mini-documentary of our pilot project
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2-disc set, $25 postpaid to U.S. addresses
Inspiring performances across traditions, a film about the process of creative collaboration, and a Visiting Folk School:
Old Doors/New Worlds brings together musicians and dancers from different traditions, generations, and parts of the country. It’s unique among collaborations in its focus on process as well as product: How do they make what they make? What do they learn about their own art, and about communication? What do traditional arts mean in a world of instant information?
Artists from deep in several traditions—from Cajun fiddling to contemporary dance—bring their expertise and openness to the creation of live and recorded performances. Film and audio documentation, conversations and interviews, and workshops illuminate the process. The Visiting Folk School will bring programs to groups of all levels—from community events to college arts schools—including an apprenticeship program, middle-school workshops, and master classes.
The pilot project began in late 2009 and is nearing completion. Artists have met twice as a group in full and several times in smaller groups. They’ve been recording and filming and will release a CD/DVD in early 2012, along with live performances.
Take a Listen
Here are a few samples of what we’ve been doing:
Vrida Vrigstad- A slängpolska from the south of Sweden is given a Greely-and-Hoag twist.
- Ayoù t’était mercredi passé/Sweet Sunny South
- On an evening walk, Daron and David discovered they had a ballad in common.
- Dance All Night/Allons boir un coup
- In our setting of a Mississippi fiddle tune and a Cajun drinking song, we demonstrate that behavior is not without consequences!
Some Faces of Old Doors/New Worlds
 Nic Gareiss Described by the Irish Times as “The human epitome of the unbearable lightness of being,” Michigan-born dancer Nic Gareiss has performed as featured soloist with such luminaries as The Chieftains, Solas, Darol Anger, Dervish and Martin Hayes. His work re-imagines movement as a musical activity, morphing dance into a medium that appeals to both the eyes and the ears. Nic draws from many percussive dance traditions to weave together a technique in service of his love of improvisation, traditional footwork vocabulary and musical collaboration. Nic holds degrees in anthropology and music from Central Michigan University and is pursuing post-graduate work in ethnochoreology at the University of Limerick. |
 Daron Douglas Daron Douglas brings to the meeting years of living in the mountains, playing Renaissance music, leading contra and English country dance bands, some music school, the spell of New Orleans, and much old-time music making. She weaves on her grandmother’s loom, fiddles on a violin her father made, and gardens in zone 9… hibiscus, beauty berry, and arugula. She’s appearing at Voodoo Fest this year with a French singer and working on a recording of her great-grandmother’s ballads.
Daron’s bands: By & By String Band . Wazozo . Foxfire |
 Carson Reiners Originally from NJ, Carson Reiners started dancing at the age of 12 and has since studied and worked internationally in the field of dance. She has been a recipient of the fellowship program at Alvin Ailey and scholarship at Ballet Hispanico and has attended Jacobs Pillow Choreography Lab. She studied also at the Rotterdam Dans Academy in Holland and has a BA in Dance from the Anton Bruckner Universitat in Austria. She has performed in Holland, Germany, Austria, Spain, and the US. She currently dances with the Red String Dance Company/Loni Landon, Project 121/ Kate Grifler, and the CMDP/Cleo Mack. She collaborates with Likvid Theatre, a theatre group based in Moscow, Russia, and with Stop Irrational Music.
“I dance to forget why I dance. I need an edit button. I swim in rainwater and attempt to not fall off of rooftops. I like to collect things, like people. I like to take time to move about the world alone.” |
 David Greely David Greely is a Breaux Bridge, LA based fiddler, vocalist and songwriter. As a founding member and co-leader of the hugely popular Cajun band, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, he has appeared at major festivals and venues worldwide. He was a student of Dewey Balfa, having received a Louisiana Folklife Apprenticeship grant in 1992 to study with the master Cajun musician. David has also studied extensively the styles and repertoires of master fiddlers Varise Conner and Dennis McGee, and has developed his own distinctive approach to Cajun fiddle.
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 Andrea Hoag Andrea Hoag is a leading performer of Swedish folk fiddling in America. The first American to graduate from the Folk Violin Pedagogy program at Malungs Folkhögskola (Sweden), Andrea also studied with elder tradition-bearers Pekkos Gustaf and Nils Agenmark. She’s a composer and an interpreter of American fiddle styles, known for her versatility and imagination. Her music has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and Performance Today. A big fan of surprises and unexpected connections, Andrea hatched the idea for Old Doors/New Worlds while driving a slow route home.
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Leigh Pilzer is a native of the Washington, DC area and earned her degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging from the prestigious Berklee College of Music. She has toured with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and Sherrie Maricle & The DIVA Jazz Orchestra. She has arranged numerous compositions for a variety of big bands and brass quintets and co-leads the Jen Krupa-Leigh Pilzer Quintet. In addition to her academic work at Berklee, Leigh earned Masters degrees in Jazz Studies and in Saxophone Performance from the University of Maryland and is currently working on her doctorate in Music Theory at the Catholic University of America. |
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Owen Morrison has been accompanying fiddle tunes on the guitar for most of his life. He began playing for contra dances at age 15 and he now makes his living playing for many types of dancing. While steeped in fiddle music, Owen has also studied classical, jazz and flamenco guitar, and graduated from Guilford College with a degree in music/classical guitar performance. He has taught guitar styles at Ashokan, Augusta and Pinewoods Camp, and has been a featured performer at many festivals, including the National Folk Festival, LEAF and the Old Songs Festival. His dance bands include Elixir, Night Watch, House Red and The Morrison Brothers Band. Owen has also worked extensively as an accompanist with fiddlers such as Rodney Miller and Jamie Laval. |
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Jodi Beder is a member of the National Philharmonic, the Folger Consort, and Washington Musica Viva, and principal cellist with the Princeton Symphony. She is a committed interpreter of new music, frequently collaborating with composers, and has been a specialist in microtonal music. She also frequently plays Baroque cello with period-instrument ensembles. Always happy to blur the lines between styles, she collaborates with dance and theater groups, and, with her famous cello Zizi, is a regular member of the cabaret-rock ensemble Zen for Primates. She has also been the solo cellist for a synagogue in NYC for over 20 years. She holds a Ph.D. in music from CUNY Graduate School and University Center, and attended the Professional Studies Program at Mannes College of Music, where she studied cello with Paul Tobias; she has also studied cello with Nancy Streetman and Fred Zlotkin. |
 Phil Wiggins Phil Wiggins, Blues harmonica player, singer, songmaker and teacher, was born on May 8th, 1954 in Washington D.C. He learned from some of the most notable acoustic blues musicians in the area: Flora Molton, Ester Mae “Mother” Scott, Chief Ellis, John Jackson, Archie Edwards, John Cephas, and others. He performed with Flora Molton at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival from 1972-1976, where he met John Cephas. He performed with John as the Blues duo Cephas and Wiggins for over 30 years. As ambassadors of the Piedmont Blues, Cephas and Wiggins took their music all over American and the world. This included such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, and the White House. Phil served for 5 years as Artistic Director for the Centrum Blues Week in Port Townsend, Washington, and has taught at numerous music camps dedicated to perpetuating traditional Blues for over 25 years.
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