A NYC-based folk dancer, caller, teacher, and organizer, Alexandra calls dance weekends, camps, and festivals all over the country. She tours, calling local dances for both Contra and English Country Dance. She also calls community, teen, and family dances as well as weddings and parties.

Her clear teaching, smooth voice, and fun dance selection delight dancers coast-to-coast (and once in Paris, France!!). Alex is excellent with all levels of dancers, whether they just walked in the door or have been dancing since before she was born. She enjoys challenging the brains of experienced dancers and making dance accessible for new folks. She has dances for everyone! 

This past year, she has expanded her mentorship of new callers, working with Brooklyn Contra for a series of caller workshops aimed at developing new callers in the NYC region. When she is not calling or dancing, she can be found sword dancing with Half Moon Sword, singing choirs (with the Oratorio Society of New York and Florilegium Chamber Choir), playing the piano, dance organizing, and learning new fiber arts.

Alex calls using positional terminology.

Daniel Popowich first danced English Country in 1982, wasn't sure it would stick, but finally got bit by the folk-dance bug in 1986 and has been dancing English regularly since. Along the way were voyages into Scottish, Contra, Morris, Sword (both rapper and longsword), and Clog dancing. He was a member of the Marlboro Morris Men for over 20 years, was squire of the Marlboro Morris Ale, and is a member of one of the country's oldest longsword teams, The Green Mountain Mummers.

Prior to moving to NYC in 2016, Daniel lived in western Massachusetts and danced regularly in both the Amherst and Brattleboro areas. Daniel called dances in Amherst and ran a Brattleboro English dance series. He also called regionally, in New Hampshire and the Boston area. For ten years Daniel led the committee that ran the Brattleboro Playford Ball, one of the country's oldest Balls at the time and one of the last remaining talk-through only English dance events.

Daniel is passionate about the history of our tradition and is known for leaning heavily on the "classics" of our repertoire. You can be sure he'll have at least one 1651 dance on his program. He loves combing the CDNY Past Seasons' Dances Archives and discovering, "Dargason hasn't been danced in anyone's memory?!?!? We gotta dance that!" He's also known for celbrating the traditional dances, so be prepared for a rant!

Daniel teaches with gendered terminology.

Dorothy Cummings has been participating in English County Dance since 1997, when The New York Times ran Linda Wolfe’s article “Dancing in Jane Austen’s Footsteps.” She undertook a calling apprenticeship at CDNY in 2009-2012 and leads ECD at CDNY, the NYC metro area, the Hudson Valley, and further afield. Dorothy regards English Country dancers as part of a community that extends from the 1600s to the present, and she relishes sharing the classics. She is fascinated by the variety of ways that people learn and motivated to ease the learning process. With crisp diction, lively musicality, and personal warmth, Dorothy promotes an encouraging and rewarding ECD experience to keep dancers coming back.

At CDNY, Dorothy uses gendered calling.

Elizabeth began English Country dancing thirty-five years ago, and has taught and performed both English Country Dance and Scandinavian couple turning dances for at least 20 years. She is a regular caller at CDNY and has called sessions at various weekends at Circle Lodge. She has been a caller at CD of Westchester and Stockbridge ECD and travels to Albany to call for Capital ECD. She has also taught English Country Dance workshops for the New York City chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America and has called dance parties for Germantown Country Dancers in the Philadelphia area.

Elizabeth calls using a mixture of positional and gendered terminology.

Gene Murrow has been an English Country dancer and musician since 1965, and has taught and called at clubs, workshops, festivals, and balls throughout the United States as well as England, Europe, Canada, and Japan. He has attended Pinewoods Camp as a CDSS staff member almost every year since 1965, and has chaired Early Music Week, English Dance Week, and English/American Dance weeks several times each.

In 1996 he organized the Amherst Assembly, a week-long conference devoted to a scholarly and practical look at the origins and evolution of the country dance. He was invited to present a paper at the 2001 EFDSS/Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society conference in London tracing the history of English Country dancing in America, and in 2004 he was honored as the featured country dance caller and teacher at the gala 50th anniversary of England’s Sidmouth International Festival. He has toured England several times for calling engagements, has appeared at the Eastbourne, Lichfield, Whitby, and Southam Festivals. In the fall of 2006, he toured Japan for two weeks teaching English dance workshops, where he returned in 2011 to lead the Folk Dance Federation of Japan national workshop.

