The Staff
Matthew Olwell
A founding member of the acclaimed music group Maivish, Matthew Olwell is a performing and teaching artist whose work blends percussive dance, live music, and visual media. Matthew has been a featured performer and teacher at numerous festivals and camps, including the Dublin Dance Festival, the Augusta Heritage Center, and the Aulnay All Blues Festival in Paris. Other recent works include CyberTrad, a recording project that blends traditional and original Irish and Breton music with bass and Beatbox. A 2017 graduate of Davis & Elkins College with a degree in Multimedia Performance, Matthew currently resides in Philadelphia, where he is pursuing an MFA in dance studies at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance.
Chris Bischoff
Chris Bischoff has been organizing, performing, & teaching traditional dance since discovering the folk world as a teenager. He enjoys working with new & experienced dancers with a focus on contras, squares, clogging, & sword. Chris has been on staff at dance weeks and weekends throughout the U.S., Canada, and Scandinavia, including Cumberland Camp, the Hindman Settlement Folk Week, Berea's Christmas School, and others.
Dave Wiesler
Dave Wiesler discovered playing for folk dancing in the early 1990s, and felt that the job description had been written specifically for him. In the three decades since, he has become highly regarded for his strong rhythm, his technical skills, and his deep knowledge of many genres — ranging from contra dance, English and Scottish country dance to Viennese waltz, couple dance, jazz, and sacred music. Dave has played at festivals and dance and music camps across the country, as well as in Canada, Scotland, and England. He appears on over two dozen recordings, many of which feature his compositions. In addition, Dave is a music teacher, a capable guitarist and singer, a writer of silly parody songs, and a children's choir accompanist.
Emily Oleson
Emily Oleson is a dance scholar who has studied a broad range of movement styles, from traditional Appalachian flatfooting and other percussive dances, to forms of Irish dance, partner dance, contemporary urban dances, and vernacular jazz. Emily’s performance highlights include appearing with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the Aulney-All-Blues festival in France, Wheatland Music Festival, the Newport Folk Festival with Seeger’s Clogging All-Stars, Jacob’s Pillow’s Inside/Out Stage, and a US State Department tour in Russia with The Meaning of Buck Dance. She received her MFA in Dance at the University of Maryland College Park in May 2012 and a certification in Laban-Bartenieff Movement Analysis in 2015 from the Laban-Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Dance at Temple University.
Luke Donforth
Luke Donforth is a caller and choreographer based in Burlington, VT. As a caller, he brings a warmth to the stage and focuses on facilitating everyone in the hall joyously moving to the music. He runs a monthly family dance in Vermont, and calls at dance weekends around the country. He's a founding member of the Mad Robin Callers Collective, and has written a multitude of dances for all levels.
Miranda Weinberg
Miranda Weinberg is a classically trained violinist who delights in the freedom and interaction of playing for dancing. You can find her playing for English, contra, and Scottish dances in the Philadelphia area and beyond. When she's not playing, she's often dancing, working as an applied linguist, and caring for two small dogs in Philadelphia.
Noah VanNorstrand
Noah VanNorstrand’s driving fiddle, feet and mandolin have been a rhythmic powerhouse behind some of the most popular dance bands of the last decade including Great Bear, Buddy System, Wake Up Robin and The Faux Paws. He has performed all over North America at nearly two hundred different dance weekends, folk festivals and music camps. His musicianship is deeply compelling and virtuosic but difficult to define; freely blending traditional folk genres such as Celtic and Old-time Applachian fiddling with elements of rock, newgrass and pure unfiltered improvisation. His unique approach to foot percussion and innate understanding of dynamics and groove have made him a defining figure of modern contra dance music.
Audrey Jaber
You know Audrey Jaber (Knuth) is performing if the room is buzzing at a higher level. Her fiddling, featured in bands including The Free Raisins, The Gaslight Tinkers, Audacious (with Larry Unger), and Wake Up Robin, has electrified dance and concert halls across the US and Europe. Hailing from Honolulu and now living in California, she cut her folk teeth in the Boston area, attending Berklee College of Music and spending years exploring the thriving New England folk scene. Audrey’s fiddle playing is rhythmically lively and spontaneous; she’s guaranteed to get you up and dancing. She specializes in English dance, New England, Celtic, and Old Time tunes\. You might also have taken a workshop with Audrey, as she’s been on staff at various camps including CDSS English week at Pinewoods, Ashokan Northern Week, BACDS American week, and Halsway Manor.
Amy Englesberg
Amy Englesberg performs across the country on both piano and accordion. Her energetic playing ignites dance halls, as she complements melodies with a range of styles and rhythms - from boom-chuck to powerful grooves. Amy grew up in the contra dance community in Bellingham WA, and began to play for dances around Boston MA with The Free Raisins during her college years. Now based in Vermont, she has expanded her performance circuit to playing for dance weekends, camps, festivals, as well as local community events. Amy has been on staff at Pinewoods, BACDS American Week, and Ashokan Northern Week, and also teaches piano lessons from her home studio.
Katie Zukof
Katie Zukof is a professional recess supervisor, elementary school Spanish teacher, caller and mother of two girls. A lifelong dancer, she resides in Bloomington, IN where she has been contra dancing and clogging since 2007 and calling since 2009. She has previously led children's art classes and mummer's plays at Terpsichore's Dance Holiday, Pinewoods Camp and Cumberland Dance Week. She is excited to be putting on her physical education hat this year to lead outdoor games!
Meg Dedolph
One of the funniest people we know, and an integral part of the Terpsichore's Holiday Planning Committee, Meg Dedolph will be playing guitar and drums for the Cosmic Otters, teaching kids' ritual dance, and co-leading the dance band workshop at camp this year. Meg is a dance caller and children’s music teacher in the Chicago area.
Adina Gordon
Adina Gordon finds an outlet for her loves of travel, music, dance and silliness by calling and dancing at festivals throughout the U.S. and Canada, creating joy and minor chaos wherever she goes. Combining a voice that makes you WANT to do what she says with a commitment to using that power for good and not evil, Adina calls contras and squares both old and new that cause spontaneous eruptions of joy on dance floors. She counts it as a job well done whenever anyone says, “I don’t really like squares, but I like your squares.”