Trinity Irish Dance Ensemble

Folkmoot proudly welcomes the Trinity Irish Dance Ensemble from Illinois and Wisconsin for Summerfest to bring the traditional dance and music of Ireland. Trinity Ensemble is the Trinity Academy’s top tier junior performing arts troupe.
From leading Trinity’s local performances, to performing around the world at international festivals, these dancers act as ambassadors bringing Trinity’s mission to “elevate children, the community and the world through the power and grace of Irish dance” alive.

For nearly 40 years, the Trinity Irish Dancers have been the most widely recognized Irish dance program in the world. Founded by Mark Howard in 1982, Trinity has thrilled audiences worldwide with its innovative approach and attention to detail, winning the first world title for the United States in 1987. Trinity has appeared in both feature films and on national television programs including the Tonight Show, CONAN, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. Trinity has the unrivaled distinction of winning more world titles than any other American Irish dance school, and elevating the traditional form of Irish Dance through a performing arts lens. Learn more about Trinity Dance Ensemble online www.trinityirishdance.com

 

Los Texmaniacs

The Texmaniacs specialize in Tejano music, a word that translates to ‘Texan’, a popular music style that rose from centuries of cultural fusing of Mexican and US influences, indigenous to Texas, USA. What is a conjunto? The term conjunto literally means group or ensemble that includes elements from Mexican-Spanish vocal traditions, Czech and German button accordion, dance tunes and rhythms that migrants brought to Texas in the mid19th century. Mexican migrants and farm worker who came to the US over the last century made conjunto music a centerpiece of social gatherings and an important force of social unity, bringing Mexican influences with them. The genre combines the storytelling and vocals of Mexico with the distinct Texas rhythm and music.

Los Texmaniacs was created by Max Baca in 1997, following his father’s footprint in the genre with two thoughts in mind: to base the group’s sound on a rock-solid foundation of Texas Mexican conjunto music, and to infuse new sounds that are part of the contemporary Mexican American soundscape in the Southwest into the group’s style and repertoire. The music that results is built on the classic conjunto instrumentation of a threerow button accordion, a bajo sexto guitar with 12 strings in six courses playing bass melodies and chords, an electric or acoustic bass, and a drum set. The result reflects the expansive musical background of its members, with occasional tints of, and excursions into, blues, rock, country, and jazz. Band members are Max Baca on bajo sexto, Josh Baca on accordion, Noel Hernandez on electric bass, and Lorenzo Martínez on the drums.

Over the years, Los Texmaniacs have collaborated with various well known artists from both Tejano and other genres, including Rick Trevino, Flaco Jimenez, and Los Lobos. In 2010, Los Texmaniacs won a Grammy Award for Tejano Album of The Year, Borders y Bailes. And renowned country singer Lyle Lovett sang Deportee, a song penned by Woody Guthrie, for their album, Cruzando Borders. Experience TexMex at Folkmoot’s SummerFest and read more about Los Texmaniacs online at lostexmaniacs.com.

 

Nathan Bugh and Rachel Pitner

Throughout the 20th century, dance in the USA has evolved with a variety of music genres, reflecting the Zeitgeist of each era. Tap dance has its roots in several ethnic percussive dances, including Scottish step dancing, Gioube Juba dance, English clog dancing and Irish jigs. Lindy Hop originated by the African-American community of the Savoy Ballroom, in Harlem, New York, circa 1928 and is the most significant, swing-jazz, partnered dance. Tap and Lindy Hop were two popular dance forms that contributed to both swing and jazz dance that we know today.

Folkmoot is proud to present Tap & Lindy Hop dancers Rachel Pitner and Nathan Bugh, a duo who have each made their impact in American Dance, both in their home towns and nationally.

Nathan Bugh is known worldwide for his intimately rhythmic style of Lindy Hop and vernacular jazz. He “rocked the stage” at Carnegie Hall, dancing Lindy Hop with the New York Pops Orchestra; he performed in Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater in Swingin’ Frankie’s Way; and he danced in the CT&Co’s More Forever, at Jacob’s Pillow. His on-film appearances are many and as a national jazz-dance competitor, Nathan has taken 1st place in Lindy, Slow Dancing, Solo Charleston, Team, Jill&Jack, and Cabaret divisions. He is one of the most eminent solo-jazz contestants in the world, having won both the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown (2012) and International Lindy Hop Championships (2014), as well as achieving 3rd place in the ILHC invitational (2018). He was also the director and choreographer of “Yeah Man,” the 2015 ILHC Team champions.

