Bill Olson Bio adapted from Bill’s Website: I was born in Attleboro, MA, and grew up in Durham, NH. I played Tuba in the marching band all through school and learned Guitar from my scoutmaster. I went away to College in Pennsylvania in 1964, where I became exposed to Old Timey music. (It was the…

“Mentorship in this community often looks like someone noticing you, giving you a small nudge, and then stepping back so you can figure out your own way in.” ~ Lindsey Dono   Lindsey Dono Washington-based caller Lindsey Dono is a mainstay on the national contra circuit, and has been on staff at camps, weeks, and…

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?…

“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…

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. ~…

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…

 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….

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…

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…

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!