2017 TAW Instructors & Performers

Corn Potato String BandJive at FiveK. Jones & The Benzie PlayboysRachael & Dominic DavisPop WagnerIra BernsteinNic Gareiss & Caleb TeicherMeghan McCartney-ScottSusan FilipiakEmily DoeblerThe JohnsBlue Water RamblersThe Rhythm BilliesRon BuchananWorkshop Instructors

Corn Potato String Band

cornpotato.com

FRIDAY NIGHT SQUARES & CONTRAS
The Corn Potato String Band & Pop Wagner Calling
7:30-9:30pm @ Dance Pavilion
7:30-8:15pm: Family Friendly
All ages & levels of experience welcome

8:15-9:30pm: Square Dancing, no instruction

SUNDAY NIGHT SQUARES & CONTRAS
The Corn Potato String Band & Pop Wagner Calling
7:00-8:30pm @ Dance Pavilion
6:45-7:25pm: Family Friendly
All ages & levels of experience welcome

7:25-7:35pm: Cranky Show with Aaron & Lindsay
7:35-8:15pm: Square Dancing, no instruction

Saturday Workshops

  • Twin Fiddling: How to Accompany and Harmonize Fiddle Tunes – Lindsay McCaw & Aaron Lewis
  • Clawhammer Banjo – Lindsay McCaw
  • Swing Fiddle – Aaron Lewis

Sunday Workshop

  • Bluegrass Banjo – Aaron Lewis

The Corn Potato String Band has earned high praise in traditional American music, keeping old time fiddle and banjo music from a one-way trip to the dustbins of history. Theirs is a story of struggle, hard knocks and triumph. Essentially unable to cope with modern life, the members of this band are outcasts of society who survive by playing the lost music of the flatlands where they were raised.

The Corn Potatos have delighted audiences with their driving fiddle tunes and harmonious singing across the US, Canada, Europe, Mexico, and India. They are all multi-instrumentalists dedicated to continuing the music and dance traditions of the Central and Southern US. In addition to being champion fiddlers they play banjo, guitar, bass and mandolin and deftly handle many different antiquated styles including ballads, “ho-downs,” country “rags” and southern gospel, specializing in twin fiddling and double banjo tunes.

Aaron Jonah Lewis is a multi-instrumentalist, performer and educator. He has won awards at the Clifftop Appalachian String Band Festival, including First Place Neotraditional Band in 2008, and at the Galax Old Fiddlers Convention, including First Place Bluegrass Fiddle in 2007, and he has performed at major festivals from the US to the UK and from Italy to Finland. Lewis has appeared on dozens of recordings from bluegrass and old time to swing jazz, modern experimental and Turkish classical music projects. He has taught workshops at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and at the English Folk Dance and Song Society in London. He also plays and teaches banjo, mandolin, guitar, and bass and is currently based in Detroit, Michigan.

Lindsay McCaw has been playing American old time music for over 15 years. She performs music and calls dances around the country. McCaw plays fiddle, banjo, guitar, accordion and piano. She is also part of several theater and puppet companies, including her own, called The Dolly Wagglers. She has won several musical distinctions such as two-time winner of the Minneapolis Jug Band Contest and four-time Grand Prize winner of the Sheffield Field Days Fiddle contest.

Ben Belcher is an accomplished banjo player and a talented artist. He has distinguished himself with such awards as the Independent Music World Series, which he won with The Hot Seats in Nashville, TN, in 2006, First Place Neotraditional Band at the Appalachian String Band Festival in 2008 and a Herald Angel award at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe. Belcher has toured extensively in the US and in Europe and the UK since 2001. He has been a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe with The Hot Seats and recently appeared at the Shetland Folk Festival. He also plays guitar and fiddle.

