Guest Artists ’24

The 2024 Harvest Moon Dance Weekend’s guest artists are musicians Mara Shea and Kathy Talvitie, and caller Paul Ross.

Mara Shea

Mara Shea has been happily playing for dancers since the 1990s—mostly English, Scottish, and contra—and is frequently heard at balls, dance weekends, and concerts in the US, Scotland, and Canada. She has been on the music staff at Pinewoods, TAC Summer School, Blue Ridge, Pawling, Scottish Weekend, among others, and has played for many Regency and English Country Dance workshops and balls. With pianist Dean Herington, Mara led musicians’ workshops for the Scottish Country Dance group in Lisbon, Portugal. She has many recordings with her contra dance band, The Elftones, as well as with other wonderful musicians such as Dave Wiesler (Heather Hills), Rhiannon Giddens (All the Pretty Horses), and Julie Gorka (In 3⁄4 Time, and several Scottish dance recordings). Mara decided to take a year off from teaching in 2018-19 and earned an MLitt in ethnology and folklore at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.


Mara lives in Elon, North Carolina, where she teaches Celtic fiddle online, and works as an occasional freelance writer and editor.

For more on Mara, and to listen to some of her music, visit her website, marashea.com. Her solo English country dance music recorded during the pandemic is available on her website and also at marashea.bandcamp.com.

 

Kathy Talvitie

Kathy Talvitie is a musician, tune writer, and dancer. Based in the Philadelphia area, she plays for both English country and Contra dancing. She has been a longtime member of Hold the Mustard and A Joyful Noise, and more recently a co-creator of the bands Plum Pudding and Hijinks.

Kathy also plays guitar with the Contra Dance string band Raise the Roof. She has played for dance weekends and camps across the United States – including CDSS camps at Pinewoods and Buffalo Gap, The Trifle, The John C Campbell Folk School, Lenox Assembly, Mendocino, and Northwest Passage – as well as abroad. A collaboration between Philippe Callens and the members of Hold the Mustard and A Joyful Noise led to the recording of The Red Star Line and Seasons of Invention. English Country dancers may recognize her tunes for the dances Autumn in Amherst, Dunsmuir Waltz. and The House on Wake Street.

Her sensitive and creative interpretation of tunes combines moments that range from spacious lyricism to powerful rhythmic drive. Being a dance musician brings her endless surprises and joy.

 

Paul Ross

Paul Ross has been dancing English country dance since 1971, when he joined the University of Chicago Country Dancers under the direction of the much loved and admired dance leader Pat Talbot.

In 1993, Paul became an apprentice caller in Westchester, studying under two of the master teachers of that time, Christine Helwig and Fried Herman. Fried, in particular, was the major influence on Paul’s dancing and on his understanding and vision of what ECD is. To help preserve that vision and the dances that Fried created, Paul co-founded The Lenox Assembly in Lenox, MA. Running from 2009 to 2022, that dance weekend was dedicated to the art of dancing well. You may see some of the results of this effort on his Childgrove YouTube channel.

Paul has taught dances and/or led workshops in Amherst, Berkeley, Baltimore, Ottawa, Palo Alto, Philadelphia, and Princeton, and at the Fried-for-All West, Pinewoods Early Music Week, the New London Assembly, Hey Days and the Northwest Passage weekend. Since 2010, he has led the annual Ease and Elegance workshop begun by Fried Herman and currently teaches regularly in White Plains, NY, with the Country Dancers of Westchester and in New York City with CD*NY.