He is author of a resource guide and training curriculum on musicianship for English Country Dance teachers—the basis of a course offered at the Pinewoods, Mendocino, and Berea country dance workshops in the United States.

As a dance musician, he has made four recordings: “Measured Obsession” (music for dances by Fried Herman), and “Old Friends,” “New Friends,” and “Band of Friends” (for dances by Gary Roodman). He is also the producer of the series of English dance recordings featuring the Boston-based band Bare Necessities, now numbering 14 discs.

A professionally trained musician, Gene is the founder, first Executive Director, and current Chairman of the Board of Gotham Early Music Scene, a service and advocacy organization for early music in New York City and served on the Board of Directors of Early Music America. He has also served on the Board of the Country Dance and Song Society of America, was President of the American Recorder Society, and serves as a jury/panel member for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Gene calls using a mix of gendered and positional terminology.

Margaret Bary joined the roster of ECD callers in 2016 after completing an apprenticeship with mentors Paul Ross and Beverly Francis. Along with CDNY, she calls English dances in other communities including Westchester, Ridgewood, Princeton, Albany, Boston, Burlington and the Hudson Valley, and has taught adults and children on staff at CDSS Family and Campers’ Weeks, ESCape and LCFD. Recently, Margaret along with her husband, Jeff, have delved into dance choreography, writing a number of dances that have been featured in the wider ECD community.

In addition to leading English Country and community dances, Margaret teaches English sword dancing. As a member of Half Moon, she hosts the NY English Sword Dance Festival, and performs locally and at events such as NEFFA, the Marlboro Ale and DART (Dancing America Rapper Tournament).

Margaret currently serves on the CDSS Board and on the steering committee of Pourparler, a national gathering for teachers of traditional dance and music. A lifelong dancer, she has a background in Modern Dance, holds an MFA in Dance Choreography and is a Certified Movement Analyst. After a long career as a dance educator, she currently mentors Pre-K teachers in NYC public schools. Underlying her work with people of all ages, Margaret believes that participatory dance fosters joy, self-expression and connection between people.

At CDNY, Margaret is calling ECD positionally, without reference to gender.

Orly Krasner teaches regularly at Country Dance New York and Country Dancers of Westchester. She discovered English Country dancing while writing her doctoral dissertation on a totally unrelated musical topic. Intrigued by the idea of music made visible, she soon began to choreograph, and then apprenticed as a dance teacher under Fried de Metz Herman, Paul Ross, Beverly Francis, and Gene Murrow. In 2011, Gene invited her to join him in Japan as guests of the National Federation of Teachers of Folk Dance; their workshops began just in time for them to experience the earthquake! Orly has also called at the Lichfield (UK) Folk Festival (where she returns in 2017) and appears as a guest teacher for dances, festivals, and special events throughout the USA, and Canada. Celebrations, Orly’s book of dances, will be available soon; the CD, recorded by Reunion, is already out. Orly also dabbles in baroque dance but remains a committed ECD dance gypsy! In “real” life, Orly holds a Ph.D. in Musicology, and when she isn’t dancing, she teaches music history and theory at the City College of New York.

Orly calls using a mix of gendered and positional terminology.

Paul Ross has been dancing English Country Dance since 1971, when he joined the University of Chicago Country Dancers under the direction of Pat Talbot, an inspired teacher and leader, who taught English and Scottish country dancing, morris, gamalpolska, and hambo.

In 1981 Paul moved to New York City. His teachers were the master callers of those years: Genny Shimer, Christine Helwig, Fried Herman, Sue Salmons, Bertha Hatvary, and others, and he had the privilege of dancing to Phil Merrill’s and Marshall Baron’s playing, both legendary musicians of English Country dancing.

In 1993, Paul became an apprentice caller in Westchester, studying under Christine Helwig and Fried Herman. Fried, in particular, was the major influence on Paul’s dancing and on his understanding and vision of what ECD is. To help preserve that vision and the dances that Fried created Paul founded The Lenox Assembly in Lenox, MA., in 2009, a dance weekend dedicated to the art of dancing well, whose final session was in May of 2022. Paul is also the keeper of the Childgrove YouTube channel.

Paul currently teaches regularly in White Plains, NY, with the Country Dancers of Westchester and in New York with CDNY, using a mix of gendered and positional terminology.