Jive at Five

JIve at FIve (333x500)

jiveat5.com

SWING DANCE with Jive at Five
Saturday, 10:00pm-12:00am @ Dance Pavilion 

Saturday Workshops

  • Intro to Swing – Ron Buchanan, Lisa Ornstein, Jive at Five
  • Keep on Swinging – Ron Buchanan, Lisa Ornstein, Jive at Five
  • Beyond Beginning Mandolin – Mark Schrock & Bruce Gartner
  • Ukulele: Beyond the Basic Strum – Frank Youngman

From swingin’ harmony vocals to smokin’ hot jump blues to silky smooth ballads, Jive At Five has an ear in the past and an eye on today’s swing and jazz scene. Inspired by the small combo traditions of Nat King Cole, the Mills Brothers, Louis Jordan, Count Basie, and other legends of swing and jazz, this Michigan based group will have you swingin’ from the first note. Add a healthy sense of humor to a diverse repertoire of swing dance tunes, jazz and blues and you have a recipe for a good time! Jive At Five came together as group in 1992. Founding members are Tom T. Ball on upright bass, David Raffenaud on piano and organ, Mark Schrock on electric guitar and vocals, and Frank Youngman on trumpet, archtop acoustic guitar and vocals. In the spring of 2000, tenor sax veteran Gene Harris joined the group, followed shortly thereafter by Dan Giacobassi playing saxophone and flute. Drummer Dave Zerbe rounds out the current line up. While staying true to their swing and jazz musical mission, Jive at Five is known to be versatile and adaptable. Often credited with “bringing the event alive”, Jive at Five has performed at hundreds of concerts, dances, receptions, clubs, parties and festivals over the years. In addition Jive at Five offers several programs for schools featuring assembly performance, instrumental workshops and exciting swing dance workshops for students and staff. Programs can be designed for all age groups and for audiences small or large. 

K. Jones & The Benzie Playboys

benzieplayboys.com

CAJUN DANCE with K. Jones & The Benzie Playboys
Sunday, 10:15pm – 12:00am @ The Dance Pavilion

Sunday Workshop

  • Cajun Jam – K. Jones & The Benzie Playboys

K. JONES & THE BENZIE PLAYBOYS are bringing the roots sound of southwest Louisiana’s Creole, Cajun, and Zydeco scene to ya’ll up here in the Great Lakes area.  The Playboys are dedicated to keeping the Cajun/Creole music alive with live performances for two-steppin’, waltzing, and smoking red hot zydeco dancing.  Cajun/Creole/French lyrics are common in many of the tunes we sing in the tradition of Amede Ardoin, Bois Sec, Canray Fontenot, Boozoo Chavis, John Delafose, the Balfa Brothers, Iry LeJune, Dennis McGee and many others.  The 10 button diatonic accordion of K.Jones is the driving force of our music, with Jonah Powell on fiddle. Jamie Bernard is on the drums, and Doug Albright on bass. Mark Stoltz is our man on the scrubboard and tit’fer driving the beat…..Mark also gives dancing lessons parties and workshops. 

Rachael & Dominic Davis

rachaeldavis.com

Rachael & Dominic Davis Concert
Saturday 8:30-9:00pm @ Main Stage

Saturday Workshops

  • Stand Up Bass – Dominic Davis
  • Beginning Ukulele  Rachael Davis
  • Round Singing – Rachael Davis

Sunday Workshop

  • Swing Era Songs – Rachael Davis

The Nashville-based award-winning songwriter with a magical voice, Rachael Davis has been captivating audiences since childhood.  When Rachael was eight she sang on stage at the Wheatland Music Festival. The Irish singer Maura O’Connell was just backstage.  After her performance, Maura went up and grasped Rachael’s face with both hands and said, “Never stop doing it for the love of it!”  Rachael was born into a musical family and has been in the company of music all her life.  She attended Interlochen Arts Academy in Northern Michigan and grew up singing with her family-based group Lake Effect.  Rachael is a multi-instrumentalist, award-winning songwriter and widely celebrated vocalist whose talent has taken her across the world and left many people of many cultures thunderstruck by the power and purity of her preternatural talent.  

