Storysmith® Susan Marie Frontczak brings literature to life, creates stories from thin air, and hones personal experience into tales worth telling again and again. Her stories and living history presentations have taken her to schools, libraries, corporations, and theaters across 36 of the United States as well as Europe. Susan's original stories have been heard on Colorado Public Radio (Morning Edition), at the Colorado Music Festival Young People's Concert, through Story Gleaner productions, and on her CD"The Three Fishes & Other Stories." Susan Marie's motto is: "Give me a place to stand, and I will take you somewhere else." More at www.storysmith.org.

The Maroon Bells Morris Dancers

Maroon Bells Morris is the oldest of three Morris Teams now dancing in Colorado. The team has been serving the communities in which they dance since 1982, encouraging all onlookers to share the joy and luck of the Morris.

The Maroon Bells Morris Dancers are a diverse group, hailing from the greater Boulder/Denver Metro area and all walks of life. They are always on the lookout for new dancers to join in the fun. Contact Squire Robin Smith for more information, or visit us on the web at: maroonbellsmorris.org

The Solstice Sword Dancers

The Solstice Sword Dancers are five members of the Bennett School of Irish Dance: Bill and Molly Bennett, Bill MacAllister, Ken Horwedge, and Beckee Laurie. As exciting as Irish dancing can be, the intricate interlacings of rapper swords adds a whole new dimension to their dancing experience. Their practices have become one of the premier spectator events at the Friendship Irish Dance Center, since nobody can believe that anyone could extricate themselves from the complex tangles of steel that are the heart of rapper sword figures. They always do, however, like so many armed Houdinis, ready to go into the next impossible tangle and amaze everyone by emerging unscathed.
See them on YouTube.

Breathless in Berthoud (Border Morris)

For at least five hundred years, teams of English men and women have dressed in ribbons and bells, waved handkerchiefs and clashed sticks together, and, to the music of pipe and tabor, fiddle, concertina, or accordion, danced the Morris. The Morris is a performance, not a social dance. It appears to be very ancient, but historical evidence before the Middle Ages is scarce. The Morris is traditional, dynamic, mysterious, and a little absurd. People dance the Morris because they love it.

Border Morris dancing is a style of Morris dancing originat­ing in the area of the English border with Wales. The dances are boisterous and energetic; primarily stick dances, emphasizing a thrilling performance rather than subtlety or refinement. The dancers often dance in blackface, and the dancers’ "kit" is often decorated with many ribbons or strips of material, known as rags. Besides the traditional dances, collected early in the twentieth century, Border teams dance many new dances, invented in the Border counties and in the U.S.A.

Featured on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Breathless in Berthoud is the only Border Morris Side in Colorado. We would enjoy astonishing you, and would like to take this opportunity to inform you that we are always welcoming newcomers to experience this ancient and mysterious dance form. We practice on Thursday nights at the Barn Owl Dance Studio in Berthoud.

For more information, contact Anne or Robin Smith at robins@mesanetworks.net or visit our website.

Traditional Southwestern Fandango Dances with Lorenzo Trujillo

Since 1976, the Traditional Southwestern Fandango Dancers have performed in numerous venues throughout the Southwest United States. As the older generation retired, new members joined the group to continue the traditions from the 1840's in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.

Most members have roots in New Mexico and in Southern Colorado. Their performances have included such venues as: The Chicano Music Festival, The Fort, The Spanish Market, Taos City Auditorium, Santa Fe Fiestas, The San Luis Fiestas, Chile Harvest Festival, Denver Civic Theatre, and many others.

Lorenzo Trujillo will be teaching dances from the 1800's in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. These dances originated in Europe but came to the United States with the Court of Maximillian in Mexico City during the French occupation. They traveled up the trade routes to present-day Taos, Santa Fe, San Luis, and Pueblo, among other locations and towns. These dances influenced square dancing as it evolved in the United States. The dances and music have been preserved through oral tradition at family gatherings among traditional Hispanic families in the Southwest. They have remained basically unaltered throught multiple generations of musicians and dancers.

Traditionally, the music is played on a violin and guitar. The violinist is often the dance master who plays and instructs the participants in the various dances. Lorenzo and his dancers and musicians will be performing and teaching some of the traditional dances like: La Comancha, La Camila, Baile de la Escoba, and Valse de la Cadena. The dances have a legend that seems to follow each one and Trujillo will be explaining these stories as the dances are performed and taught. Trujillo learned the music and dances from his mother and grandmother, and they learned from their elders in a lineage and geneology of tradition through the ages. More at lorenzotrujillo.com

Bryan Connolly Extreme Juggling

Bryan Connolly has spent the last 10 years of his life developing a unique juggling style that incorporates various acrobatic stunts and other passions of his, such as dance and theatre. Training to join a circus school in Montreal is his current focus, although he regularly performs his fire show at house parties.

Chris Kermiet

Chris Kermiet has been calling and teaching traditional American community dances for over thirty years and is recognized as one of the finest callers in the United States. In 2000, he received the Heritage Award/2000 Artist Fellowship from the Colorado Council on the Arts for calling and teaching traditional American dance, as well as the Westword Best of Denver Award for Best Dance Caller. In 2009 he was honored as a "Living Legend of Dance" by the Carson-Brierly Dance Library at the University of Denver. During the last ten years, as well as being in demand as a caller and teacher of traditional dance, he has created choreographies for a number of performing groups and theater companies.

Chris grew up with traditional dance. His father, Paul Kermiet, was one of Colorado's premier old time callers, and ran a summer camp on Lookout Mountain where Chris heard the best callers from around the country. He learned from all of them, and it shows in his teaching and calling, his broad repertoire and familiarity with traditional dance, and the way he puts new dancers at ease.

Visit his personal web-site. Also Denver English Dance, the Retrodance, and Poem-of-the-Month.

Pat Tognoni

Pat Tognoni's contagious smile and energetic whimsical calling spread the passion of dance wherever she goes.  Her clear and concise teaching and welcoming smile will engage both new and experienced dancers and keep them dancing all night long!  Pat's repertoire includes contras, squares, circles, and traditional reels.  She has called dances throughout Colorado and in several other states.

In addition to calling, Pat plays double bass and guitar, and performed with a clogging troupe for 12 years.  Her passion for dance and music is evident as she hosts jams, co-organizes community dances, and leads dance workshops.

"I absolutely love seeing people smile and having a great time on the dance floor!"