“Great dance workshops, taught by experts, supported by wonderful musicians, capped by a wonderful dance party each evening.”
June 13-20, 2027
Hey Days Teaching and Music Staff
| David Millstone | Luanne Stiles | Persons of Quality | |
| Jenna Simpson | Shira Kammen | Jon Berger | |
| Juliette Webb | Emily O’Brien | Rebecca King | |
| Brooke Friendly | Jacqueline Schwab | Jim Oakden |
Hey Days Sound Staff
- TBA
Hey Days Committee
| Juliette Webb, Program Director | Loretta Guarino-Reid | Lise Dyckman |
| Brooke Friendly, Camp Manager | Rebecca King | Renée Camus |
| Alex Bradley, Registrar | Luanne Stiles | |
David Millstone (NH): After 15 years as an avid contra & square dancer and caller, David fell in love with English country dance at Pinewoods Camp in 1987; he has been leading ECD for the past thirty years. He is known for clear and concise instructions, a broad repertoire, a gentle sense of humor, and the ability to pick dances that offer the right level of challenge for all audiences. He has been featured at dance weekends and camps across the United States, Canada, and Europe.
He is co-author of Cracking Chestnuts, a book that looks closely at classics of the contra repertoire; on the ECD side, he co-authored the definitive history of the dolphin hey. He has presented numerous talks about country dance history at weekends, camps, and online. As a videographer, he created four documentary videos about contra and square dancing. He is founder and coordinator of the Square Dance History Project, an online digital library with nearly 2,000 items available for public viewing. David served for 12 years on the Governing Board of the Country Dance and Song Society, including six years as CDSS President.
David will teach ECD.
Jenna Simpson (VA) is an English country dance caller and choreographer based in Williamsburg. She regularly calls for both her local community English and Scottish country dances as well as for the student ECD club, which she co-founded at the College of William & Mary. Jenna has also taught at dance camps and weekends across the U.S. and in the U.K. Her repertoire spans both the historical and modern canons – she has called for reenactors and for the Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America – but she particularly delights in trying out and sharing new dance compositions. Jenna works with all levels of dancers, from beginners to the most experienced, and is noted for her ability to clearly explain even complex dances.
Jenna has published three books of her own choreography: Under the Influence (2017), Revelations (2022), and Murmurations (2025).
Jenna will teach English country dance and choreography.
Juliette Webb (TN) views her role as a caller through the lens of stewardship — she began calling to ensure her home community would continue to thrive. She has shared English Country Dance at cultural festivals, historical sites, dance weekends, and at Hey Days. Juliette believes the heart of the dance lies in connecting people, and she creates a joyful, inclusive environment. Drawing from a wide repertoire, she brings a supportive spirit and a refreshingly direct teaching style to the microphone, offering guidance that helps dancers build a solid foundation.
Juliette will teach ECD.
Brooke Friendly (OR) is known for her warm yet commanding personality, clear and concise teaching, creativity, and sense of whimsy. A dance choreographer, Brooke has co-published seven books of dances (Impropriety Vols. 1-7) and co-produced eight CDs with the band Roguery. She hopes to have a book of her own dances published by Hey Days 2027. A dancer for more than 40 years, she teaches English Country Dance and community/family dance using global/positional language and strategies in a variety of settings. Brooke has been on staff at weeklong dance and music camps, weekends, festivals, and events throughout the U.S., Canada, England, and Australia. Visit Brooke’s website.
Brooke will co-teach a choreography class.
Luanne Stiles (NC) is an English country dance caller and garland dancer based in Asheville, North Carolina. As a member of Ashgrove Garland, she has performed at local and regional festivals, where the team is known for innovative dances, precision, and creative adaptations of traditional English country dances. Luanne regularly teaches English country dance at weekly community dances, OLLI college for seniors, dance camps, and special events throughout the North and Southeast. She especially enjoys introducing new dances to communities, working with dancers of all experience levels, and creating an atmosphere where the joy of music and movement can spread across the dance floor.
Luanne will teach Garland dance.