Her husband, Dominic Davis, is one of the most sought after musicians in Nashville, playing in Jack White’s band and working with icons like Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and Christina Aguilera.  He is well known for his amazing bass talent in the Michigan band, Steppin’ in It.  

Together they play jazz, swing, folk and roots tunes.  

Pop Wagner

popwagner.com

FRIDAY NIGHT SQUARES & CONTRAS
The Corn Potato String Band & Pop Wagner Calling
7:30-9:30pm @ Dance Pavilion
7:30-8:15pm: Family Friendly
All ages & levels of experience welcome

8:15-9:30pm: Square Dancing, no instruction

SATURDAY NIGHT
Cowboy Campfire Songs with Pop Wagner
8:00pm

SUNDAY NIGHT SQUARES & CONTRAS
The Corn Potato String Band & Pop Wagner Calling
7:00-8:30pm @ Dance Pavilion
6:45-7:25pm: Family Friendly
All ages & levels of experience welcome

7:25-7:35pm: Cranky Show with Aaron & Lindsay
7:35-8:15pm: Square Dancing, no instruction

Saturday Workshops

  • Macramé Mohair Guitar Strap 
  • Rope Tricks

Sunday Workshops

  • Macramé Mohair Guitar Strap
  • Fingerpicking Tunes & Technique for Guitar

Pop Wagner is a mesmerizing, authentic cowboy, who possesses the unique ability to transport an audience to the simpler times of days gone by. His captivating cowboy wit, combined with his musical talents are a treat for an audience of any age. Pop Wagner is a rich historian of our culture and, as such, is truly an American treasure.Jo McLachlan, WMO Board Member

Since 1971 Pop Wagner has produced some of the most spirited traditional music around and has quite the reputation as a singer, master picker, fiddler, square dance caller, poet, purveyor of rope tricks and dry humor, and downright funny guy.

Wagner appeared quite frequently on Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion during the show’s formative years and for the last four decades he has worked his cowboy magic throughout 44 states and ten countries.

His cowboy anthems crackle with the warmth of a prairie campfire and his old time fiddle tunes set toes a-tappin’ while he serves up spellbinding rope tricks and tall stories — all with a good dose of friendly humor.

Ira Bernstein

Wheatland 2013 Festival,
Carry It On Dance Project

tentoepercussion.com

WORKSHOPS

Flatfooting
(Saturday)

Beginning Cajun
(Sunday)

 IRA BERNSTEIN is a dancer and teacher who specializes in traditional American dance forms such as Appalachian-style clogging, flatfoot dancing, tap dance, and step dancing. He is considered an authority on clogging, and the leading figure in this dance style. He calls himself a “percussive step dancer who specializes in Appalachian flatfooting,” and also dances Green Grass style Appalachian clogging, English clogging, French-Canadian step dancing, Irish step dancing, and South African gumboot dancing.

Bernstein has performed in concerts and at festivals all across the United States, as well as in Japan, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Israel, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Canada. A few selected performances include the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England, the Edinburgh Jazz Festival in Scotland, Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France, the Carre Theater in Amsterdam, Holland, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany, the Ataturk Cultural Center in Istanbul, Turkey, the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, the Colorado, Boston, and Portland Jazz Tap Festivals, Town Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City, the Chautauqua Institution in NY, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Bernstein has shared the stage with many of the world’s greatest tap and step dancers, including tap dancers Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Charles “Honi” Coles, Chuck Green, Jimmy Slyde, Lon Chaney, Howard “Sandman” Sims, Buster Brown, LaVaughn Robinson and Brenda Bufalino; Irish step dancers Donny Golden and Jean Butler; Canadian step dancers Benoit Bourque, Normand Legault, Harvey Beaton and John Pellerine; as well as with renowned ensembles such as the American Tap Dance Orchestra, the Jazz Tap Ensemble, Manhattan Tap, Rhythm in Shoes, the Fiddle Puppets and Footworks. His teachers also include many of the legendary masters of the various forms, including tap dancers Steve Condos and Eddie Brown, as well as Mr. Coles, Mr. Sims, Mr. Robinson, Ms. Bufalino; English cloggers Sam Sherry and Tony Barrand; Irish step dancers Josephine McNamara and Mr. Golden; French-Canadian step dancers Mr. Bourque and Mr. Legault; Cape Breton step dancers Mr. Beaton and Mr. Pellerine; and South African boot dancer Tsepo Mokone.

