CDSS Governing Board

Jenny Beer

Jenny Beer (Lansdowne, PA) calls Philadelphia her home dance community. She leads English country dances and, less often, traditional community dances and Scottish country dances.  Occasionally you’ll see her playing dance piano, and she crafts a new dance now and again.  A member of CDSS since 1982, Jenny started “country dancing” the second day of freshman week in Indiana and happily joined groups wherever life has taken her since: northern Japan, Vermont, Delaware, Berkeley, CA, Osaka, Japan. In earlier incarnations she was an avid contra dancer, and the first dance she ever wrote was “spinning Jenny,” which had three swings. More recently, she had a great time leading Swarthmore College’s folkdance class for 13 years.  Jenny loves the messiness and pleasure of getting people to participate together, and looks forward to helping CDSS support the groups that make participatory dance and song happen in their local communities.  On the organizational side, she has more than a decade of experience running dance group websites, enjoys drawing new dancers, musicians and volunteers into the community, has helped with redesigning bylaws, and has taken on dozens of other dance organizational jobs.  Jenny also brings to the Board skills from her consulting practice in facilitation, conflict resolution and cross-cultural communication.

Jackie Algon

Jackie Algon (Wilton, CT) has loved dancing her whole life, but she took a 20-year-plus hiatus to focus on multitasking schoolwork, career, and childraising. Near the end of the century, having finally finished her doctorate and with her daughter in med school and married, she went out to dance. She came to English country dance through international folk dance in 2000, danced in New York and New Jersey, and danced weekly with the Reel Nutmeg performance troupe in Hartford, CT. When Jackie retired at the end of 2003 as Director of Information Policy and Records Management of Merck & Co., Inc. where she'd worked for 34 years, she and her partner Carl Andersen moved to Connecticut, where they reconstructed their home to include a dance space. Jackie served on the Country Dance New York Board, is in her second term as CDSS Board Member at large, and is in her first term as CDSS representative to the Pinewoods Camp, Inc. Board. She was a founding board member of Merck's childcare center and developed the first after-school childcare program in Millburn, NJ. Her joy comes from dancing, fiber arts (knitting, spinning, weaving), gardening (she's a Master Gardener through the UConn MG Program), cooking, being with friends and family, and serving the various communities in which she participates. She's counting down to 2014 when she hopes to introduce her (now 5-month old) granddaughter to Family Week at Pinewoods!

Carol Barry

Carol Barry (Edmond, OK) began dancing in 1984 when a friend invited her to a local dance. She was enchanted immediately and has been dancing ever since. She has been active in contra, English and Scottish country dance, holding office, serving on committees, and planning workshops. She is active in the Oklahoma City International Folk Dancers, coordinating the teaching program, serving on the board, and chairing dance camp weekends. She is a founding member of and regular caller for Scissortail Traditional Dance Society. Most recently she has formed a "small but enthusiastic" English country dance group in Oklahoma City. Carol is a retired university librarian, enjoying to the fullest a traveling, dancing and family-filled life. She considers community dance to be in the top tier of activities that enrich the body, mind and spirit of its participants and the communities/extended families they form.

Nancy Boyd

Nancy Boyd (South Hadley, MA) started English country dancing in 1989 in New York City. She quickly added contra and sword to her dance schedule, danced with Christine Helwig’s “Chelsea Country Dancers” performance group, served as secretary to the CD*NY board, chaired a Playford Ball and worked on many committees. English remains her favorite, but Nancy also enjoys contra and took her first Scottish classes in 2009 at Pinewoods. Nancy coordinated concession sales and volunteers for the NY Revels for years until leaving NYC for retirement in western Mass. in 2008. She and husband Art Munisteri both enthusiastically serve on local dance committees and regularly attend English dances as well as tons of special events.

Among Nancy’s interests are developing the upcoming generations of dancers, leaders, musicians, and group organizers to ensure the healthy future of the dispersed dance community and the balance of old and new traditions; she believes an effective CDSS and well organized volunteers are essential to accomplishing this. In her work life, Nancy was the Deputy Director of the New York District of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) where she spent 30+ years managing people and programs that exist to eradicate employment discrimination. She is goal and action oriented, makes lists for everything and is somewhere between a “big picture” and a “right now” person. She enjoys event planning, problem solving, working with others, and has experience organizing and training student and adult volunteers to accomplish specific objectives and to feel they get as much as they give.

