From the Mic is a podcast about North American social dance calling
Through conversations with callers across the continent, host Mary Wesley will explore the world of square, contra, and community dance callers. Why do they do it? How did they learn? What is their role, on stage and off, in shaping our dance communities? What can they tell us about the particular corner of the dance world that they know, and love, the best?
Each episode we’ll hear from a different caller, but they all have something in common – a spark, a desire to lead, to share joy, to invite movement, to stand in that special place between the band and a room full of dancers (or people who don’t yet know that they’re dancers), and from the mic say “Find a partner, let’s dance!”
From the Mic Episode 31 – Ang DeCarlis May 7, 2025 - I love facilitating that much joy. I love the craft of it. I love the art of it. I love the experience of it. I think a lot of callers will talk about it like —"oh my god it's like a drug." You just get in it and it's like, "How could you ever stop? How could you ever not do this?" ~ Ang DeCarlis Angela DeCarlis (they/them) has been calling contras since 2012. Whether onstage at a dance or as a studio art instructor, Ang finds a lot of joy in the process of clear and careful teaching. Their… ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!
From the Mic Episode 30 – Jeremy Korr March 8, 2025 - "Every dance comes with multiple stories to it, if the caller wants to take them into account. I think...each slot we call is like a five story building. It's got multiple stories to it." ~ Jeremy Korr Jeremy Korr is a bicoastal caller, based in Southern California most of the year and in Eastern Massachusetts during the summer. A second-generation dancer and dance leader, he has been calling children's and family dances and international folk dances since 1993 and contras and squares since 2003. He has called at festivals, camps, dance weekends, and other events in 20 states and provinces… ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!
From the Mic Episode 29 – The Amidons January 2, 2025 - I tried not to be a dance leader. I tried to be a dancer. I tried to just be like one of the kids. And the best time would come when I stopped calling, and often nobody would be saying anything and we would just be grooving with this really great music we had. ~ Peter Amidon Mary Alice and Peter met in 1975 at a Ted Sannella contradance in Cambridge Massachusetts. They both became immersed in the rich life of traditional dance and song first in Cambridge and then in Brattleboro Vermont where, in 1978, they’d moved and married,… ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!
From the Mic Episode 28 – David Kaynor! November 8, 2024 - When I joined the Grange, it really did become a bridge to people with really, really different social and political views and values—really different lifestyles. And it's not that I wanted to become like them, but I wanted to like them. ~ David Kaynor A conversation with David In this special episode of From the Mic, Mary shares an interview she recorded with David Kaynor of Montague, MA in 2011, ten years before his passing. Rather than focusing on calling, this interview is about the relationship between contra dancers and the Grange, the social organization connected to some of the… ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!
From the Mic Episode 27 – Diane Silver September 30, 2024 - I love that moment when I can stop calling—when I can pull back, pull back, pull back, and ultimately you're not calling anymore. And the dancers are just dancing to the music. ~ Diane Silver Hailing from Asheville, NC, Diane Silver has been a die-hard contra dancer, swing dancer, and flat-footer for nearly 30 years. With a penchant for hot modern contras and everyone-active squares, she loves sharing high-energy dancing that allows everyone to “play” with the band. Diane values calling for beginners and community dances, to share the joy of dancing and to help bring new dancers into the… ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!
From the Mic Episode 26 – George Marshall August 8, 2024 - My philosophy as a caller is that I would like to be the enzyme in the reaction between the music and the dancers—help them interact with each other, like the glue that keeps them together. ~ George Marshall George Marshall discovered square and contra dancing in the early seventies while volunteering with a summer trail crew in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He quickly became an enthusiastic dancer, eagerly seeking out dance opportunities wherever he could find them. During his college years in Amherst, Massachusetts, George founded the contra-dance band Swallowtail with fellow students, marking the beginning of his… ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!
From the Mic Episode 25 – Maia McCormick July 8, 2024 - Calling feels like a puzzle to solve and a skill to build, and something that can be constantly honed. I'm never going to be done developing as a caller. ~Maia McCormick Maia McCormick is a contradance caller and choreographer based in New York City, and has gigged at festivals, weekends, and dance camps from coast to coast. She started dancing during undergrad at Williams College, learned to call shortly thereafter, and has been doing it ever since (though hopefully she's gotten a bit better at it in the intervening years). As a choreographer, she strives to write dances that are… ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!
From the Mic Episode 24 – Rick Mohr May 23, 2024 - Rick Mohr's calling and choreography have delighted dancers for decades, from local barn dances to dance weeks and weekends across North America. Many of Rick's contra dances are coast-to-coast favorites, which he attributes to persistence in reworking an idea (for days or years) until any imperfections are smoothed out. In the wider world of traditional music and dance Rick also plays fiddle for contra dances, leads an open band, chorus songs, writes songs and fiddle tunes, leads, plays, and choreographs for Morris and rapper, and programs dance weeks. Enjoy! ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!
From the Mic Episode 23 – Cis Hinkle April 5, 2024 - I tell new people out on the floor, “If you're having a good time, that's fine, it isn't all about doing it right.” And I finally heard what I said, and I realized that it might apply to me, too! ~ Cis Hinkle Cis Hinkle has delighted contra and square dancers since 1985 with her skilled teaching, welcoming manner, playful enthusiasm and masterful selection of dances. She is in great demand at music and dance festivals all over the U.S., England and Denmark. She’s also the current president of Atlanta’s Chattahoochee Contra Dancers. When not on the road, Cis teaches… ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!
From the Mic Episode 22 – David Millstone March 1, 2024 - David Millstone started contra dancing with Dudley Laufman in the early 1970s and has been calling dances for forty-five years: contras old and new, squares from different regional traditions, English country dances, and plenty of family friendly events. He’s been on staff at dance weekends, festivals and weeklong camps from Alaska and Hawaii, Maine to Florida, as well as in nine countries in Europe. As a dance historian, he's published, spoken, produced videos and created websites that celebrate different aspects of country dance and music. He served for 12 years, including 6 as president, on the governing board of CDSS.… ➤ Audio, show notes, and more!