Bernstein is a former member of the American Tap Dance Orchestra of New York City, the Fiddle Puppets of Annapolis, MD, Marlboro Morris and Sword of Marlboro, VT, and the Mill Creek Cloggers of Philadelphia, PA, and has been a featured, lead soloist in Rhythms of the Celts of Belfast, Northern Ireland, as well as with Rhythm in Shoes of Dayton, OH, and the Vanaver Caravan of New Paltz, NY. He was one of the artistic creators and featured soloists in Mountain Legacy of Asheville, NC, and is the director of the TEN TOE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE, a collective of internationally acclaimed step dance soloists. He has also repeatedly won first place in the Mount Airy Fiddler’s Convention old-time flatfooting competition and is the originator of the Festival of Percussive Dance, having produced the first full-scale festival concert at Symphony Space in New York City in 1988.

Nic Gareiss & Caleb Teicher

Nic Gareiss & Caleb Teicher Dance Concert
Saturday 7:00-8:00pm @ Main Stage

Saturday Workshops

  • Dance Improvisation: Thinking & Feeling on your Feet – Nic Gareiss & Caleb Teicher
  • I Don’t Know That Tune – Nic Gareiss & Caleb Teicher
  • Solo Dance Survey – Nic Gareiss
  • Fred Astaire & Gene Kelly: Classic Steps – Caleb Teicher

Sunday Workshops

  • Jazz & Traditional Dance – Nic Gareiss & Caleb Teicher
  • Solo Dance Survey – Nic Gareiss
Caleb Teicher & Nic Gareiss
Caleb Teicher and Nic Gareiss move and sound together at the intersection of jazz and folk, social and solo dance.  Caleb Teicher, a “sleek dancer who possesses a beguiling combination of a relaxed upper body with switchblade feet,” (New York Times) is an acclaimed choreographer, performer, and teacher based in New York City.  Michigan-born dancer and dance researcher Nic Gareiss has been described as “the human epitome of the unbearable lightness of being” (Irish Times)  Though lauded for their status within their respective genres, in this new 60-minute duo collaboration Teicher and Gareiss blur boundaries and playfully transgress, exploring improvisation, song, and the idea of percussive dance.  Drawing on American tap dance, jazz, swing, lindy-hop, Appalachian clogging, and Irish step dance, Caleb Teicher and Nic Gareiss create a breathtaking evening of dance rooted in time and place yet uniquely their own; a festive dialogue of sound, movement, and corporeal rapport.  
 
Mixing super-charged energy with tossed-off charm, Teicher is among the more promising figures in tap dance.The New Yorker
…the most inventive and expressive step dancer on the scene. The nimble Gareiss called forth visions of Fred Astaire.The Boston Herald

Nic Gareiss - Bio & Video

Michigan-born dancer, musician, and dance researcher Nic Gareiss has been described by the Irish Times as “the human epitome of the unbearable lightness of being,” and “the most inventive and expressive step dancer on the scene” by the Boston Herald. His choreographic work re-imagines movement as a musical practice, recasting dance as medium that appeals to both eyes and ears. Gareiss draws from many percussive dance traditions to weave together a dance technique facilitating his love of improvisation, traditional footwork vocabulary, and musical collaboration. He has performed with many of the luminaries of contemporary traditional music and dance, including The Chieftains, The Gloaming, Darol Anger, Solas, Liz Carroll, Bill Frisell, Alasdair Fraser, and Bruce Molsky. 

