WILD ASPARAGUS AND CONTRAFORCE!!
ContraForce is the energized psychedelic folk project : best friends, Andrae, Joey, Jimi, and Karin . Based out of Charleston.
Andrae and Joey were old hands at the contra band scene, having vetted themselves in Anna’s Bananas, Shady Groove, and other arrangements for over fifteen years before they decided to strike out on their own to explore their new and exciting vision for contra music. But they knew that they needed one more member to complete the rockin’ trinity, and after months coaxing Jimi Two Nails, they began experimenting with “rocking out some fiddle tunes”—which quickly escalated to writing the bulk of their own material. Thus, a new band was born, merging traditional contra music with psychedelia, surf rock, and metal to create a new, exciting force: ContraForce. With these crazy jokers at the wheel, there’s no telling where the dance will end up, but you can be sure it’ll be a place filled with that happy, tired sweat we all crave.
Callers GEORGE MARSHALL AND GAYE FIFER!!
George Marshall, originator and producer of Tropical Dance Vacation, is a full-time musician, caller and dance teacher, touring nationally year-round. His specialty is teaching and calling the New England-style contra dances he has collected throughout the country. George is renowned for his knack of matching music to dance and for his smooth, concise teaching and presentation. George provides excellent instruction and calling for New England style contras.
Gaye Fifer (Pittsburgh, PA) hasn’t stopped dancing since she found contras in 1979. Introduced to the community in St. Louis, she has found dancing wherever she goes. Gaye learned to call contras in Charlottesville, VA and has been traveling to call and dance for the past 25 years. After 15 years of dancing, she finally realized that someone had to be doing work to make the dances happen. She began serving on her local dance committee, organizing her local dance weekend, serving on the CDSS Board and leading workshops for other organizers. Gaye is also a passionate teacher and dancer of waltz, having led workshops with her partner, Wayne, at numerous dance weekends around the country. She participated in a course at Pinewoods several years ago to learn how to call English Country dances and now includes that in her repertoire of offerings. She now lives in Pittsburgh, PA. where she retired from a 30 year elementary school teaching career.
Our professional Chef, Jay Christmas from Durham NC, returns as master Chef for the weekend. He and his team created amazingly good food to feast on over the weekend last year preparing a delicious menu, again with a vegetarian option (check omnivore or vegetarian on the registration form)
There are also many interesting, useful and fun workshops and activities going on during the weekend so choose your favorites throughout the day.
Camp Millstone is a well-maintained 4-H Camp in the Sandhills region of North Carolina, near the town of Ellerbe, between Pinehurst and Rockingham. It is ideal for a high-energy dance weekend, situated on 320 acres with 14 spacious cabins and lots of room for tent campers. Much of the camp property is wooded, deciduous and long-leaf pine, with a picturesque lake right in the middle. There is a quite large dining hall adjoining a professional kitchen, perfect for community meals. As many of you recall, we happily danced at Camp Sertoma near Winston-Salem for many years, but the state closed that camp in 2013 so we have relocated to Millstone, a top notch facility run by the same director who ran Sertoma for many years. We are very excited to have the opportunity to dance in this excellent facility, and we think you will share our excitement.
in the lovely Sandhills region of North Carolina.
Come out and enjoy it with us, you’ll be glad you did!!!
