Cis Hinkle perpetually delights dancers with her welcoming and enthusiastic manner, clear instruction, and perfect selection of flowing contras and fast moving, western-style squares. She's a favorite at BACDS American Week, was the featured caller at this year's Faultline Frolic, and is popular all over the country.

North Carolina's Fred Park has been teaching and collecting dances for more than 35 years. He leads contra dance, squares, Scandinavian dance, Cajun French two-step and waltz, and much more, as well as being a memorable storyteller. Find out more about Fred at his website.

Robin Hayden

Jocelyn Reynolds

Jocelyn was a member of the first rapper sword teams in California , but in more recent years she has given her allegiance to longsword. She founded Ring of Cold Steel in 1996, to perform her version of Ampleforth. Jocelyn has been involved in the English dance world since 1980, and has performed morris all over the USA, England, New Zealand and Canada. She has taught sword and morris workshops at several BACDS camps, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Lark in the Morning. She attained her masters degree in English dance history in 1993 from Dr. Tony Barrand.

Jocelyn will offer longsword in varying degrees of difficulty, suitable for beginners and experienced practitioners. This relatively low-impact display dance form is gentler on knees and ankles than morris dancing, and can weave a hypnotic spell over the viewer.

Charlie Hancock

CHARLIE HANCOCK's piano and accordion are familiar sounds at BACDS dances. He plays for English, contra, and Scottish country dancing, and plays a bit of jazz for fun. His bands include Fear of Commmitment (who played for the 2006 Playford Ball) and Swing Farm (frequently on the contra scene), as well as the Kammen/Oakden/Hancock configuration.

Jim Oakden

JIM OAKDEN has gone through a succession of musical stages, from early music to traditional. Jim has been a staff musician at many West Coast camps including Fall Weekend, both by himself and as part of the GUPpies, and is currently active as a musician for English country dances, contras, Irish and Cape Breton sessions and dances from Brittany. Jim led the band for the 2000 Playford Ball, and programmed the 2001 and 2002 BACDS Fall Weekends, and two American Weeks at Mendocino.

Kathrine Gardner

Kathrine has played fiddle and some piano for contra, square, and English dances and dance camps since the mid-80s. Some of her early mentors were Cathie Whitesides, Jeremy Kammerer, and Barry Shultz. She credits Cathie with teaching her how to fit tunes to dances, Jeremy with how to live the itinerant musician's life on a low budget and with honor, and Barry with helping her master the slippery and offbeat ways of Southeastern American fiddling. Lark in the Morning camp deserves mention for providing some of her first opportunities to play for dancing, and for the inspiration to try to make life a nonstop music party.

Today Kathrine plays with Fear of Commitment, the Guppies and the KJammers. Kathrine lives with husband Kit Nelson near the beach at Half Moon Bay.

Shira Kammen

SHIRA KAMMEN's fiddling is always a hit at Mendocino English Week and Fall Weekend. Her band workshops always encourage the players to push themselves along. She's played for the BACDS Playford Ball, CDSS dance camps, and regular English dances. She's been a highlight of many Christmas Revels shows. She has a degree in music from UC Berkeley. She is a member of Ensembles Alcatraz, Project Ars Nova, and Medieval Strings. She has performed and taught around the US and the world, and is at home in many musical genres, including English and Breton.  

Here is Shira's website.

"But I *am* dancing! It's just that my partner is electronic and has a lot of knobs!" is how Nick responds when asked why he's listening to music instead of dancing. Highly regarded by dancers, callers, and musicians for the attention that he pays to the needs of those on and off the stage, Nick is the house sound engineer for the San Francisco, Berkeley, and Sonoma contra dances and the Berkeley experienced English dance. Taking equal joy in producing contra, English, and other folk and couple dance music of the highest quality, Nick's credits as lead or assistant sound engineer include numerous BACDS events and camps (English Week, Fall Weekend, Fall Ball, Sierra Swing, and local tours by The Flying Romanos, Pete Grassby, and Four in a Bar), the first two NBCDS Mad Robin English balls, the San Francisco Free Folk Festival, and the Fairfield (IA) Folk Arts and Dance Co-op's annual Bare Necessities dance weekends.