Nan Evans

Nan Evans (Portland, OR) is a dance organizer and leader of English country and contra dances who brings a commitment to the joy of dance and the magic of community. She is well known throughout the Northwest and beyond for her clear teaching and a warm and welcoming style -- characteristics that have served the Portland English dance community well, especially during its developing years when she organized and led the regular English dances and, with a team, created the popular Portland English Country Ball. Nan lives in a co-housing community where decisions that affect the community are made by consensus and where she and her cellist husband, Fred Nussbaum, hold informal dances and concerts in the community building great room. In her work life, Nan retired from the State of Oregon, where she was the Director of the Department of Land Conservation and Development, and is now the Director of Government Relations at the Oregon chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

Brian Gallagher

Brian Gallagher (Indianapolis, IN) did some asking around and found that, after visiting all of the various local contras and contra dance weekends, the most commonly used name to refer to him was "Pajama Boy." Upon further research, he remembered that he usually wears "pajama pants" -- loose fitting and relaxed pants --when he dances. Since starting contra dancing in Greenfield, MA in 2001, shape note singing at NEFFA 2006, and English country dancing at Pinewoods 2007, Brian, who considers himself to be a very new participant in many folk traditions, has danced from Maine to South Carolina, and from Washington, DC, to St. Louis, MO. He thoroughly enjoys different types of music, dances, and dancers. More recently, Brian has been very involved encouraging the next generation of contra dancers -- that is, younger dancers -- to become involved in their local communities. He started the Facebook group Contra Dancers, which has over 1,400 members across the country. On this national forum, he has helped to drive many discussions geared towards encouraging younger folks to dance, to become involved in their communities, and to ask for help in attracting younger dancers to their community. Brian co-led a workshop at NEFFA 2007 titled "Contra Dancing: The NEXT Generation," where participants discussed techniques to expand local dance communities to younger dancers. He serves on the CDSS Youth Task Force.

Scott Higgs

Scott Higgs (Wayne, PA) fell head-over-heels in love with dancing in 1975, taking up English, Scottish, contra, and morris all at once. Since then, he has led contras and English country dances in 26 states, three Canadian provinces, and five foreign countries. These travels connect him with enthusiastic dancers and organizers in all corners of the dance world -- from whom he learns an amazing range of perspectives on dancing and community. Scott has been program director or staff member for several of CDSS's summer camp programs and has led dancing at over 100 weekend and other weeklong programs. At home, he participates actively in many dance groups as board member, organizer, caller, dancer, and (occasional) musician. As the leader of a dance series that stretches back 55 years, Scott understands and respects tradition, and knows how to sustain the vital energy of a group that evolves over time. As co-founder of a one-year old morris team, Scott knows how to collaborate with others to develop something dynamic and new. As a board member, he applies his experience and creative energy to help CDSS flourish, now and in the years ahead. In the few hours that he is not dancing, Scott is a computer consultant, focusing primarily on database management.

Linda Lieberman

Linda Lieberman (Ames, IA) began dancing in the late 1980s when a friend wanted to start a dance group at the art center where she worked as a potter. She volunteered to be responsible for the door and was immediately drawn into dancing. She has been part of a flatfoot clogging team, called at barn dances and community dances, led dancing in schools and English and Scottish country dance groups. During several visits to Australia, Linda called at bush dances and played at the Australian National Folk Festival. She plays in the Onion Creek Band, Cecil's Harp, and Widdershins at various venues around the Midwest and in Australia. She and her husband, Gary, who are avid participants at dance events on both coasts and beyond, have created three books of their original dance tunes and are in the process of putting together a fourth book. Linda is one of the organizers of the Central Iowa Traditional Dance and Music Festival, now in its 12th year, and has organized balls, concerts, leadership workshops, music workshops, and various other social events since the early 1990s. She has been on the boards of local Arts Centers and other nonprofit organizations. She has been instrumental in getting grant monies for various dance events in Iowa. Ames High School in the mathematics department is where you will find her most days during the school year, where one of her favorite subjects to teach is hands-on geometry.

David Means

David Means (Seattle, WA) had two left feet until the age of 35, when Bruce Hamilton convinced him that if he could walk, he could dance.  He was active in the San Francisco Bay Area English and contra dance community for many years, and served as a member of the Playford Ball committee there for a few years. After moving to Seattle in 1991, he joined the dance community there and has found a calling as a dancer who practices non-verbal indications to make the dance flow more smoothly and comfortably for new dancers as well as those more experienced.  In the last few years, he has served as Secretary for the Seattle Ball, bringing major improvements to the collaboration tools available to the committee, and setting up 21^st-century communication procedures between the organizers and the dance community. Away from dancing, he has had a full career as a computer engineer, surviving a couple of start-up experiences, and is now keeping himself amused by building and repairing websites for customers throughout the world.

David Smukler

David Smukler (Syracuse, NY) is a dancer, caller, musician, and dance composer with eclectic tastes that include old and new dances alike. David calls regularly for English and American country dances in New York State and is a member of the Bassett Street Hounds, a Border morris team. For many years, David has been the staff "historian" for the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, recording what happens there each year in a syllabus that is made available online. He is a longtime member of the board of the Syracuse Country Dancers, and has been heavily involved in organizing such events as their Phylla Mae Fall Fest, annual callers gatherings, and the contra dance prom. David is also, along with David Millstone, the author of the CDSS-published book Cracking Chestnuts, based on a series of columns published in the CDSS News; it explores some favorites from the living tradition of classic American contras. When not dancing, he teaches college courses related to inclusive education and disability studies.