY.
Upcoming is Contra College 2020 in Palo Alto, CA, and Brattleboro Dawn Dance, Labor Day weekend 2020, in Brattleboro Vermont.
I was one of the "up and coming" callers at Catalpult Showcase in 2013, and one of the callers for the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA) in 2015 and 2019. I've toured the East Coast with my favorite Florida band, Deux Francois in 2014. I called several dances in California in 2017, and Portland ME, Brooklyn and NYC, Glen Echo, MD in October 2018.
I also love calling for weddings, reunions, parties, where participants aren't experienced dancers. I'd love to make your next event a party to remember!
One of my passions is encouraging new dancers. I started the "Dance Angels" at my home dance. We are a group of dancers committed to dancing with newcomers, but also discovering how best to support, encourage, and motivate new dancers to keep dancing.
After every dance, I write up my notes - the program I called, the band I worked with, what percentage of beginning dancers and at what point they came in, things that went well, things that I could have done better, things I'd do differently next time. I put a lot of thought and work into getting better with every dance.
I hope others will find my posts on this blog useful. If I mention a specific dance in a post, I will provide the choreography to the dance at the bottom of the post.
So here's my blog. Please comment, link to it, come back often!
And if you're in the Gainesville Florida area, please come dance with us! We're the Gainesville Oldtime Dance Society (GODS). It's not every day you get to dance with a deity.