Teacher & Musician Bios 2016

Janice Lacock, Teacher   

Janice is originally from Lincolnshire, England and now lives in Madison, Wisconsin. Like most children in the U.K., her introduction to Scottish Country Dancing came as part of the P.E. curriculum in school, and with parents who were a Morris Dancer and a Scottish Country Dancer, it was inevitable that dancing became an important part of her life. She took her RSCDS Teaching Certificate in the Twin Cities, and now teaches youth and adult classes in the John Muir Branch in Madison. She has danced Scottish Country Dancing across the world wherever she has lived, in countries such as Switzerland, Niger, Germany, Romania, and Norway, before finally settling in the U.S. She enjoys challenging her students with dances that leave them with a feeling of accomplishment and a sense of appreciation for each other as part of a team. 

Mara Shea, Fiddle 

Mara Shea has been playing with violins since she was about six, when her mother decided her daughter had a really good sense of pitch and enrolled her in the Neighborhood School of Music, in New Haven, CT.  Mara studied classical music for about 10 years, and then went on a 15-year holiday from playing music at all. Then she discovered folk and dance music—contra dance, English country dance, Scottish country dance. Mara learned much from workshops with Alasdair Fraser, Elke Baker, Becky Tracy, David Kaynor, James Kelly, Kevin Burke, and many other fine musicians, but much of what she does comes straight from what the dancers are doing—she plays for the dance.

Mara has played for many Scottish dance events in Canada and the US since she was an apprentice with Bobby Brown in 1998 and 1999, at Thistle School.  She also won a number of Scottish fiddle competitions between 1998 and 2001 (Loch Norman Highland Games, Grandfather Mountain Games). For Scottish music, she often plays with Julie Gorka in Copious Notes; with Dave Wiesler; with Rebecca McCallum and Jim Stevenson-Mathews in Highland Oasis; and with Pete Campbell and Dean Herington as The MacRowdies.  She also played with Bobby Brown and The Scottish Accent when they performed in North Carolina venues.  

Mara has been on staff numerous times as a musician and teacher at TAC, at Pinewoods, Ramblewood, Scottish Weekend, and at the John C. Campbell Folk School. With Dave Wiesler, she recorded a wonderful Scottish country dance CD called Heather Hills.  She can be heard on a number of other CDs of contra dance and waltz music (through www.cdbaby.com).  In 2011, with Julie Gorka’s help with accompanying chords, she published a collection of 18th- and 19th-century strathspeys, including historical background notes and her own recordings of the tunes; Airs and Dances is available through the www.melbay.com website. Teaching and mentoring are a big part of Mara's life. In 2014 she helped lead a musicians' workshop in Lisbon, Portugal with Dean Herington that led to the formation of a new group of musicians there who now are beginning to play for the Lisbon Scottish country dances. At John C. Campbell Folk School, in Brasstown, North Carolina, she led a week-long Scottish fiddle workshop, and then returned for another week to teach an intermediate fiddle class. 

Mara also plays for English country dances and contra, often with the fiddle-guitar duo The Elftones (www.elftones.com), and sometimes with Julie Gorka, Dean Herington, Jim Stevenson-Mathews, or Dave Wiesler. Check out traditional Celtic tunes and songs with The Elftones and multi-talented vocalist Rhiannon Giddens on their 2009 CD All the Pretty Horses. 

Dave Wiesler, Piano

Dave Wiesler has built a national reputation for his rhythmic and innovative piano playing since 1993. At home in a huge range of styles, Dave plays for events ranging from studio work to concerts to dances of many flavors—contra, swing, vintage, couple dance, English and Scottish country dance. He has given concerts at venues including the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, the Washington Folk-Life Festival, and the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and for two years he led popular performance tours on antique pianos for the Smithsonian Museum's Piano 300 Exhibit. Dave has played at festivals and camps across the country as well as in Canada, Scotland, and England. He is a prolific composer of tunes and songs, and is also a capable guitarist and singer. His 2014 CD, The Goldcrest Collection, is a companion CD for choreographer Joseph Pimentel's book of dances. The recording features music for twelve English country dances and four American contra dances in form suitable for dancing. Most tunes are recently composed, many by Dave, highlighting Goldcrest's musical scope and their intricate and creative arrangements.

 Dave is also a soccer dad, and lives in Newark, Delaware, with his wife, two young sons, and two cats (to which is he allergic!)

2/14/16