In 2011 Gareiss was commissioned by the Cork Opera House to create and perform two new solo percussive dance pieces to celebrate the 75th birthday of composer Steve Reich. His setting of Reich’s piece Clapping Music for percussive dancer and video installation was hailed by the Irish Times as “a leftfield tour-de-force with irresistible wow factor.” In 2013, he served as community liaison for the Wheatland Music Organization’s 40th Anniversary production Carry it on…, supervising a cast of 70 non-professional dancers from rural communities across the state of Michigan. He received a Traditional Arts Commission from the Irish Arts Council to create an evening-length fiddle and dance duo show with Caoimhín Ó Raghalliah. The resulting piece, Mice Will Play had a sell-out run at the Project Arts Centre during the 2013 Dublin Fringe Festival.  In 2015, Nic was recognized by Michigan State Museum’s Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program as a master traditional artist.

Gareiss has concertized in fourteen countries and continues to tour and teach internationally, working with dance communities and presenting percussive dance solos and collaborations. Nic holds degrees in anthropology and music from Central Michigan University and recently completed his MA in ethnochoreology at the University of Limerick. 

Video:

Website:

www.nicgareiss.com


Caleb Teicher - Bio & Video
 Caleb Teicher, known for “mixing super-charged energy with tossed-off charm” (The New Yorker), is an acclaimed choreographer, performer, and teacher based in New York City. 

Caleb began his dance career as a founding member of MacArthur-awardee Michelle Dorrance’s celebrated company, DorranceDance, in 2011. He was awarded a 2011 Bessie Award for Outstanding Individual Performance for Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards’ A Shared Evening at Danspace Project, and he continues to perform with the company. Currently an artist-in-residence at the American Tap Dance Foundation, he makes concert dance work under the banner of Caleb Teicher & Company. Caleb also works as a choreographer and collaborator for interdisciplinary work.Caleb teaches tap and theater dance at Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center and continues to teach workshops and guest classes at various schools and festivals throughout the US. He is a proud alum of the YoungArts Foundation and The School at Jacob’s Pillow.
Teicher was named one of Dance Magazine’s 2012 “25 to Watch” and, recently, the winner of Dance Magazine’s “Best Emerging Choreographer” in the 2016 Readers’ Choice Awards. 

Video:

Website:

www.calebteicher.net

 Meghan McCartney-Scott   

mccartneydance.com

Workshops

Beginning Irish (Saturday)

Ceili Dance Instruction (all ages) (Sunday)

Megan McCartney-Scott

Meghan Scott (formerly Meghan McCartney) specializes in Irish dance education and percussive dance performance. She grew up in the Lansing area, and was an original member of the Irish Dance Company of Lansing (IDCL). After nine years in the Company, she graduated after her senior year. Alongside her involvement in the IDCL, she studied Irish dance under the tutellage of John Heinzman, A.D.C.R.G, and went on to become an Open Champion, the highest level that can be attained in Irish dancing. She competed in both the North American Championships and World Championships as a solo dancer.

After retiring from competition, Meghan moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina and attended Mars Hill University through a dance scholarship, where she became a member of their prestigious traditional dance team, the Bailey Mountain Cloggers. While on the team, Meghan explored the intricacies of many traditional dance forms that are linked to Irish dance, such as flatfooting, precision clogging, and figure dancing. She helped the Bailey Mountain Cloggers win two National Championships in Maggie Valley, North Carolina before graduating from Mars Hill with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2008. She also had the pleasure of traveling with the Bailey Mountain Cloggers to Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain, where she performed and competed in the World Folk Dance Festival.

Meghan has performed at theaters and festivals across North America, including multiple performances at the world renowned Wheatland Music Festival, in Remus, Michigan. She was a guest dancer for many well known traditional musical groups including Eileen Ivers, the Gibson Brothers, the David Munnelly Band, Jamie Laval and Ashley Broder, and Liz Carroll and John Doyle.

