2020 Teachers (for reference only)

Dance

Michael Ginsburg

Balkan Dance

Michael has been director and lead trumpet player of Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band since 1983. He accompanied ZU to brass festivals in Guča, Serbia, three times between 1987 and 1990, as well as...Read More

Joe Kaloyanides Graziosi

Greek Dance

Joseph Kaloyanides Graziosi was born and raised in the greater Boston area. Of Greek and Italian ancestry, Joe was exposed at an early age to Greek music and dance through both family contacts and...Read More

Rena Karyofyllidou

Greek Dance

Eirini "Rena" Karyofyllidou is a dancer and teacher of traditional Greek Macedonian and Thracian dances. She was born in the village of Kavallari, near Thessaloniki, Greece, in a family that...Read More

Instruments & Ensembles

David Bilides

Macedonian Kaval; Macedonian Village Ensemble

David Bilides’ initial encounters with Balkan folk music were the weddings and dances of the New Haven, Connecticut, Asia Minor Greek community in which he grew up. After hearing other Balkan...Read More

Paul Brown

House Bassist (non-teaching)

Paul Brown has been playing music for 44 years, studying bass and improvisation at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and oud and makam with Haig Manoukian and Necati Çelik. Comfortable in...Read More

Beth Bahia Cohen

Greek Violin; Greek Ensemble

Beth Bahia Cohen has spent a large part of her career exploring how the violin is played in various cultures. Of Syrian Jewish and Russian Jewish heritage, she was inspired at a young age by the...Read More

Polly Tapia Ferber

Doumbek

Percussionist Polly Tapia Ferber is a music educator, performer, and recording artist who specializes in hand percussion from the Middle East, Turkey, North Africa, the Balkans, and Spanish...Read More

Catherine Foster

Trumpet; Brass Band

Catherine Foster has been performing music from Southeastern Europe for over 30 years and has been playing trumpet, clarinet, and saxophone with Borozan Brass Band, Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band,...Read More

Valeri Georgiev

Bulgarian Kaval

Valeri Georgiev is from the Bulgarian Danube town of Ruse. He studied kaval in Kotel with Stoyan Chobanov and Georgi Penev, and graduated from the Plovdiv Academy of Arts with a BA degree in...Read More

Adam Good

Macedonian Tambura

Adam Good is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. With a foundation in jazz guitar, his interest in the music of Eastern Europe and Turkey began in the mid-90s. His talent on...Read More

Kalin Kirilov

Accordion; Ornamentation Theory

Kalin Kirilov, born in Vidin, NW Bulgaria, began singing and playing the accordion at the age of four. He studied tambura and music theory in Vidin and Pleven and graduated from the Academy of...Read More

Nikolay Kolev

Gudulka; Bitov Ensemble

Nikolay Kolev, a native of the Thracian Rose Valley village of Karavelovo, has been playing gadulka since age 10. After graduating from the National School of Folk Arts in Shiroka Lŭka, Bulgaria,...Read More

Vasilis Kostas

Laouto

Vasilis Kostas is an acclaimed laouto player from Ioannina in Epirus, Greece. He is a member of Global Messengers, the group launched by Grammy Award-winning pianist and UNESCO Artist for Peace,...Read More

Stoyan Kostov

Bulgarian Tambura

Stoyan Kostov has been playing Bulgarian tambura for over 40 years. He graduated from the folk music school in Kotel and the Plovdiv Academy of Music and Dance. Stoyan performed with Ensemble...Read More

Matt Moran

Tapan

Matt Moran has played tapan (aka goč, bubanj, tupan, daouli, or davul) since way before you could find videos of Balkan music online. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, where he leads Slavic Soul Party!...Read More

John Morovich

Tamburica Ensemble

John Morovich grew up in Seattle's sizable Croatian community. Since 1973, he has studied, taught, and performed traditional music and dance of Croatia and other parts of Southeastern...Read More

John "Yianni" Roussos

Santouri

John "Yianni" Roussos has performed on the santouri in the northeastern U.S. since 1972. He played for many years with the Pericles Halkias Family Orchestra in New York City and more recently with...Read More

Varol Saatcıoğlu

Thracian Gajda

Varol Saatcıoğlu was born in Edirne, Turkey, into an extended family of musicians. At the tender age of five, Varol was accepted into the Istanbul University State Conservatory where he studied...Read More

Singing

Lauren Brody

Balkan Singing

Lauren Brody is an accordionist, singer, researcher, professional piano tuner/technician and Fulbright scholar from New York City. She is a pioneer of the klezmer music revival in the United...Read More

Donka Koleva

Bulgarian Singing; Bulgarian Regional Vocal Technique

Donka Koleva is a vocalist prized for her rich, clear and melodic voice. A graduate of the Folklore High School in Shiroka Luka, she worked as a soloist with the Sliven Ensemble for three years....Read More

