Britt-Mari Westholm and Bengt Mård Swedish

BRITT-MARI and BENGT are well known to Swedish folk dancers around the world as two of the best teachers of the popular Dalarna dances. Bengt has been teaching Polskor since the 1970’s, and led the famous Hörkens Bygdedansare in the 1980’s. Britt-Mari started learning Swedish folkdances in the early 1980s, and soon was helping Kalle Strandell teach. She has been a judge at the Hälsingehambon and other gammaldans competitions since 1992. They both have the "big silver" medal from the Ungdomsringen in Sweden and have taught dance throughout the world.

Britt-Mari and Bengt will be teaching dances from the Dalarna region of Sweden.

Ana Maria Alvarez and Cesar Garfiaz CubaCuban

ANA MARIA received a BA in Dance and Politics from Oberlin College, afterwards she moved to New York where she became the Dance Specialist at The Center for Family Life’s “Lifelines” Community Arts Project in Brooklyn. There she taught, danced and choreographed for several years, before moving to Los Angeles in 2002. Alvarez received her MFA in Choreography from UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures, where she currently teaches. Alvarez has received numerous awards and recognition from the arts world and beyond, including Brooklyn Arts Exchange's Artist in Progress Award and from The Association of Performing Arts Presenters Emerging Leaders Institute, The Los Angeles City Council District 11, The Durfee Foundation, The Flourish Foundation, Festival Internacional de Teatro de Los Angeles' (FITLA) and Instituto de Cultura de Puerto Rico, among others. Ana Maria is currently the artistic director of the Los Angeles based Urban Latin Dance Theater group "Contra Tiempo" (www.contra-tiempo.org), and is delighted to share her enthusiam and knowledge for Cuban dance with the dancers at Folklore Camp.

CESAR grew up in Hollywood, CA and began dancing Salsa at the young age of seven. His Tia Raquel (aunt) shared her love of Salsa with him and greatly influenced his affinity for it. In the Spring of 2003, Cesar began working and collaborating with Ana Maria Alvarez and in 2004 he joined UCLA’s Department of World Arts & Cultures. Over the past seven years he has studied various styles including modern, hip hop, house, tai chi, Ghanaian, Mexican Folklorico & Afro-Cuban. As a part of UCLA’s Repertory Tour Ensemble, Cesar performed for and inspired young people in high schools all over Los Angeles. Through his work with Rep Tour, he became passionate about youth arts education, and is continuing this important work with his involvement in the dance company CONTRA-TIEMPO. He currently teaches Salsa and Latin Dance at Cal Poly Pamona and at several studios around Los Angeles.

Ana-Maria and Cesar's classes will focus on Salsa Rueda, which is a type of round dancing. It was developed in Havana, Cuba in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Couples and individual dancers form a circle where moves and partner exchanges are directed by a caller. Ana Maria and Cesar will also be teaching workshops of Rhumba with Roberto Miranda playing live Conga music.. should be an exciting experience.

Michael Ginsburg Macedonian

MICHAEL is a native of the United States and lives in New York City. He started dancing as a young child with his parents. For many years, Michael has been interested in Balkan music and dances, specially Macedonian and Gypsy and is a well known expert in Balkan music and dance. He has made several research trips to Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia, and studied in Macedonia with Pece Atanasovski, with whom he made research tours of the country. Michael has been teaching since 1962 and has taught for many groups in Europe, South America, and Asia.

Michael's energetic and accessible teaching style make him a popular instructor at dance venues all over North America, including the Herman's Maine Camp, EEFC Balkan Music & Dance Workshops (East & West Coast), International Folk Music & Dance Camp, San Francisco Kolo Festival, Stockton Folk Dance Camp, and Texas Camp. We are delighted to welcome Michael back to Folklore Camp where he wil be concentrating on the dances of Macedonia.

Ross Campbell Swedish Fiddle and Cowhorn

ROSS is a confirmed expatriate from San Diego, living in the heartland of Swedish folk music which he first visited as an exchange student in 1978. He has studied with Magnus Bäckström, Jonny Soling and Kalle Almlöf. He currently plays fiddle and recorder in the Bollnäs Spelmanslag and with Bengt Jonsson’s band for the Polskecirkus in Rengsjö, Hälsingland. He plays the cowhorn for the creatures of the woods as well as for neighbours who don’t shut their windows, and he was named “Årets Näck” in 2008, winner of a contest in woodlands musical mystique. Living in Sweden, Ross balances his life between being a performing musician and a High School language and literature teacher.

Ross will focus on the Swedish fiddling traditions from Hälsingland and Dalarna, teaching both tunes and techniques in ensemble format. Sheet music for some tunes will be available but the learning method is primarily by ear. Technique and playing style are targeted for fiddlers, but recorder, soprano sax and clarinet are welcome as well in tune sessions. Special workshops for horn and “troll tunes” will also be held during the week.