While Meghan has mostly focused her dance education on Irish dance and Appalachian clogging, she has also studied other styles of dance from a wealth of percussive dance talent, including learning body percussion and Cape Breton step dancing from Sandy Silva, French Canadian step dancing from Benoit Bourque, Ottawa Valley and Marley dancing from Sheila Graziano, and rapper sword dancing from Sharon Leahy of Rhythm in Shoes fame.

Currently Meghan resides in Williamston, Michigan with her husband, two young daughters, and her dog Jack. She became involved in the Irish Dance Company of Lansing again in 2011 as a choreographer and dance educator, and she is thrilled to provide quality Irish dance classes to the greater Lansing community through McCartney Irish Dance.

Susan Filipiak

swingcitydance.com

Saturday Workshops

  • Intro to Waltz Clog
  • Beginning Tap
  • One Step…Two Step…Three Step Social Dances

Sunday Workshops

  • The Copasetic Walk Around
  • The Copasetic Chair Dance
  • The Old Soft Shoe
  • Clogging Routine to Black Widow Romp

Susan Filipiak is celebrating her 35rd year as a dance teacher, and her 58th year as a life-long dancer. She founded Swing City Dance in 1995 as a hub for the American vernacular dance styles of tap, jazz, swing and ballroom. Susan has developed a detailed pedagogy designed to introduce dance skills and lift students to high levels of dance achievement.

Dance is physical, dance is mental, dance lifts the spirit and makes the heart smile!

Susan specializes in four areas of instruction: tap dance for all ages, dance for young children (creative movement, ballet, tap), dance conditioning (ballet floor barre), and social ballroom and swing dance.

Susan has intensive training in multiple dance styles: tap dance, ballet, jazz, modern, ethnic, swing and ballroom. Her tap dance mentors include: Brenda Bufalino, Dianne Walker, Barbara Duffy, Heather Cornell and a host of tap dance legends – Buster Brown, Eddie Brown, Honi Coles, Leon Collins, Steve Condos, LaVaughn Robinson, Lloyd Storey, Gregory Hines, et al. Her jazz dance mentors include Billy Siegenfeld, Cholly Atkins, Frankie Manning and Ed Kresley.

She has choreographed for many area theater companies – Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theater, The Croswell Opera House, UM Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Ann Arbor Civic Theater, Chelsea Area Players, Saline Area Players and area high school theater. She continues to work as a dance educator in local schools, bringing dance into the everyday school curriculum.

In 2014, Susan was named a Michigan Traditional Artist by Michigan State University with a grant supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, focusing on perpetuating American percussive dance.

Emily Doebler

Saturday Workshops

  • French Canadian
  • Advanced Waltz Clog
  • Kids Rhythm/Clog

Sunday Workshop

  • Intro to Percussive Dance

Emily Doebler discovered her passion for dance and music while attending an arts school in Alba, Michigan called Concord Academy Antrim. Her first dance teacher, Jeannine Sladick, incorporated the traditional arts into all of her dance classes and created a dance group called Dance Attack! Emily danced with this group performing many traditional percussive dance styles throughout Michigan for four years. Currently, Emily attends Central Michigan University and teaches tap dance and clogging at the Academy of Performing Arts. Emily spends most of her time outside of the classroom teaching at camps and performing. In both 2016 and 2017 Emily received a Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Award and studied percussive dance and traditional music with the notable Nic Gareiss. Emily has also worked with many other distinguished dancers including Sharon Leahy, Becky Hill, Sheila Graziano, Daniel Gorno, and many others.

The Johns

facebook.com/thejohnsband/

“The Johns” is a Michigan based band, dedicated to bringing you music that is both traditional and new.

