Youth
Weekend West
2007
TEACHERS
Our teachers for the weekend will be Rebecca Blackhall-Peters, Fred DeMarse, Jo Miller, Heather Turner and Bill Zobel.
Rebecca Blackhall-Peters- Bio coming soon!
Fred DeMarse- Originally from Michigan, Fred relocated to California in 1984. He started Scottish Country Dancing in 1986 in the San Francisco area. While living in the Bay Area, Fred danced with both the Dunsmuir and the Red Thistle performance groups. In 1992, Fred relocated to Los Angeles for job purposes, where he continues to dance. He passed his
Highland teaching certificate in 1995 and his full certificate for Scottish Country Dancing in 1996.
Fred currently teaches highland and country dancing to children and adults in the Los Angeles area. He continues to perform with the Red Thistle Dancers in the San Francisco area and abroad, and he has been a part of their first two published videos. He continues to perform in Highland dancing but has retired from competing to take on judging assignments. Fred passed his Highland dance judging qualifications in 2002 and is now a member of the Scottish Official Board’s World-Wide Judging Panel. Fred travels world-wide to dance and to teach. His travels have taken him to Scotland, England, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and throughout the United States.
Fred’s viewpoint on teaching and dancing is to have fun and to make it fun for others. He strongly believes in learning and practicing the basics of Scottish dancing, but his ultimate goal is to be able to impart this knowledge and the desire to dance well while creating a social environment that is friendly, supportive and fun.
In his “spare” time, Fred works at the El Segundo Refinery of the Chevron-Texaco Corporation as a chemical engineer.
Jo Miller- I am a teacher, and not just in school. Whatever piques my interest I end up teaching - as soon as I'm around someone who knows less about it and shows somecuriosity to learn. I started folkdancing in 1981 with the Fourth Corner International Folkdancers. By 1983, I was helping newcomers, and within a couple more years was hiring out to teach easy folkdances to non-dancing groups (scouts, weddings, church youth, etc.). In 1998, I joined Utta Richardson's Scandinavian dance class. Now, I'm still dancing and supporting international dance newcomers every Thursday evening at the Fairhaven Library. And, when Utta died in 2005, the experienced dancers in her class decided to keep the class going. We took on various responsibilities roughly matching our areas of expertise. So, I help two other class members reviewing the dances Utta taught us and teaching a new crop of beginners. Another dance connection is with our local klezmer band, What the Chelm. When they are playing a gig someplace where they expect to have an enthusiastic crowd in a space large enough for dancing, they often invite me to come and teach/lead Israeli dances for the tunes they play. Which is the path that led me to the Youth Weekend.
I will be teaching two elective sessions during the weekend. One will be all Israeli dance because Millie of What the Chelm set me up for it, and I'll use music from their cd's for most of it. The other session will be International, with a sampling of dances from Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, and even the Western Hemisphere.
Heather Turner- Heather Turner holds a Master of Arts in Ethnochoreology from the University of Limerick in Ireland and is an active competitive Irish dancer. She began dancing 10 years ago with the Pride of Erin Céilí Dancers and brings a wealth of experience, having danced in various festivals in her native San Diego, California. Heather performs and teaches many forms of traditional Irish dance including céilí, step, set, and sean-nos (old style) dancing, and is always looking for opportunities to learn more. She currently competes with the Stewart School of Irish Dance in Vancouver, B.C., and has performed locally in collaborative shows with bands such as Up in the Air and Maggie's Fury.
Bill Zobel- First recollection of interest was in the music when I drove my parents to despair with 3 old 78 rpm vinyl records. Started dancing at age 14 (many years ago!!) in London area. First involved in a dance as a stand in for the missing fourthman at a demonstration practice. First dance learned was Jessie’s Hornpipe. First kilt bought with all my savings in 1957. My parents had difficulty in getting me to take the kilt off once I had got it on.Got into trouble at home with wearing holes in the carpet, practicing in front of a mirror.
Involved as a student in Newcastle upon Tyne ’62 to ’65 and with Newcastle Branch; took teaching certificates in ‘70’s. Involved in Country dancing and Highland.
Taught all grades of classes over the years in many parts of the world, on St Andrews Summer School staff since 1987. First ‘Englishman’ to teach abroad on an RSCDS teaching tour. Involved in running dances and MC’ing since 1965.
Most hilarious time caused by seam in bell bottoms splitting whilst in the midst of a Sailor’s hornpipe allowing views of underwear not normally seen as part of the dance. Also during one visit to Australia when a large part of the Sydney Winter School thought Muriel was aged 75+ and that I was her toy boy!!! Most frightening experience - MC for the Ceilidh at St Andrews Summer School. Most challenging time dancing the Duke of Atholl’s Reel in Hawaii dressed in snorkel, mask and flippers. Highland dancing highlight – performing Sailors Hornpipe for Duke of Edinburgh. Highlight of 40+ years was to dance at and MC a ball in Blair Atholl Castle when the music was provided by Alasdair Fraser and Muriel Johnstone.
Most important aspects of dance are: (1) Dance as the physical expression of the music; making the movements fit the music (2) Emotional involvement with the music (3) Enjoyment of music and dance is the most important thing.
Dancing is music made visible
This page updated 02/25/2007