Persons of Quality features Jon Berger on fiddle, viola, and melodeon, Rebecca King on piano and woodwinds, and multi-instrumentalist Jim Oakden. Their first recording (before they decided on a band name) is Farnicle Huggy, an album for reconstructions of 18th century English country dances by the same name. Next of Kynaston is a compilation of tunes from earlier collections of dances. The Elephant Stairs and Irish Howle albums accompany dance books by the same names.
Jon Berger (CA) has played for morris, sword, English country, and contra dance in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1976. He is well known for his powerful music, and, while playing for morris, his ability to maintain a connection between the music, the dancers, and the dance. His recordings include three albums with Persons of Quality. Jon is also a former member of Tempest, a Celtic rock band that plays for an entirely different style of dancing.
Jon will play for ECD.
Jim Oakden (CA) started playing piano and clarinet at an early age and stumbled into early music from the classical music scene. After six years performing early music, he discovered the world of traditional and ethnic music. Having diverse tastes, he has played in many bands and performs on an absurd number of instruments, including accordion, mandolin, several styles of bagpipes, recorders, whistle, and zurna (to name but a few).
A dancer himself, he specializes in playing for dancers in a bunch of bands for ECD, contra, morris, Irish, Breton/French, Greek, and Bulgarian. He has been on staff at myriad dance camps throughout the country.
Jim plays with a number of English Country Dance bands, including Roguery, Persons of Quality, and The Whoots.
Jim will play for ECD.
Rebecca King’s (CA) classical piano training took a detour when she began playing for folk dances. She found that English Country Dance music was the perfect combination of classical chamber music with the improvisation of jazz. She plays for dances throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and has played in England, Italy, and throughout the U.S. She has recorded three albums with the trio Persons of Quality, including Farnicle Huggy for Andrew Shaw, played on Dances from the Greenery for Sharon Green, and released a solo piano CD and book of her own compositions titled Nearer & Farther. Listen at rebeccakingmusic.com
Rebecca will play for ECD.
Shira Kammen (CA), a multi-instrumentalist (primarily violin, vielle, and viola) and vocalist, has spent most of her life exploring the worlds of early and traditional music. She is a favorite at dance camps and events around the country. She performs with many ensembles, among them the English Country Dance bands Roguery, Night Heron, and the Whoots.
A member for many years of the early music ensembles Alcatraz, Project Ars Nova, and Medieval Strings, she has also worked with Sequentia, Hesperion XX, the Folger and Newberry Consorts, Anonymous 4, the Boston Camerata, the Balkan group Kitka, and the Oregon, California, and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals. Shira is the founder of Class V Music, an ensemble dedicated to performance on river rafting trips. She has performed and taught in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel, Morocco, and Japan, and on the Colorado, Rogue, and Klamath Rivers. Shira happily collaborated with singer/storyteller John Fleagle for fifteen years. Shira has recorded many albums in a variety of styles of music and has played on several television and movie soundtracks, including “O,” a modern high school setting of “Othello,” and “The Nativity Story.” Some of her original music can be heard in an independent film about fans of the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. The strangest place Shira has played is in the elephant pit of the Jerusalem Zoo. You can find more information at her website.
Shira will play for ECD.
Emily O’Brien (MA) is a native of Washington, D.C., where she played recorder from a young age. She studied recorder and French horn at Boston University, and recorder and Baroque flute at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany. She performs in recorder ensembles and historical chamber music, as well as English Country Dance bands in New England. Emily has been on staff at Hey Days and New London Assembly, and has been the program director for CDSS Early Music Week. As a teacher, she works with private students and ensembles in the Boston area as well as teaching at various summer workshops. Emily’s solo album, “Fantasies for a Modern Recorder” explores the variety and possibilities over four centuries of repertoire offered by the Helder Harmonic Tenor recorder.
Jacqueline Schwab (MA) fell in love with the entrancing tunes of English country dances at age 15. In Boston’s flourishing dance and music scene, she became a founding member of the Bare Necessities quartet, which forged a new, American style of playing for English country dancing. Since their groundbreaking first recording in 1983, they have recorded many dance-oriented albums and toured across the U.S. and beyond. Jacqueline is known as a superb concert pianist, evoking the American musical past in a fresh, personal way. She has performed vintage American music on the solo concert stage in almost every state of the union. She is also sought-after as a workshop leader, teaching many an aspiring English dance musician at camps and events across the country.
