We Came, We Shared, We Created! ...and We're All Better For It!
What can I say, about our inaugural wilderness music camp for beginners and weirdos... Well first of all you just had to be there! ... BUT, if you weren't there I'll try to do my best to fill you in (and these amazing photos by Mike Savage will help shed the light)!
Stories keep rolling in that are beyond beautiful. Risks were taken, calluses were developed, songs were learnt and sung, harmonies were foraged, strings were plucked, feet were stomped... a ritual was born.
I speak boldly for everyone who joined us this past Thanksgiving weekend on Galiano Island at the GCA's Millard property when I say that our hearts are smiling ear to ear, teaming with the fullness of learning through shared experience.
A Success Story...
...and then we danced
The Wooly Bears did a beautiful job calling squares and playing waltz's and old time dance tunes for us all to enjoy. Their friendly and inclusive manner got even the most dedicated wall flowers amongst us out on the dance floor, and a whirly twirly good time was had by all!
And then we ate
The food was out of this world. So good and alway exactly what we needed. It was just regular old food but what made it so amazing was that is was planned and prepared tirelessly by two of the sweetest women alive: my mom and her sister. They took care of us all like they do their own.
AND THEN We Listened
The instructors at this years camp were beyond phenomenal. On top of exceptionally exuding talent and professionalism, each one of them was present, on purpose and patient. A better crew could not have been had! Such a gift!
...AND THEN WE jammed
...AND then we camp fired
...AND THEN WE HARMONIZED
The Best Part... Our 2017 Instructors!
The Wooly Bears - Social & Square DAncE
The Wooly Bears are a super lovely Vancouver based old-time band. They are crazy about square dancing, calling and jamming till the wee hours of the morn! They are keeping the American old-time traditions alive with regular square dances and the formation of the first annual East Van Old Time Social (EVOS) this past spring.
Amanda Blied - Guitar / SongwriTter
Amanda Blied is a songwriter and musician born, raised and currently residing in the traditional territories of the Lekwungan and Quw'utsun (Southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands). A founding member of the award-winning trio The Sweet Lowdown, she brings a scientific twist to her songwriting, old time groove to her guitar playing and loves to share her love of music with people young and old. www.amandablied.ca
RAYNE BEVERIDGE - VOCAL COACH / Choir
Rayne Beveridge is the equivalent of a specialized vocal doctor. He has spent over two decades perfecting his craft as a vocal guide and performer, and has a unique ability to communicate with his students in order to get effective and lasting results in their vocal ability. His style is informed not just by his musical experience but by medical science, art, and psychology through his study and research with some of the world's best musical minds.
Becky Winnick -Partner & Flatfoot Dancing/Caller
A native to the evergreen forests of Monroe, Washington, Bex discovered her love for Oldtime music at the 2012 Portland Oldtime Music Gathering. Since then she's been fiddling, guitaring, square-dance-callin' and dancing up a storm. She formed the Wooly Bears, a band that hosts monthly square dances in Vancouver and plays for various community events. Bex is a founding member of EVOS (East Van Oldtime Social), which kicked off it's first yearly event in April 2017.
Damian Richie - Fiddle
With a violin in his hands since age four, Damian Ritchie began playing the fiddle music as a teenager in his family's log house in the Sothern Interior of BC. A multi-instrumentalist, Damian lives in Vancouver in a commercial space where he builds hand crafted banjos, re-hairs violin bows and maintains other stringed instruments. He is Co-founder of the annual four day long East Van Oldtime Social (April 2018), and hosts monthly square dances and flatfooting lessons at the Anza Club with the Woolly Bears.
