LEE OTTERHOLT, American-born folk dance instructor and choreographer, has recently returned to the United States from Norway after 27 years of professional teaching in Europe.  Lee now travels from his base in Southern California (where he plays part-time surfer dude) to share his inspiring approach to dance and his exciting material.  His appearance as Featured Teacher Creature at Folk Ball 2005 will be Lee's Madison debut.  He has become well-known to international folkdancers across North America and beyond through engagements including the Laguna Beach Folk Dance Festival (1999, 2002); the Florida Folk Dance Camp (2003); the Pan-Asian Folk Dance Festival (2001); Tapestry Folk Dance Center (Minneapolis 2003); International Folkdance Workshop (Appleton, WI  2002); and Mel Mann's "Dance on the Water" cruises to Norway (1997), the Danube (1999), the Greek Islands (2001), and Alaska (2002).  Lee has had great success presenting dances from a collection entitled "Dances of European Ethnic Minorities, Vol. 1 & 2" which includes dances of Gypsies, Vlachs, and other minority groups in Europe as well as dances popular among European folkdancers but relatively unknown in the States.

Steve Weintraub (Klezmer Dance) -- workshop & party music by Yid Vicious!

Steven Weintraub has often been called “The Pied Piper of Yiddish Dance”; his years of experience leading and researching Yiddish dance allow him to quickly weave dancers and music together in astonishing ways.   Young and old, from all backgrounds, find it easy to share in the joy of Yiddish dancing. He has researched and taught freylakhs, shers, bulgars, zhoks and many others. In workshop settings, he also recreates old-world Jewish weddings.

Steve's Flyer