Hey Days Sound Staff
“Your sound crew was top notch!!! I don’t think that most dancers really understand that having talented sound wizards on site is just as crucial to the success of a dance as is having good musicians and callers.”
2027 Sound Staff TBA
Hey Days Committee
Juliette Webb (TN) is our Program Director. Juliette lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is a dance organizer, teacher, and caller of English Country Dance with the Nashville Country Dancers. Juliette was recently a member of the Board of the Country Dance & Song Society, where she served on the Executive Committee, chaired the Nominating Committee, and co-chaired new board training. She travels regularly to dance weekends and weeks from coast to coast.
Brooke Friendly (OR) is our camp manager. Brooke joined the Hey Days committee in 2007 as program director and has remained involved ever since, in charge of marketing and housing. She was program director again in 2017-19, including the transition from Bishop’s Ranch to SSU, and in 2025 as we navigated a new facility at Green Mountain Retreat. In addition to teaching dance, Brooke leads a social singing class for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Ashland. Happily retired from a career in arts education and arts management, her other loves are theatre improv, gardening, river rafting, hiking, birding, and singing, dancing, and playing with her grandchildren.
Alex Bradley (CA) is our Hey Days Registrar. He is a VFX artist and illustrator based in Los Angeles. To get away from the screens, exercise, and connect with others, he loves nothing more than English country dancing. With his wife, Renée Camus, he performed in Centuries Historical Dance company, a highlight of which was joining a production of “The Merry Widow,” graduating from dancing in one scene to being full-blown singing cast members overnight. They have also danced professionally at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They are owned by two cats.
Loretta Guarino-Reid (CA) is our treasurer. Loretta long time co-manager of the Peninsula English Country Dance in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been on the Hey Days committee in various roles since 2009, serving as treasurer, running the bookstore, and most recently, as manager.
Rebecca King (CA) is our site liaison. She has served on the Hey Days Committee as camp manager, including during our pandemic online camp. Her former job as a classroom music teacher and band director with the Sonoma Valley Schools gave her a lot of experience in large groups, patience, and working toward goals, which she hopes to put to good use on the committee and working with Green Mountain Retreat, our fabulous venue. Rebecca has also been on the music staff at Hey Days. Besides playing the piano, Rebecca enjoys hiking and the great outdoors.
Lise Dyckman (CA) joined the committee in 2024 as our bookstore/auction manager. Lise started dancing (folk, contra, & country dances) in 1974, and has not stopped since. She has taught and called in Philadelphia, New York City, and (since 1995) California’s Bay Area, focusing mostly on ECD with forays into the social history of dance in Europe & the U.S., dance reconstruction, folkways, and more recently bal folk and composing modern ECD. A research librarian, she originally trained as a historian — which shows up in some unexpected contexts (like serving dance community organizations).
Renée Camus (CA) has been organizing and calling English country dance for many years, and currently serves as caller, committee member, and webmaster for Culver City English Country Dance. Renée designed the new Hey Days website. She has taught various styles of dance, including folk, morris, English and Appalachian clogging, historical, and ballroom dance, in schools and camps around the country, including Pinewoods, Berea, and at Hey Days in 2021 and 2025. She has written more than 20 English country dances, one of which won a dance-writing competition in 2022, and one that was published in the CDSS newsletter. In June 2026, Renée published her dances in a book and created an accompanying 2-CD set of recordings (played by Audrey Jaber, Shira Kammen, Chip Prince, Jim Oakden, Christopher Jacoby, and Del Eckels), both called Choreograffiti. They are available through Bandcamp, or visit her website.
Luanne Stiles (NC) is our Camp Manager in Training. Luanne lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where she is an English country dance caller, an organizer, and a garland dancer. Before living in Asheville, Luanne organized dances in South Carolina and Western Massachusetts. She continues to provide leadership support to Symmetry Online Dancing and Dancing Well, a Soldiers Project. Luanne is a past Vice President of the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS). Retired from the Financial Services Industry, she loves to spend her free time volunteering with a local literacy council, the Asheville College for Seniors, and traveling with her dogs Nelson and Callie.