SATURDAY NIGHT SQUARE DANCE
with The Johns Carole Howard Calling
8:00-9:30pm @ Dance Pavilion

Saturday Workshops

  • Backing Up Fiddle Tunes – John Warstler & Ruby John
  • Métis Fiddle – Ruby John

Biography

Ruby John: Ruby plays Celtic, country, bluesgrass, old time and Metis fiddle music. She is in early twenties and has been playing fiddle since her single digit years. Ruby is from Northport, MI and has studied with some of the top fiddlers from the US and Canada, including Pierre Shryer, Lee Sloan, Bobbie Hicks and Anne Lederman. Ruby grew up attending Julie Schryer and Pat O’Gorman’s Algoma Trad Traditional Music Camp on St. Joseph Island, Canada, where she studied with some of the top fiddlers from Canada. Ruby was invited to participate in the Elder Youth Legacy workshop in Toronto where six young Native American fiddlers learned tunes from four of the top Metis Fiddlers in Canada. As a
result, Ruby performed at the North Atlantic Fiddler Convention in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Budd John Greenman: Budd started playing fiddle when he was eight years old. Like Ruby, Budd is a home school graduate and the two have played fiddle together since their very beginnings. Budd is in his late twenties and is a graduate luthier of the Galloup School of Guitar Building. After four years of classical training, Budd switched over to old time fiddle when he was introduced to the Original Michigan Fiddlers Association. There he fell in love with the history and the music of the northern Michigan fiddle style. As a teenager Budd competed twice in the regional Fleadh Cheoil Irish music compertition, taking home a 3rd in fiddle In addition to first and third on mandolin.
Budd is equally talented on mandolin, tenor banjo, viola, as well as progressive finger style,rhythm Celtic guitar. Budd is also a prolific tune composer and hopefully The Johns can get up to speed with some of Budd’s original dance tunes as they are some of the very best tunes that they play.

Jon Cotton and John Warstler: These Johns are the elder members of The Johns, and as of June 2014, they are both retired educators, so you can do the math for their ages as they have stopped keeping track. They are best of friends and have played together for years, but they can never seem to be to play enough music together. Jon is an excellent bass player and an avid dancer and he understands the necessity for that steady bass pulse needed for a successful dance. Jon plays traditional styles of bass as well as bowed bass. Jon has accompanied John on two of his three latest fingerstyle CD’s over the past years. John has pressed seven thousand of these popular discs to date and he will probably never produce another CD without Jon playing bass on it. The two of them have performed together the past several years at the Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival in a number of configurations. Most importantly, These Johns are part of the main stay of the dance scene around Michigan. Jon’s bands have played all over Michigan from Ann Arbor to Marquette. Being from upnorth, The John’s bands have played main dances at the Hiawatha, Bliss and bayside Travelers dances. Back in the early 80’s his band, The Boreal Stringband, played the mainstage at Wheatland and they were fortunate enough to have a portion of their performance saved on vinyl as part of the 6th Annual Wheatland album.

Blue Water Ramblers

Blue-Water-Ramblers (500x469)

bluewaterramblers.com | facebook.com/Blue-Water-Ramblers

FRIDAY EVENING
Open Mic Emceed by the Blue Water Ramblers
7:00-8:00pm @ Main Stage

Hootenany with Blue Water Ramblers
8:00-10:00pm @ Main Stage

SATURDAY EVENING
Couples Dance with Blue Water Ramblers
9:30-11:30pm @ Main Stage

SUNDAY EVENING
Workshop Showcase with Dance Instructors & Students
6:30-7:15pm @ Main Stage
Music & MC by Blue Water Ramblers

Saturday Workshops

  • Family Dance – Blue Water Ramblers
  • Geo-Caching – Banjo-Jim

Sunday Workshops

  • Kids Party with the Blue Water Ramblers
  • Kids Harmonica – Banjo-Jim

The Blue Water Ramblers are lead singers who take turns harmonizing with each other to create the Blue Water Rambler tapestry of sound. Banjo-Jim Foerch sings of the sailors, farmers, lumberjacks, politicians and workers. Bear Berends croons the love songs and delivers protest songs old and new.

