Jaap Leegwater (Bulgarian)
Jaap Leegwater started his dance career in his native country, The Netherlands, where he earned degrees in education and teaching international folk dance. Fascinated with the irregular Balkan rhythms, Jaap specialized in Bulgarian dance and choreography. During his frequent trips to Bulgaria, Jaap collected and recorded many songs and dances.
In 1980, Jaap was introduced to American folk dancers. He has been on the staff of Stockton Folk Dance Camps multiple times in the 1980s and 1990s with his last appearance being at the 2000 Camp. Jaap also plays the flute and has played with folk dance bands at camps and international folk dance festivals, including Stockton's Bicoastal Band.
♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪
Erica Goldman (Israeli)
Erica Goldman began Israeli dancing in New York as a child alongside her father, another folk dance fanatic. While a student at Brandeis University in Boston, she performed with several area Israeli dance troupes and was the director of B'yachad, the university's student group. She branched out into other kinds of folk dance as a member of the Mandala Folkdance Ensemble. Erica danced with the Collage Dance Ensemble for a few years before moving to Los Angeles, and competed with them at the GoldenKaragoz Folk Dance Competition in Turkey in 2003.
In 2004, Erica spent the summer as the dance director of Camp Alonim at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, a Jewish overnight camp where Israeli dancing is truly an obsession among the campers. She was hooked; after working for nearly eight years for a software company in Boston, she quit her job and moved to L.A. and has been teaching Israeli dance full-time ever since. She currently performs with the Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble, runs a weekly Israeli dance session, and also teaches dance at New Community Jewish High School.
♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪
Paul Mulders (Macedonian)
 Paul Mulders is making his third appearance at Stockton Folk Dance Camp this year. He is a well-regarded dance instructor throughout Europe. Specializing in Yugoslav and Macedonian dance – particularly the Roma village dances of Prilep and Bitola – Paul has studied dance in the Balkans since the mid-70's. Paul assisted Pece Atanasovski most summers until 1990.
♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪
Bruce Hamilton (English)
Bruce Hamilton is a thoughtful and energetic teacher of English and Scottish country dancing. Bruce began Scottish country dancing in 1967, at college, immediately fell in love with it, and took up teaching in the early '70s. Bruce has taught English and Scottish country dancing in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. He has become one of the country's most popular English dance leaders, with invitations to many festivals and summer dance camps each year. Lately he's been focusing on non-choreographic elements of English Country Dance: how to move well, how to be musical, how to recover from slips, how to be a good partner, body mechanics, and the social and mental aspects.
♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪
Richard Powers (vintage and international couple dances)
 Richard Powers is one of the country's foremost experts in the history of early American and European social dance. This type of dance has been called "Vintage Dance" since 1980, when Richard coined the term. He has been researching and reconstructing historic social dances for more than twenty-five years. Richard became a full-time instructor at Stanford University's Dance Division, having joined the faculty in 1992. He directs the 70-member Stanford Vintage Dance Ensemble.
Richard is noted for founding historic dance groups, his choreography of dozens of stage productions and films, and for his workshops across the U.S., France, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. He has taught at numerous dance camps throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, including stints on the staff of Stockton Folk Dance Camp many times in the past.
♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪
Andy Taylor-Blenis (Portuguese)
Andy Taylor-Blenis began International Folk dancing as a young child under the guidance of her parents Marianne and Conny Taylor, cofounders of the Folk Arts Center of New England. On numerous occasions, her mother, Marianne Taylor, taught at Stockton Camp. One of Marianne’s passions was the Portuguese dances introduced by Madeline Green. Andy continues her work of reconstructing Portuguese dances.
Andy was certified in Scottish Country Dance at age 17. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amhurst with a BFA in dance and minor in Social Anthropology. She continues to teach International Dance through the Folk Arts Center of New England, Revels Inc. and Mass Movement as well as in private and public schools and universities. In 2006, Andy founded and is the artistic director of Mladost Folk Ensemble in honor of her father, Conny Taylor. Andy is also currently artistic director for the RSCDS Demonstration Team and the Wheaton College Dance Group in Norton, Massachusetts. She continues to teach modern and jazz dance at the college level as well as teaching in local studios.
♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪
Jerry Helt (Squares and contras)
 Jerry Helt is internationally known for his expertise in the calling and teaching field and is respected by callers and dancers for his ability to bring fun and joy to the dance world. Jerry began his square dance activities in the early 1940s and has been a full-time caller since 1953. He first came to Stockton Camp in 1956 and has been here every year since, delighting us with his great squares and contras, buildingup to Exploding Squares on Friday night.
♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪
Roberto Bagnoli ("The latest dances from Europe" workshop)
 Roberto Bagnoli grew up in Rome, where he was first introduced to folk music and dance, eventually taking part in several performances and teaching dance classes. He subsequently studied various forms of folk dance in workshops throughout Europe, Israel, and North America under the guidance of renowned choreographers and teachers. From 1995 to 2003, he performed as a dancer and choreo grapher with the Terra di Danza Dance Company and was involved in the production of Raggi di luna Italiana and Capriccio Italiano (Italian dances), GiroGiroMondo (dances from around the world), Keltic Emotion (Celtic dances), Mazal Tov (Israeli dances), and Ethnos (international folk dances). He is the founder of Folk Atelier Reggio Emilia (FARE), devoted to the development and conservation of folk dance heritage. He has also lectured and conducted workshops throughout Europe as well as on numerous occasions in North America, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
Roberto lives in Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy, considered to have one of the most important dance communities in Italy.
♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪
Miamon Miller & Friends
Live music will be provided by Miamon Miller & Friends (Miamon Miller, Michael Lawson, Vic Koler, Steve Ramsey [First week only], and Bill Cope [Second week only])
Miamon Miller, a violinist, has been a fixture in folk music for 40 years. In the 70s and early 80s he was a musician with and later directed the Aman Folk Ensemble. During that period and subsequently, he's played with many other groups including Pitu Guli, Bucovina Klezmer, Fuge Imaginea, Trei Arcusi and many more. Whether playing with mariachi or klezmer bands, Middle Eastern music, or jazz, he approaches all styles with near-equal enthusiasm. Academically, he has an M.A. in ethnomusicology (UCLA) and studied Transylvanian folk music for a year in Romania on a Fulbright grant. 
Michael Lawson joined the San Francisco-based, Westwind International Folk Ensemble in 1975, playing accordion. Shortly thereafter he formed Nisava, a folk orchestra with bass, fiddle and accordion playing music of the Balkans for folk dance parties, festivals and weddings. Michael has taught accordion at the Mendocino Balkan Music Camp in California, was a founding member of Balkan Cabaret which ran from 2001 to 2010, and has performed locally in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.
Vic Koler is a producer, a composer, an arranger, and one of the great talents of the electr ic, fretless and upright basses on the West Coast. Vic began playing thetraditional music of his maternal grandfather who was Macedonian. He has contributedhis talents, live in concert, to Eartha Kitt, Neil Sedaka and the legendary AMAN Folk Ensemble. Vic currently lives in the Los Angeles area where he plays hundreds of concert performances; and regularly records for film, television and CD.
Steve Ramsey ( vocals, guitar) began performing Balkan music with Seattle's Radost Folk Ensemble in 1976 and was Music Director for their 1981 European tour. In 1984 he moved to Northern California & continued performing with several groups. Steve has taught at the Mendocino Balkan Music and Dance workshops and the balkanalia! camps near Portland OR. He is a past President of the East European Folklife Center. Steve returned to Seattle in 2000 and performed with Balkan Cabaret. He also performs Greek rebetika music with Pasatempo and Greek popular music with the Fetatones. His day job is managing KBCS, a community radio station in the Seattle area. [First week only].
Bill Cope is a multi-instrumentalist who has performed in concert settings on over50 instruments. He began playing Balkan music in 1975 and teaching tambura at the Balkan Music & Dance Workshops in 1982. Todate, he has taught at over 25 of their workshops. Bill was Music Director of the Westwind International Dance Ensemble from 1977 to 1991. He moved to Los Angeles to perform with the Aman International Ensemble in 1981. He was Administrative Director of the East European Folklife Center from 1990 to 1993. Bill has been Music Director for the San Francisco Kolo Festival during several periods over the last 30 plus years. [Second week only]
♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♬ ♪ |