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The Great Bear Trio is quickly becoming one of the most exciting and talked about contra dance bands in the nation. With a strong and growing fan base in their native northeast, Great Bear is now bringing their unique brand of high-energy folk music to festival stages, concert halls and dance floors across the country. Brothers Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand are both still in their teens but display a mature and seasoned musicality beyond their years. The core of Great Bear's instrumentation has always been twin fiddles and piano (ably supplied by mother Kim) but the line up is frequently augmented by mandolins, guitars, banjo and an assortment of percussion including the African djembe and the Australian didgeridoo. Andrew and Noah compose and arrange the majority of Great Bear's material, drawing heavily on Celtic and Appalachian fiddling traditions for their melodies but with plenty of room for improvisation and an occasional alt-rock or world beat groove creeping into the rhythm section. There are also some new original songs in their repertoire now, a welcome addition to their well-known instrumental skills.  Great Bear's distinctive sound has won them fans all over the continent and they are continuing to shape the face of contra dance music in the 21st century.    Check out our profiles on MySpace, Facebook, Reverb Nation and Andrew's Blog

Perpetual eMotion - Captivating, passionate, propulsive and progressive are what best define the music of this power duo, perched at the convergence of traditional and electronic dance music. Perpetual e-Motion integrates technical and sonic innovations with old school traditions to create a enormous sound full momentum and groove. Lauded as a two man orchestra, this duo continues to innovate the art of traditional dance music through their use of sound sculpting and multitasking, captivating listeners and dancers with their infectious and unique sound. .

Bare Necessities is a Boston-based quartet known nationwide for its unique presentation of English country dance music. Three of the four members of  the group will be performing. Mary Lea(violin and viola), Peter Barnes (flute and whistles), and Jacqueline Schwab (piano) have been playing weekly country dances since 1978, performing music primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries. They have toured in England as a band and have played for concerts, festivals, workshops, balls and dance camps throughout the United States and Canada over the years. In the course of concertizing and dance playing, they have become increasingly free in their improvisatory explorations of these beautiful melodies. The resulting sound is that of both chamber and folk music, yet extraordinarily inventive and playful with its interweaving of harmonies and countermelodies.

Will Mentor danced his first contra dance at 8:00PM on December 26^th, 1994 at the Winter in the Woods dance camp in Kentucky. Don Armstrong was calling and Ted Sannella was in his first minor set. Thirteen days later, Will began calling contra and square dances at the county fairgrounds dance hall in Fairfield, Iowa, at 8:00 PM on January 7, 1995. He was reading and prompting from Ted Sannella’s book Balance and Swing. He did not have any cards yet. It would have been cinematic if he remembered that moment as he said “take hands four” to a huge crowd of dancers at 7:00 PM on Friday, February 12, 2010 at the Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs, New York.  But he didn’t. He was focused on the dancers.

Sarah VanNorstrand - I started dancing when I was in my early teens and was almost instantly hooked. I was lucky to learn in an incredibly friendly and encouraging dance community, and I soon starting bringing groups of my friends. All throughout high school, we danced every weekend, and started our own Contra Prom when we reached our junior year, which has since become an annual event of the Syracuse Country Dancers. I started calling a couple years ago, and again, our local community of dancers and callers provided a wonderful learning environment. I’m also a member of the Syracuse Country Dancers board and currently am responsible for most of the booking for our dances.

I regularly call at our Syracuse dance, as well as in Rochester, Oswego, Owego, Cooperstown, Albany and Ithaca. I also travel further afield and have called in Greenfield, MA, Seattle, WA, Homer, AK, and Cottonwood, AZ. I recently called for the Hands Four Spring Dance Weekend in Berea, KY with Cary Ravitz.

Depending on the dance event, I call a wide variety of contra dances, as well as some squares and party dances and am constantly expanding my repertoire. I am equally comfortable working with beginners as well as experienced dancers. Above all, my goal as a caller is to make sure the dancers are having as much fun as I am! I love dancing and music and I always try to communicate that enthusiasm in my calling.

Tom Amesse began calling dances for the North Jersey English Country Dancers in Ridgewood, NJ where he continues to teach on a regular basis. He is the emcee of the North Jersey ECD Play-ful Ball each June, sharing the stage with The Flying Romanos. He has called English Country Dancing in White Plains, Hurley, and Troy, NY, Lambertville and, Princeton, NJ, Smithtown, Long Island, Washington DC, Amherst and Boston MA, and Binghamton NY, where he was the featured ECD caller for their Kindred Spirits Weekend in the Fall of 2006. He has also emceed New Haven's Elm City Assembly as well as The 2007 and 2010 Playford Balls in New York with fellow NYC caller Gene Murrow. He's taught workshops at the 92nd St Y -- Harknass Dance Center and leads the annual Goerge Washington Birthday Ball at the Mount Vernon Hotel & Museum in Manhattan. Each January, Tom emcees the Annual Twelfth Night Assembly at Historic Richmond Town On Staten Island which is held in an 1837 court house. His dance composition "Susan" can be found on The Flying Romanos Take-Off CD, which he co-produced with his wife.

Joanna Reiner  - see Facebook page