Staff

Give yourself up . . . to these wonderful teachers and musicians!

Our Dancing Master:

Kalia Kliban

Kalia Kliban has been part of the Bay Area dance community since the mid-80s, performing and teaching morris, longsword, American clog, English clog, and English country dance. Her clear and humorous teaching style has gotten feet tapping at camps and gatherings in California and beyond. With the departure of Sebastopol ECD founder Lydee Scudder several years ago, we were thrilled to have Kalia take on the role of programmer and lead caller for our group. In the last few years she has been featured at dance camps and balls near and far, to great acclaim. So make sure you're dance shoes have enough sole left for a thrilling Mad Robin Ball!

Musicians:

We are fortunate to have the hot Seattle band Tricky Brits playing for us this year. Many of us enjoyed a week of their music and teaching in 2007 at Mendocino English Dance Week (to whom we owe thanks for the fine bios below). The Tricky Brits include

Anita Anderson

Anita Anderson is an extraordinary English country and contra dance pianist, playing with Tricky Brits, Bag o' Tricks and other Northwest bands. She is also a superb dancer, and this informs her playing to the dancers' delight. She brings a large bag of tricks to her piano playing, with influences from do-wop, English, ethnic, and vintage dance music—all in attentive service to the dancers. Her syncopated, harmonically complex use of the keyboard has transported many a listener to Dance Nirvana. Anita is an excellent singer, Scandinavian musician and dancer, and composer of contra and English country dance tunes.

Dave Bartley

Dave Bartley plays mandolin, guitar, cittern and other plucked string instruments. His odyssey from rock guitarist to classical guitarist to eclectic sideman and tunesmith filters through his fingers, making you wonder what he'll do next. Dave performs with Seattle bands Tricky Brits, Bag o' Tricks, and KGB. Former bands include the Greek band Pangeo and a variety of other English country dance bands. He recently played on stage with the Seattle Opera. Just your typical player of English, contra, rock-and-roll, classical and Balkan music on guitar, mandolin and cittern, with all the fiery rhythms and astounding licks such a combination suggests! He is also a prolific dance tune composer.

Betsy Cooper

Betsy Cooper has been playing flute for dances for more than twenty years. Her style features a lot of improvisation and harmonizing; she enjoys creating sound that ranges from smooth and lyrical to percussive and driving. Prior to moving to Seattle a decade ago, she joyfully performed with many ensembles at dances and camps from New England to the mid-Atlantic.

Sande Gillette

Sande Gillette has both feet firmly in the two worlds of dance and classical music, combining technical skill and raw talent with an all-consuming passion for fiddling. As a dance musician she plays inventive English country dance and contra fiddle with Tricky Brits and Bag o' Tricks. As a classical musician she plays violin in the Seattle Symphony . Her dual lives provide lucky dancers with superb fiddling music. Sande embodies her band's split personality-one moment her instrument sings through an intricate melody in perfect intonation, while a minute later she's sawing through an old-timey classic.

Last modified 3/09/09 by MRB webmaster