Nathan is based in New York City, where he performs regularly and teaches social-dance classes. Learn more about Nathan at nathanbugh.blogspot.com

The Bailey Mountain Cloggers

Folkmoot welcomes The Bailey Mountain Cloggers (BMC), an American Folk Dance Ensemble from Mars Hill NC who are not only a performance and competition team that travels, competes and performs, they are also one of a few college based performing clog teams in the nation, with art performance grants and college credit courses. The Bailey Mountain Cloggers serve as ambassadors of goodwill for the college and the folk dance traditions of the Southern Mountains. The Bailey Mountain Cloggers were organized in 1974 by students at Mars Hill College, now Mars Hill University, in the mountains of North Carolina, near Asheville. The Bailey Mountain name is derived from the mountain adjacent to the college campus. This college clog team carries influence from an older championship team in Mars Hill called Bailey Mountain “Square” Dance Team.

Comprised of young adults from the college and town, these dancers in the spring of 1950 toured the Southwest with Bascom Lamar Lunsford, who is credited for giving the name Bailey Mountain to the team. By the late 50’s, precision clogging entered the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville with James Kesterson and the Blue Ridge Mountain Dancers. Until then, only Smooth Big Circle Dance, called Mountain “Square” Dance, and freestyle clog dancing were part of the folk festival. One such precision clog team influenced the Bailey Mountain Cloggers in their early years; the Green Grass Cloggers. During the 1980’s Bailey Mountain began competition clogging and expanded its clog repertoire to include more than precision clog routines: Big Circle Smooth, Freestyle, Country Hoedown, Kentucky Running Set, Line Dance, Show, and Percussive dance routines Today, the students who comprise the dance company come from various dance traditions, representing a number of ethnic and religious backgrounds. Each student clogger becomes a unique part of the Bailey Mountain tradition, blending the old with the new into a larger mosaic for the future. During their 45-year history, the  Bailey Mountain Cloggers have performed through out the United States and internationally in Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, Austria, and Ireland. The Bailey Mountain Cloggers Folk Dance Company has established a national and international reputation for American clog dance excellence.

Cherokee Performances

AniKituhwa Warriors The Warriors of AniKituhwa are cultural ambassadors for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who a have revived traditional dances and shared Cherokee dances, history, and culture throughout the US and beyond, but their favorite place to dance is in Cherokee, for Cherokee children and elders. The Warriors of AniKituhwa pass on their dances to the next generation, so that the dances—and perhaps the Cherokee world—will survive.

Eddie Swimmer is an accomplished Hoop dancer, storyteller, and public speaker who was raised in the Big Cove Community on the Qualla Boundary. He first learned Cherokee dance steps from his family and by watching traditional
dancers. After attending Western Carolina University and Brigham Young University, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he studied with Tony Whitecloud, founder of the modem Native American Hoop dance. For several years, Eddie Swimmer held the title of the World Champion Hoop dancer, and toured the world with Native American dance groups, performing throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia as well as performing in the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, at the 1994 World Cup Soccer Tournament in Dallas, and in the 1993 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. In New York he choreographed a hoop dance number in the Broadway production of “Annie Get Your Gun” and is the founder of the native dance group Native Movements. Hoop Dancing Native American Hoop Dance is an individual dance, performed by an individual as a show dance or featuring a solo dancer with a dozen or more hoops and using them to form a variety of  both static and dynamic shapes (poses and moves).

Jarrett Wildcatt in an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who resides in the Wolftown Community. He works for the Museum of the Cherokee Indian as an Atsila Anotasgi Cultural Specialist (Fire Builder). In the group he performs traditional dances, as well as involved in storytelling, lectures, exhibit tours, twine weaving and wood carving.

Big Cove Stickball Team “Kolanvyi” is a group of Cherokee men and boys practicing a traditional contact game of stickball (Indian Ball). Knowledge of Cherokee stickball is passed from generation to generation. Each player is a respected member of the brotherhood and chosen to compete against other communities based on speed, strength, experience, and heart. KoLaNvYi kids are learning the traditions and values of being a Cherokee warrior while learning how to play the game.

Deeksha School of Performing Arts

Anupa Thakurta is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and an artist at Deeksha School of Performing Arts (DSPA) in Atlanta, GA. The school provides lifelong classical training in Bharatanayam, a South Indian form of Classical dance. Anupa completed her Arangetram (like a Bachelor’s degree for dance form) in 1998. Since then she has mentored and studied the dance form with the revered and top Bharatanatyam exponents of this generation worldwide. Bharatanatyam is one of the oldest dance forms of India. It was nurtured in the temples and courts of Southern India since ancient times. Later it was codified and documented as a performing art in the 19th century by the 4 brothers known as the “Tanjore Quartet” whose musical compositions for the dance form the bulk of the Bharatanatyam repertoire even today.

The art was handed down as a living tradition from generation to generation under the Devadasi system under which women were dedicated to temples to serve the deity as dancers ad musicians forming part of the elaborate rituals. These highly talented artists and the male Gurus were the sole repository of the art until the early 20th century when a renewal of interest in India’s cultural heritage prompted the educated elite to discover its beauty. The revival of Bharatanatyam by pioneers such as E. Krishna Lyer and Rukmini Devi Arundale brought the dance out of the temple precincts and onto the proscenium stage though it retained its essentially devotional character.