John Morovich

Croatian Singing

John Morovich grew up in Seattle's sizable Croatian community. Since 1973, he has studied, taught, and performed traditional music and dance of Croatia and other parts of Southeastern...Read More

Eva Salina

Romani Singing

Based in Brooklyn, NY, Eva Salina is a leading interpreter of Eastern European musical traditions, performing and teaching internationally. She attended her first Balkan Music & Dance Workshop...Read More

Corinna Škėma Snyder

Macedonian Singing

Corinna Škėma Snyder was 12 when started singing and studying women's music from the Balkans, first with the Cambridge Slavic Chorus, and then with Laduvane, both in the Boston area. She was...Read More

Sandy Theodorou

Greek Singing

Sandy Theodorou is a vocalist, accordion, and laouto player who specializes in traditional Greek regional music and Greek urban rebetika. She was born in Pireas, Greece, and her family roots are...Read More

For the Kids

Jaquetta Bustion

Children's Activities

A pianist since childhood, Jaquetta Bustion's love of music began in her earliest school experiences in Philadelphia. She has been a music educator for over twenty years. Whether in public and...Read More

Sarah Ferholt

Kids'/Youth Band Mlado Selo

Sarah Ferholt currently performs with Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, and teaches in the New York City public schools. She is also an MCAT certified teacher of...Read More

Marlis Kraft

Children's Activities

Marlis Kraft has been involved in world music since her teens, when she started her own song collection in her native Switzerland, where she performed Balkan and Swiss music. Marlis taught music...Read More

Getting to Iroquois Springs

• New York State Thruway North (87N)
• Exit 16 (Harriman) to
• Route 17 West (future 86)
• Exit 110 (Wanaksink Lake)
• Take a left at the stop sign off the exit
• Take a right at the fork (after the blinking light)
• This becomes Bowers Road and leads directly into camp.

• Take I-95 North to
• Garden State Parkway to
• New York State Thruway North (87N)
• Exit 16 (Harriman) to
• Route 17 West (future 86)
• Exit 110 (Wanaksink Lake)
• Take a left at the stop sign off the exit
• Take a right at the fork (after the blinking light)
• This becomes Bowers Road and leads directly into camp.

• Take the Mass. Turnpike West to Sturbridge
• take I-84 West to Walkill/Middleton NY
• take Route 17 West (future 86)
• Exit 110 (Wanaksink Lake)
• Take a left at the stop sign off the exit
• Take a right at the fork (after the blinking light)
• This becomes Bowers Road and leads directly into camp.
• From Albany & Points North:
• New York State Thruway South (87S) to Newburgh
• Take I-84 West to Walkill/Middleton NY
• Take Route 17 West (future 86)
• Route 17 West (future 86)
• Exit 110 (Wanaksink Lake)
• Take a left at the stop sign off the exit
• Take a right at the fork (after the blinking light)
• This becomes Bowers Road and leads directly into camp.

• Route 17 East to
• Exit 109 (Rock Hill)
• Make a left at the end of the exit ramp
• Make a right at the stop sign onto Rock Hill Road
• Go about one mile
• Make a left at the fork at the stop sign onto Bowers Road.

Dine & Dance—Bed & Breakfast (for reference only)

Come for dinner, early evening activities, the dance party and the late-night kafana. Then spend the night and enjoy breakfast before you hit the road!

Here’s how it works:

6:30 p.m.: Arrive at our lovely Catskills site in time for a delicious dinner (see Directions tab above). Before you get in the dinner line, check in at the Front Desk in the Dance Hall/Theater and set up your bunk.

At 8:00 p.m. take in a folklore presentation, singalong, or join in our auction. Dancing to live music begins in the main hall generally around 9:00.

Our Kafana in the woods is a bar and a club, a grill and a pub, and a place where much music and merriment happens into the wee hours. Stay as long as you like!

Sleep in a bunk with the bedding you brought from home.

Roll out of bed, have breakfast by 9:30 a.m., and hit the trail by 10.

All this can be yours for just $130. Such a bargain! A cheap hotel in Monticello is about $85 and contains no options for gajda, rakija, čočeks, or ćevapčići!

Evening Parties (for reference only)

Live in the area? Join us for a fabulous evening of live music and dancing.

Admission includes the evening dance party, a delicious complimentary evening snack, as well as late-night kafana activities until 2:30 a.m. No overnight accommodations are available for partygoers; please make sure you make provisions for getting home safely after the party (or consider registering for our B&B option above!).

Arrive anytime after 8 p.m. and pay the $35 per person fee at the Front Desk in the Dance Hall/Theater. The dance party generally starts at 9 p.m. Please make your reservations by email any day or time before 6 p.m. of the day of arrival. It is also possible to attend the Friday Lamb Roast. The cost for this event is $50, and it includes dinner and the evening party (no overnight accommodations).