Bill Cope and Miamon MillerBalkan Workshop

BILL is a multi-instrumentalist who began playing Balkan music in 1975 and teaching at the Balkan Music & Dance Workshops in 1982. He's made many trips to the Balkans and studied with many great players, including Lyubomir Vladimirov, first chair in the Philip Kutev Ensemble. He has also performed with Vassil Bebelekov, Donka and Nikolay Kolevi, Yuri Yunakov, Mile Kolarov and Pece Atanasovski. Current musical endeavors are the Cope Family Band, Zabava! with Dan Auvil, Rich Schultz and Brian Fox; Trio Zulum, with Vassil Bebelekov, Dan Auvil and singers Maria Bebelekoa and Kimberly, Lacey and Joelle Cope; The Mehanatones with Pat MacSwyney, Dan Auvil and Brian Fox; Zlatno Selo (on the right coast) with Alan and Miriam Zemel, Jeff Fine, Jerry Kisslinger, Marjorie Selden and Kristina Vaskys; and Music Director for the San Francisco Kolo Festival.

MIAMON has 40 years of experience playing Eastern European folk music. Introduced to this wide-ranging genre while at UCLA, he soon joined the AMAN Folk Ensemble where he played and directed for 13 years. From 1978-1991 he taught Romanian folk violin and Transylvanian ensemble classes for the EEFC's Balkan Folk Music and Dance Workshops at Mendocino and at various locations on the East Coast. Miamon has an M.A. in ethnomusicology from UCLA and has traveled to Romania several times, incuding a 10-month stint on a Fulbright grant, to conduct folk music research. Miamon was a professional musician in Los Angeles for many years before moving to the bucolic life of Vermont in 2006.

Bill Cope and Miamon Miller, who have 60 years of teaching experience between them, will collaborate to conduct daily workshops in Balkan and Eastern European instrumental music. They will combine forces assisting one another in leading the ensemble music classes which will feature repertoire from Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania. These workshops are open to all instruments and all levels.

Roberto MirandaAfro-Caribbean Drumming

John Morovich Tamburitza Orchestra

JOHN grew up in Seattle's Croatian community, and has studied, performed and taught Croatian and other Slavic music and dance since 1973. He is Artistic Director of the Seattle Junior Tamburitza and a member of the Sinovi Tamburitza Orchestra of Seattle. He also regularly appears with Balkan Cabaret and Mary Sherhart and has created many original choreographies and musical arrangements for Croatian folk ensembles in Western Canada including Hrvatski Vitezovi, Domagoj, Kardinal Stepinac, Ban Jelacic and Sarajevo.

John will teach a tambritza orchestra class which will focus on music of Central Croatia. In addition to traditional tamburitza instruments (Prim, Bass, Brac, Bugarija, Cello) other instruments like violins, accordions or clarinets are also welcome to join in.

Michael Ginsburg Balkan Brass Band

MICHAEL is director of the Zlatne Uste (Golden Lips) Balkan Brass Band of New york, an internationally known group of American-born musicians playing traditional music of the Balkans, primarily representing Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Romany (Gypsy) traditions. Four-time invited guest at the Dragachevo Brass Festival in Gucha, Serbia, the 12-piece band is among the foremost presenters of traditional Balkan dance music in the United States and is well known for its lively rendition of čoček.

Michael also has played with the Bay Area Brass Band and plays the trumpet, tuba, accordion, frula, and tupan. He teaches Brass Band at numerous workshops around the country including EEFC's Balkan Folk Music and Dance Workshops. His teaching method is to play a recording of the piece, then to teach each part (by ear) to each group of instruments, and then to bring it all together. This class is fun, inclusive, and open to all instruments and all levels.

Michele SimonMacedonian/Balkan Vocal Technique

MICHELE has been involved with Balkan music for almost 40 years as a singer, drummer and dancer. She has been a featured performer in many groups, including Kitka, Anoush, Zabava! Izvorno and Orkestar Sali. She currently sings and drums - sometimes at the same time, with Brass Menazeri Balkan Brass Band and the Greek roots band The Helladelics. Michele has many years of teaching experience, working with private students as well as in workshops throughout the West, including numerous classes at the San Francisco Kolo Festival.

Michele will be exploring the Balkan singers "vocal owner's manual" in her classes; focusing on placement, ornaments, droning and all things technical with a multitude of fun exercises developed especially for American singers. The songs she will be teaching this year will focus mainly on Macedonian material.

John MorovichBeg./Int. - SlSlavic Vocal Workshop

JOHN has studied, taught, and performed the traditional music and dance of Croatia and other parts of south-eastern Europe since 1973. He was awarded the prestigious Wasington State Arts Commission Folk Arts Fellowship for 2001. He is currently the artistic director of the Seattle Junior Tamburitzans, and interim conductor and arranger for Jele Croatian Women's Choir of Vancouver, B.C. John performs with Sinovi Tamburica Band from Seattle and for five years performed with a Balkan-Gypsy fusion rock band called Kultur Shock, and recorded two albums with the group. He performs regularly with vocalist Mary Sherhart and has toured with the Lara Lavi Band. John has taught at many camps and seminars, incuding the San Francisco Kolo Festival, Balkana's Seattle Balkan Camp, Texas Camp, Eastern European Folklife Balkan Camps, and the Seattle Folk Dance Festival.

John's vocal class will range from Dalmatian Klapa style to central Croatian and Slavonian vocal styles. His two workshop classes (singing & tamburitza orchestra) will learn some of the same songs so that they may be combined for joint sesions.