Robin Hayden Robin Hayden teaches English country dancing in Amherst and Boston, MA. Soon after arriving at Swarthmore College in 1979, she found herself hopelessly over-involved in historical and traditional dance and music, including morris, rapper, Scottish, English, International, and modern dancing, as well as Swarthmore's Early Music Ensemble. She has lived in beautiful South Amherst, MA since 1987, and began leading English dances there in 1993. Under her sensitive and dedicated guidance, the weekly dance has become the center of a flourishing community of dancers and musicians.

Robin has been a member of the office staff at CDSS for fifteen years; she is also an accomplished poet. Known for her lyrical dancing and dynamic teaching, she has participated in weekends, workshops and festivals across the northeast and in the U.K.

The New Vagaries are a newly formed dynamic dance duo with Ben Bolker on violin / fiddle and Rick Avery on piano / keyboards. They will be joined by special musical guests throughout the weekend.

Tara Bolker, your host, is an English and contra dance caller and organizer in Hamilton, Ontario. She calls for community dances and private events all around the region and is especially keen on keeping walk-through time to a minimum without losing the dancers--"50% more dancing!" as one dancer put it. And she loves to throw great parties.