Rhythm Billies

The-Rhythm-Billies (461x308)

facebook.com/The-Rhythm-Billies

Michigan’s Premiere Old Time Band!

FRIDAY EVENING CONTRA DANCE
with the Rhythm Billies ~ Ron Buchanan Calling
10:00pm-12:00am @ Dance Pavilion

SUNDAY EVENING ADVANCED CONTRA DANCE
with the Rhythm Billies ~ Ron Buchanan Calling
8:30-9:45pm @ Dance Pavilion

Saturday Workshops

  • Beginning Fiddle – Bruce Bauman
  • Beyond Beginning Mandolin – Mark Schrock & Bruce Gartner

Sunday Workshops

  • Family Dance – Music by the Rhythm Billies with Jan Fowler Calling
  • Fiddle for Kids – Bruce Bauman

Ron Buchanan

Edgewood, PA

Swing Dancing Instructor, Contra Dance Caller

FRIDAY EVENING
Contra Dance with the Rhythm Billies
10:00pm-12:00am @ Dance Pavilion

SUNDAY EVENING
Advanced Contra Dance with the Rhythm Billies
8:30-9:45pm @ Dance Pavilion

Saturday Workshops

  • Swing I: Intro to Swing – Ron Buchanan & Lisa Ornstein
  • Swing II: Keep on Swing – Ron Buchanan & Lisa Ornstein

Sunday Workshop

  • Calling Workshop – Ron Buchanan

Visit the 2017 Weekend Schedule to view workshops, times, and descriptions.

Art Workshop Instructors

  • Theresa & Dan Hummel
  • Drew Nelson
  • Pop Wagner
  • Kathy Berlincourt
  • Jo & Jim McLachlan
  • Sue Clements
  • Erin Dumond
  • Missy Cook
  • Kim Clare
  • Carole Howard
  • Karen Brookshear
  • Clara Bauman
  • Red LeClear

Dance Workshop Instructors

  • Nic Gareiss
  • Caleb Teicher
  • Emily Doebler
  • Mark Stoltz and K. Jones & The Benzie Playboys
  • Ron Buchanan
  • Lisa Ornstein
  • Susan Filipiak
  • Ira Bernstein
  • Meghan McCartney-Scott

Vocal/Instrument Workshop Instructors

  • Ann & Eldon Whitford
  • Rex & Letha Raymond
  • Dan Brandon
  • Susie Russell
  • Glynn Russell
  • Jo McLachlan
  • Rachael Davis
  • Roger Little
  • Ruby John 
  • Bruce Bauman
  • Bruce Ling
  • Kathy Hagen
  • Tom Eno
  • Carolyn Koebel
  • Dominic Davis
  • Blue Water Ramblers
  • John Warstler
  • Nathan Myers
  • Kathy Dean
  • David Klein
  • Bruce Gartner
  • Barry Poupard

Kids Workshop Instructors

  • Ron Fowler
  • Banjo Jim
  • Marcia & Red LeClear
  • Brenda Bonter
  • Barry Poupard
  • Bruce Bauman
  • Emmy & Mia VanderVeen
  • Barb Oakley
  • Chris Sorensen
  • Drew Nelson
  • Pop Wagner
  • Clara Bauman
  • Shannon & Ralph Madden
  • Rhonda Drews
  • Barbara & Darren Root
  • Marilyn Buggs
  • Olivia Drews
  • Trinity McLellen
  • Amanda & Sean Waanders
  • Elizabeth Herzog
  • Rachel & Wally Ewing

Misc. Workshop Instructors

  • Dan McGuire
  • Kay & John Kelly
  • Jan Fowler
  • Steve Shelander
  • Dan Hummel
  • Carole Howard
  • Joseph Baumann
  • Mark Baumann

2017 Workshops & Evening Schedules

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