maupinfest contest Judges

Matthew Campbell will serve as one of the dance judges for MaupinFest 2025. Matthew Campbell is a third-generation dancer. His grandfather was a member of Ralph Sloan’s influential Tennessee Travelers dance team on the Grand Ole Opry from 1953 to 1956. Matthew’s first competition was at the age of 8 years old. He started dancing with Tommy Jackson and The Little Rock Preview about that same time. He went on to dance with Tommy's Harpeth River and Rocky Top Revue as well. They performed all over the Southeast and competed. They made multiple appearances at the Country Music Hall of Fame, CMA fest, Opryland Hotel, and even performed on Marty Stuart's Late Night Jam at the Ryman Auditorium. Matthew has won multiple National Buck Dance Championships in different age divisions over the years at Uncle Dave Macon Days. He has also won numerous Grand Champion and 1st place Titles in buckdance and flatfoot competitions throughout Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. He has judged flatfoot, buckdancing, and clogging at Bluegrass Along the Harpeth in Franklin, TN and flatfooting at the Tennessee Valley Old-Time Fiddlers Convention in Athens, Alabama. 

Becky Hill will serve as a dance judge and workshop instructor this year. Becky is a percussive dancer, square dance caller, choreographer, community organizer, and educator. She grew up in Michigan, spent extensive time in West Virginia and now resides in Brentwood, Maryland. Becky has worked with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, Good Foot Dance Company and Rhythm in Shoes, and has studied with an array of percussive dance luminaries.

In 2013, she was involved in Wheatland Music Organization’s Carry It On... Project where she was commissioned to choreograph two works under the mentorship of Sharon Leahy in honor of the festival’s 40th anniversary. In 2014 and 2106, she was awarded a West Virginia Division of Culture and History Professional Development Grant to further her study of percussive dance. Becky served as the Artist in Residence at Davis & Elkins College from 2013 - 2015 where she coordinated The Mountain Dance Trail of Augusta Heritage Center and co-directed the Appalachian Ensemble. She became the Events Coordinator for Augusta Heritage Center from 2015 - 2019 organizing their summer intensives. Together with noted folklorist Gerry Milnes, she produced a documentary film on West Virginia dance traditions, Reel ‘Em Boys, Reel ‘Em. Becky has organized Helvetia Hoot, formally known as Dare to be Square West Virginia since 2013. She is currently a Programming Manager for the National Council for the Traditional Arts.

Becky directed her first evening length music and dance work inspired by Appalachia, Shift, with an all-star cast Nashville. Shift debuted November 2017 and it expanded for the 2018 Wheatland Music Festival. In 2018 she was selected a fellow for OneBeat, a U.S. State Department Cultural Diplomacy Program and conducted an artist residency at Basin Arts.  She completed her M.F.A in dance at University of Maryland, College Park in May 2022. She was an Artist-in-Residence at Strathmore in 2021, John C.Campbell Folk School in 2022, Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences in 2023 and Loghaven in 2023.  She is  involved with Dance Exchange's Dance On Creative Aging Program, and can be found performing with T-Mart Rounders, calling square dances, and teaching dance throughout the country.

As an avid organizer and teacher, Becky's work is deeply rooted in the connections between music and community. She believes there is always more to learn and is dedicated to creating  innovative choreography rooted in Appalachian music and dance.

SELECTED PAST PERFORMANCES

Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Washington D.C.

Jacobs Pillow Dance, Becket, MA

Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI

Wheatland Music Festival, Remus, MI

Big Ears, Knoxville, TN

American Folk Festival, Bangor, ME

Mountain Stage Radio Show, Elkins, WV

Hiawatha Music Festival, Marquette, MI

Rocky Mountain Old-Time Festival, Berthoud, CO

Augusta Heritage Center, Elkins, WV

Berea Celebration of Traditional Music, Berea, KY

Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville, TN

Nelsonville Music Festival, Athens, OH

Wind Up Space, Baltimore, MD

Vandalia Gathering, Charleston, WV

Sheperdstown Appalachian Heritage Festival, Sheperdstown, WV

Floyd Radio Show, Floyd, VA

Frostburg State Appalachian Festival, Frostburg, MD

MUSIC & DANCE CAMPS

Miles of Music Camp, Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

Swannanoa Gathering, Asheville, NC

John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC

Wheatland Music Organization June Music & Dance Camp, Remus, MI

Earful of Fiddle Music & Dance Camp, Mecosta, MI

Black Pot Camp, Eunice, LA

Handmade Music School, Floyd, VA

Ashokan Music & Dance Camp, Saugerties, NY

Timber Ridge CDSS Camp, Timber Ridge, WV

Augusta Heritage Center, Elkins, WV

Wheatland Music Organization Traditional Arts Weekend, Remus, MI

Mountain Road Traditional Music Camp, Mingo, WV

Andrea Smith will serve as a dance judge and also perform with The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers during the festival. Andrea Smith is a dancer, choreographer, musician, educator, and arts advocate. Andrea is from North Carolina and now resides in Virginia.  She began her professional career in 1979 with the Green Grass Cloggers, touring extensively and performing at major music festivals throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.  She has placed at numerous fiddlers’ convention contests, served as a dance judge for the Appalachian Stringband Festival (Clifftop), and has taught at The Swannanoa Gathering, Ashokan, Augusta Heritage Festival, Wheatland, and the Appalachian Stringband Festival.  She later returned to her concert dance background when she joined the dance faculty at Queens University and Agnes Scott College.  She joined the dance magnet faculty at Atlanta’s North Springs High School in 2003 and co-directed what would become the largest and one of the most diverse public school dance programs in Georgia for 17 years.   She was the original bass player with Ralph Blizard and the New Southern Ramblers, played with Atlanta’s Georgia Crackers, and now plays bass and banjo with her husband in their SW Virginia-based band, the Burnt Mountain Benders.