Today Bharatanatyam is one of the most popular and widely performed dance styles and is practiced by both male and female dancers all over India. Due to its wide range of movements and postures and the balanced melange of the rhythmic and mimetic aspects lends itself well to experimental and fusion choreography. Bharatanatyam has its origin in the Natya Sastra, an ancient treatise on the performing arts, and is said to have been written 2000 years ago by Bharata Muni. It was the first book which explained the origin of the art and gave the details about the technique and intricacies of this dance form. The Natya Shastra was created by Lord Brahma on the request of Lord Indra and other Devas as an object of diversion for the lower castes (Shudras) that were not entitled to listen to the 4 Vedas (Sama, Yajur, Rig and Atharva). Brahma created Natya Shastra as the 5th veda which was open to all, irrespective of caste and creed.

SUAH African Dance

 

Africa is a big continent with a variety of traditions in music, dance and culture. Folkmoot is proud to bring SUAH African Dance Theatre to perform in Western North Carolina. The name Suah is from the Gio ethnic group from Liberia, West Africa, meaning “A new beginning or one with new ideas in a new era”. SUAH African Dance Theatre is the creation of Wesley Lee Williams, JR, who serves as CEO & Artistic Director. Williams is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher of West African Music & Dance and African contemporary dance styles and has performed with the Jan Van Dyke Dance Company, Ballethnic Dance Company of Atlanta, GA, and the NC Black Repertory Company. He has been invited to choreograph new works on several universities, such as, Radford, Lincoln University, Stephens College, and University of North Carolina School of the Arts to name a few and travels all over the country sharing his gift to create dance works with all arts lovers. In Mr. Williams words, ‘Live Life and Love Dance’.

Serving as associate Artistic Director, Gabrielle T. Yvette Bull-Williams, “Yvette” Bull Williams who first fell in love with dance at the tender age of 3 years old. Born to Liberian parents, Yvette always had a passion for West African music, dance, song, and culture. In 2002 she was formally introduced to West African Dance and Contemporary African Dance and promptly joined the Wesley Williams Urban Dance Theatre, now known as SUAH African Dance Theatre (SADT). Yvette attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) where she became a member of the John Gamble Dance Theater. Later, performing works choreographed by artists, such as, Robin Gee and Sherone Price. In 2004, Yvette became a member of the NC Black Repertory Company and performed in “Black Nativity” for 6 years, as well as, the opening production “Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope” for the 2009 NC Black Theater Festival. In 2016 Yvette and Wesley opened “SUAH School of Music & Dance” in Atlanta, GA to inspire and educate youth, 4 and older, through the arts and share with all art lovers Learn more about SUAH online at www. suahadt.com

The Revelers

Chas Justus from Memphis, Tennessee, was born to play guitar, seamlessly mastering country jazz and the Southwest Louisiana guitar styles. Not only has his guitar playing been featured on numerous albums to come out of the Louisiana music scene but also his songs have been on quite a few albums. Daniel Coolik Daniel, originally from Atlanta, Georgia, swept into the Lafayette scene in 2009 and quickly added his name to many respectable rosters, loaning his talents to such groups as Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, The Red Stick Ramblers, Les Malfecteurs, and The Yvette Landry Band. Daniel has focused on jazz mandolin as well as old time Appalachian traditional music. His abilities have taken him all over the globe, including Haiti, Thailand, most countries in Western Europe, and Canada. Glenn Fields is a Baton Rouge native and the quintessential Louisiana drummer. It’s no wonder that his skills have taken him all over the world including the Far East. He is also responsible for the creation of The Blackpot Festival, an event representing Louisiana’s cultural renaissance and vitality that he so embodies. Trey Boudreaux grew up in Lafayette, LA, surrounded by the sounds of French music and inspired by the constant flow of music his parents played in the house. Boudreaux developed skills in a wide range of musical styles that made him an in-demand bass player. Trey has brought his commanding and energetic groove to countless artists in South Louisiana, having also carved out a place in the New Orleans music community for a decade. The Chris Miller, TCM, grew up listening to bluegrass music in Florida but found his voice in the saxophone and has quickly developed a reputation as an in-demand soloist. It’s been said that his fiery tone and homage to the swamp pop masters is the “glue” in the Revelers unstoppable sound.
Visit revelersband.com for more information.

El Alma De Luna

From Charlotte NC, Folkmoot welcomes the El Alma De Luna Dancers who bring with them a variety of traditional dances from various Latin Countries. A highly qualified professional dance academy, they are experienced in various types of dancing, mixing in Contemporary Dancing, Modern Dance, Hip Hop Dancing, Folkloric Performances and Quinceañeras, they are known for distinctive perspectives. Their goal is to capture the unique quality and personality of every type of dance they perform, this year featuring traditional dances from Peru, Columbia and Puerto Rico.