2009 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend Staff Biographies

Callers

**David Millstone, (Lebanon, NH), has been a part of the New England traditional dance community since he first attended a "Dudley dance" in 1972. He has been a dance caller for nearly 40 years and is known for clear teaching and calling and for creating an enjoyable dance atmosphere.  In addition to countless dance events throughout New England, he has been on staff at dance camps and events all over the U.S. and in Norway, Denmark, Czech Republic, and Belgium.  He is a member of the Governing Board of the Country Dance and Song Society.  In addition, he has created four documentary videos about contra and square dancing. "What's Not To Like?" is a portrait of his home community dance; "Paid To Eat Ice Cream" follows the career of New Hampshire musician and tunesmith Bob McQuillen; "The Other Way Back" documents the music and dance career of Dudley Laufman; “Sweet Talk” traces the career and influence of traditional square dance caller Ralph Sweet.

Chris Ricciotti, (Rockland, MA), Chris started as a traditional square dancer in 1979 and soon turned to calling dances, eventually becoming one of the most well-known callers in New England. His wide repertoire includes a mixture of modern dances, chestnuts and traditional singing squares.  He specializes in gender-free calling and teaching, is also skilled at teaching international folk dancing and English & Scottish Country Dancing, and is a Morris Dance musician as well.  His teaching style is clear and his singing voice excellent.

Bands and Musicians

Bob McQuillen, George Wilson and Deanna Stiles - Led by Bob McQuillen, New England contradance keystone performer, this ensemble produces traditional dance tunes that are music to the ears (and feet!). 

1. ❖**Bob McQuillen, (piano, accordion), (Peterborough, NH), began playing traditional New England dance music in 1947 as the accordion player in Ralph Page's Orchestra. Since then, he has played with innumerable bands and musicians from his own Monadnock region of New Hampshire to Alaska. Bob is a bridge from the pre-World War II generation of New England musicians and the contradance revival of the 1960's to the present. Since composing his first tune, Scotty O'Neil, in 1972, he has gone on to compose over 1300 tunes, many of which have passed into the “traditional” repertoire of contradance music. In 2002 he was the recipient of the prestigious National Folk Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.  He has become the beloved teacher and mentor for many young musicians, thus helping to see that New England musical tradition lives on.
   

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3. ❖**Deanna Stiles, (flute, piccolo, fiddle), (Deerfield, NH), plays with McQuillen and fiddler Jane Orzechowski, as Old New England.  She has also played with the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra, New England Tradition, the Black Water String Band, Jump at the sun, and the Bob-o-Links.
   

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5. ❖George Wilson, (fiddle), (Wynantskill, NY), is a talented, multi-instrumental virtuoso.  His repertoire includes a wide variety of traditional and folk styles. As a fiddler, he has nearly 400 tunes for dancing and listening -  tunes from New England, Quebec, Cape Breton, Scotland, Ireland and Shetland. His dynamic fiddling, strongly influenced by Cape Breton and French Canadian styles, has been popular with contradancers and concert-goers since the late 1970s.  He plays with various bands at contradances, festivals and dance camps on both coasts and in between.  He worked with Donna Hébert on the Beaudoin Family Project to preserve this valuable French Canadian musical heritage.
   

Tidal Wave (Raz-de-Marée)  Formed in 2003 with cross-border personnel, this contradance band from Quebec, Canada, carries on the tradition of French Canadian and New England musicians exchanging tunes and sometimes dance figures.  Grounded in traditional Quebec rhythms and melodies, their music is innovative and refreshing.

1. ❖Rachel Aucoin, (piano), (Montreal, PQ), began with classical training and now specializes in folk music accompaniment.  She has appeared at numerous festivals in Canada, the U.S. and abroad, as the pianist with a variety of musicians and bands.  Formerly a member of the band Domino, she is a founding member of Tidal Wave.  Her greatest interest and passion is teaching, through an innovative program for piano students at the University of Montreal’s preparatory school.
   

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3. ❖Sabin Jacques, (accordion, bones, feet), (Montreal, PQ), began playing the accordion, left-handed, at age 14, and has grown into a versatile and accomplished artist.  He has accompanied many groups on tours in Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, France, England, Spain and Madagascar, and has performed and taught at many festivals and dance camps in Canada and the U.S., including Ashokan, Pinewoods, and Augusta.  Formerly a member of the band Domino, he is a founding member of Tidal Wave.
   

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5. ❖Stuart Kenney, (upright bass, banjo), (Leyden, MA), is one of the most in-demand upright bass and five-string banjo players on the U.S. contradance circuit.  Stuart began playing 5-string banjo at age 12, and upright bass at age 18, and has had a long career in many traditional music genres, ranging from New England contradance music to Cajun and blues.  His interest in Quebecois music and its inclusion into the living tradition of New England contradance music began early on. He began playing with Sabin Jacques and Rachel Aucoin after meeting them in 1999 at Augusta Heritage Traditional Dance and Music week.  Together they founded Tidal Wave.  Although Stuart plays with Tidal Wave and other groups far and wide, his musical home is at the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield, MA, where he plays for and hosts the TopHill Music and Dance Series.
   

6. ❖Éric Favreau, (fiddle), (Quebec), comes from a family of traditional musicians and has spent a great deal of time getting together with other fiddlers, learning their repertoire and studying their varied styles. Over the years, he has garnered a profound understanding and vast knowledge of Québécois traditional music.  He has played for dances with Tidal Wave and Entourloupe, taught and performed at festivals and dance camps, and has accompanied Quebec dance groups in tours of England, Bulgaria, Poland and the United States..
   

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8. ❖The Montville Project - From its beginnings in 2007 at Maine Fiddle Camp in Montville, Maine, this group of accomplished musicians produces tunes often heard at New England contra and barn dances, the common language of dance musicians throughout this region and beyond.
   

9. ❖Art Bryan, (banjo, mandolin,guitar), (Hancock, NH), has been playing contradance, Celtic and old time string band music since 1964 and has performed and recorded with many groups including the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra, Strathspey, String Theory and the Bound to Have a Little Fun Stringband.  After losing the index and middle fingers of his left hand in a workshop accident in January, 2007, Art now plays with only the ring finger and pinky on his left hand.  He is currently learning to play fiddle, guitar, mandolin and tenor banjo left handed.
   

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11. ❖George Fowler, (fiddle), (Brooklin, ME), studied classical violin as a youngster but started fiddling in the late 1970s, learning tunes from lobsterman & dance fiddler Albert Collins of South Blue Hill, Maine. In 1981 he became a founding member of Oakum Bay String Band which anchors the first-Saturday dance in Blue Hill (est. 1975), the longest-running contradance in Maine.
    

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13. ❖Surya Mitchell, (piano, shakers), (Bangor, ME), is descended from a New England, silent-movie pianist grandmother.  She tarted playing piano on the old upright stashed in the basement with less than the 88 keys in good working order. She developed her contradance skills playing for dances with the Oakum Bay String Band. Surya holds a degree in music education and teaches piano and preschool music classes in Bangor.
    

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15. ❖Fred White, (guitar, percussion), (Augusta, ME), has been performing and recording oldtime, string band, hillbilly, rockabilly, blues, bluegrass, jazz, swing, minstrels, ragtime and Americana music for the past 30 years.  He presently works with the Maine bands Frigate, Catharsis, Hay 44, Bondeaux Redux and Improvox.