Photo by Doug Plummer
Thanks to the Massachusetts Cultural Council for their generous support.
Ellie ShogrenEllie Shogren caught the dance bug early in life, attending her first contra dance at two months old. Decades later, she is still an avid dancer and has served numerous folk communities across the country as staff, crew, board member, and enthusiastic participant.
Originally hailing from Tennessee, Ellie has been fortunate enough to develop folk connections all over the country and overseas, having lived in the South, New England, and the United Kingdom. Ellie and her husband, Ethan, now call the Nebraska/Iowa region home after meeting at a contra dance.
Ellie is honored to serve the CDSS community as a board member in memory of her mom, Chrissy Davis-Camp, who was an influential caller from Tennessee. Both Ellie and her younger sister, Anna Claire, have followed in their mom’s steps; if they are not on the dance floor, you can find them behind the mic calling contra, English, or teaching youth morris and rapper sword.
Because of her parents, Chrissy and Pat, Ellie was taught the importance of community and instilled with a responsibility for inclusion and respect for all through the lense of folk arts. Ellie still carries these important lessons with her as she shares her passion for all things folk.
Sharon GreenBack in 1984-1985, David and Sharon Green had an annus terribilis, a terrible year. In 14 months, they lost all four of their parents. Then in 1988, Sharon found country dancing and refound joy.
Since then, Sharon has danced and called in England, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, and throughout the United States. She has organized dance weekends and weeks on both coasts and has served on the boards of both the Bay Area Country Dance Society and Country Dance New York. While living in New York, she edited the introductions to three books of dances by her mentor, Fried de Metz Herman. Emulating Fried, Sharon has also choreographed some 40 dances herself.
In 2024, Sharon had the great honor of being chosen to receive CDSS’s Lifetime Contribution Award for her and her household’s work promoting English country dancing. Sharon maintains that it has been her great joy to be part of CDSS, and now in her 80s she is both happy and honored to serve on the board.
Dilip SequeiraDilip Sequeira (Seattle, WA) hails from London and contracted a severe case of the folk dance virus (Scottish variant) while a student in Edinburgh. On escaping Britain for St. Louis in 2003, he discovered the joys of English country dance, and it was only a few short years ago that he found his inner contra dancer, too. He has been calling ECD on the West Coast since 2017 and enjoys working with all levels of dancers, helping them improve their skills and get more out of their dancing.
He is now a recovering software engineer, on a mission to make the English country dance repertoire available to the world.