Teaching Staff Bios
Dan Blim
Dan Blim (OH) is a caller, choreographer, and dancer who lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he teaches music history at Denison University. He loves connecting with the music and connecting with other dancers on the floor, and bringing a sense of humor. Dan has called and taught English Country Dance and Contra Dance at numerous camps, including Pinewoods in MA, Camp Cavell in MI and Cascade of Music & Dance in MD. In addition to dancing, feel free to geek out about musicals, board games, puns, Great British Bake Off, and trivia with him!
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Kalia Kliban
Kalia Kliban (CA) has been part of the Bay Area dance community since the mid-80s, performing and teaching morris, longsword, American clog, English clog, contra, and English country dance. Among her other useful talents are the making of excellent pipe-cleaner sculptures and the juggling of a wide variety of supermarket produce. Her clear and humorous teaching style has gotten feet tapping at camps and gatherings in California and beyond.
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Bridget Whitehead
Bridget Whitehead's (Canada/OR) clear calling conveys warmth and enthusiasm, and she enjoys sharing her passion for dancing with both kindness and skill. Her love for social dance began when her parents took her with them to vintage balls as a young child. In 2005, after many years of ballet, modern dance, swing, and tango, Bridget fell in love with English country dancing in Toronto, Ontario. She has been calling and organizing English country dances since 2009, when she started a bi-weekly English country dance in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Bridget has also called in Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario, in Columbia, Missouri, and in Ashland, Oregon, her current local dance community. Bridget has been on staff at Hey Days English Dance & Music Week and is currently the camp's Program Director. She is also on staff at Youth Dance Weekend in Vermont this fall.
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Music/Sound Staff Bios
Alex Cumming
Alex Cumming (VT) is a traditional Singer, Accordionist, Pianist and dance caller hailing from Somerset, England, now living in Greater Boston, MA, USA. He performs songs and tunes from around the United Kingdom and America with a great depth of knowledge of the tradition. Alex has made his mark on the folk scene with his rhythmic dance-able accordion style, strong voice and his fun and engaging stage presence.
Along with solo performances and calling work, Alex is a member of award winning a Capella quartet The Teacups, Fiddle and Accordion duo Alex Cumming & Nicola Beazley, transatlantic trio Bellwether and various dance bands including Reelation, The Four Idiots, Trip The Light Fantastic and The Alex Cumming Dance Band.
As well as performing live, Alex has starred in prime time TV shows including BBCs Edwardian Farm and played live sessions for BBC Radio. In 2014, Alex obtained a BMus Hons. in Folk & Traditional Music from Newcastle University, the only degree program of its type in England.
Alex is also an experienced teacher and workshop leader. He has run group workshops in Dance, song and music for many schools and some of the top folk festivals and organizations including CDSS (Country Dance and Song Society of America), Sidmouth Folk Week, EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society), Towersey Festival, Folk Arts Center of New England and Folk South West.
Alex is co-founder of Virtual Accordion Camp along with Rachel Bell and Jeremiah McLane, and is currently Program Director for CDSS English Dance Week at Pinewoods
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Caroline McCaskey
A native daughter of the genre-bending West Coast music scene, 2019 U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion and a two-time International Musical Saw Champion Caroline McCaskey (CA) is equally at home in the regional traditional, improvising and classical music worlds. In high demand as a teacher and performer throughout North America and author of the AltStrings Fiddle Method, she holds degrees in music composition and performance, as well as Suzuki teaching certification in violin and cello.
Caroline is the fiddler for the dance bands Tartan Suite and Stringfire!, and performs regularly with Boston-based guitarist and banjo player Larry Unger. Her other duo projects include Moonrise, a classical violin and guitar duo based in Sacramento, CA and Secret Oaks, a jazz- and folk-infused string duo based in Fort Collins, CO. An enthusiastic and inspiring teacher, she maintains a private studio online and in the South Bay Area, and teaches at workshops and camps throughout the country, including Mike Block String Camp, Fiddlekids Day Camp, Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, Sierra Fiddle Camp and Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School.
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Patti Cobb
Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Patti Cobb, earned her music degree while singing with the UC Berkeley Collegium Musicum, the SF Chamber Singers, and playing Renaissance side drum for dancing at Faires. Immersing herself in Scottish dance as a teen, Patti broadened out into both dancing and playing piano for English, Scottish and contra dance. Patti is the pianist with dance bands StringFire!, The Humuhumunukunukuapua'a & Strathspey Society Band, and The Odd Sundays English Garage Band (OSEGB), and she leads an open band for the Monday Berkeley Scottish class. She has released three CDs with StringFire!, one with rock band Slanted House, and she has been a featured guest on rock CDs by various other artists. She has also gained recognition for writing tunes (with one in the recent Barnes III collection), and released a duo CD with fiddler James MacQueen featuring many more original tunes. Patti has also been OSEGB’s sound engineer, responsible for recording, editing and mixing over 100 English dance recordings since the early days of the pandemic. She also sings and plays keyboards and guitar in rock and blues bands.
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Audrey Jaber
You know Audrey Leigh Jaber (Knuth) (CA) is performing if the room is buzzing at a higher level. Her fiddling, featured in bands including The Free Raisins, The Gaslight Tinkers, Audacious (with Larry Unger), and Wake Up Robin, has electrified dance and concert halls across the US and Europe. Hailing from Honolulu and now living in California, she cut her folk teeth in the Boston area, attending Berklee College of Music and spending years exploring the thriving New England folk scene. Audrey’s fiddle playing is rhythmically lively and spontaneous; she's guaranteed to get you up and dancing. She specializes in English dance, New England, Celtic, and Old Time tunes (and did we mention she’s also an audio engineer?!). You might also have taken a workshop with Audrey, as she’s been on staff at various camps including various weeks at Pinewoods, Ashokan Northern Week, BACDS American week, New London Assembly and Halsway Manor. For more on Audrey, visit her at audreyleighjaber.com
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Christopher Jacoby
Christopher Jacoby (he/him) (CA) plays accordion, mandolin and guitar for Contras, English, and Scottish country dancing. He has performed in many bands and combinations over the years[1], but you might have seen him with: Audrey Jaber (and others), Wind Weavers, Ground Lift (https://groundliftcontra.bandcamp.com/), Switching Protocols, Phoenix (https://phoenix-danceband.bandcamp.com/album/phoenix-ep), and Last Exit. He can be heard on "Last Exit's Greatest Hits (by Last Exit)" [2], and the recently released "Remember Restaurants...?" (https://audreyandchristopher.bandcamp.com/album/remember-restaurants) by Audrey & Christopher. Christopher's non-dancing related hobbies include (but are not limited to): singing, sourdough and fermenting, Digital Audio & Audio Engineering, training computers to understand music, and workshop facilitation. He would be more than happy to talk to you about any of those things, should you end up at the same lunch table!
In addition to playing for Fall Frolick, Christopher Jacoby is our fabulous sound engineer.
[1] frequent conversation with his wife: "How many bands are you in?" "How do you define a band exactly? How many gigs do you need to play to be a band?"
[2] Only on CD! Contact Christopher for copies. You don't want to miss out, it's a great record.
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Rebecca King
Rebecca King's (CA) classical piano training took a detour when she began playing for folk dances. She found that English Country Dance music was the perfect combination of classical chamber music with the improvisation of jazz. She plays for dances throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and has played in England, Italy, and throughout the US. She has recorded 3 albums with the trio Persons of Quality, including Farnicle Huggy for Andrew Shaw, played on Dances from the Greenery for Sharon Green, and released a solo piano CD and book of her own compositions titled Nearer & Farther. Listen at rebeccakingmusic.com.
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