With her husband B.J. Whitehouse, she co-founded the Island Folk Dance and Song Society (IFDSS) in 1998. While Christine was exposed to Polish and Russian dances as a child, she started international folk dancing in earnest while attending Duquesne University (home of the Tamburitzans).  Since then, she has kept dancing socially as often as possible and began calling contra dances in Rhode Island in 1973.  She is part of the cadre of dance leaders for the Kingston English Country Dance. She has attended numerous camps and workshops led by leaders in the folk dance and music field who specialize in Balkan, Central American, European & British Isle traditions.  Christine has worked with the Folk Arts Center of New England in Boston for the past several years so that she might bring the beauty and energy of world music and dance to others.

Sandol Astrausky

Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly

A Rhode Island-based folk duo performing traditional American and Celtic folk music and dance, along with original music and poetry, the much acclaimed husband-wife duo presents an enthralling blend of traditional Appalachian, Celtic and original folk music sung with gorgeous vocals and an astonishing array of unusual instruments -- including the mountain dulcimer, old-time banjo, tin whistle, limberjacks, mandolin, harmonica, feet and more. Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly have traveled extensively for sixteen years in the United States, Ireland, England, and Canada to perform their music and find their songs one by one. They have four books and eight recordings, which have received international airplay. Their performance is appealing to all ages, and with humor, audience participation, and a relaxed stage presence, Aubrey and Elwood explain song origins to give more relevance to the material.  Because they have such an extensive repertoire, special programs and workshops are offered for festivals, schools, colleges, libraries, women's history, and holidays.  During trips to festivals and camps such as the Hindman Settlement School in Eastern Kentucky, the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia, the Old Songs Festival in New York, the Ozark Folk Center in Arkansas, the Swannanoa Gathering and the John C. Campbell Folk School in western North Carolina, Aubrey and Elwood have taught classes, studied with traditional musicians and folklorists, played and called dances, appeared on television, and received standing ovations for their concerts.  In addition to their eight recordings, Aubrey has written three books of poetry and a songbook. Not to mention, the duo is part of eight compilation albums.

Diane Ault

Diane is a longtime community organizer, activist and artist who wears lots of hats! Her roles are many but her vision is one: wholeness for all. She has served on the boards & staff of many church and community non-profit organizations, locally, regionally and nationally and has a passion for community-building across lines of race, class and culture. She loves the simplicity and elegance of the InterPlay forms and wants to share them with other adventurous souls in Nashville and other parts of TN! She is certified in the InterPlay Leadership Program developed by Phil Porter and Cynthia Winton-Henry.

Michelle Bach-Coulibaly

Michelle is a Dancer, Choreographer, Faculty, Teacher, Artistic Director of Modern, West African Dance/Music, Movement Theatre. She is on the faculty of Connecticut College, the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's National Theatre Institute, Brown University and the Brown/Trinity Consortium which provides a three-year professional masters program in the performing arts to students under the auspices of Brown and Trinity Repertory. She is choreographer-in-residence with the Touring and Repertory Dance Theatre at Brown University; directs the children's West African Dance Company; Little Babemba; and performs and teaches in schools throughout the New England states. Michelle is also artistic director of modern dance troupe, New Works/World Traditions, an all women's theatrical company that writes and presents original movement operas. She is currently working on a documentary, and accompanying textbook on the social and popular dances of the Bambara peoples of Mali, West Africa. With her troupe, she has developed inter-active programs that incorporate ritual play, drumming, storytelling, call and response singing, and dances that honor the West African Tradition in relation to their influence upon American culture. Michelle choreographs modern and ballet pieces with many major

Steve Baughman

Acoustic guitarist extraordinaire Steve Baughman focuses on Celtic, Appalachian and Swedish tunes for this set of charming instrumentals. Baughman is well known to guitar fans around the world for his best selling books and videos on Celtic instrumentals by Mel Bay. The Angels? Portion is his most recent collection of instrumentals, played with a delightful touch and recorded with extreme care and fidelity.  An American born and raised in Southeast Asia, Steve Baughman spent his childhood in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur. The '60's were "in" and folk music was big, even in Southeast Asia. Like many kids of that era, he fell in love with the guitar. One day while rummaging through a part music, part bicycle shop near a Chinese fruit market, he found a dusty, probably pirated copy of Mel Bay's classic guitar method book. With that book he began the most enriching journey of his life. Steve now makes his home in San Francisco. He derives his musical style primarily from British Isles fiddlers, most significantly Martin Hayes. His album A Drop of the Pure features his extremely rhythmic and lyrical arrangements, and showcases his unique touch on the guitar.

Paul Bueno de Mesquita

Paul is a one of the "cogs" in the Cognitive Dissidents, a trio of University of Rhode Island faculty who take their audience on musical journeys through historical protest movements for social justice, civil rights, and peace. An affiliate of URI's Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, Paul founded and directs Los Cantantes Pequenos de Paz, a multicultural children's singing group who perform songs of hope and peace, in tribute to slain Colombian peace activist, Governor Guillermo Gaviria Correa. Originally from Galveston Texas, Paul plays both the harmonica and guitar, complementing his fellow cogs, DocWood and Stephen Myles. As an associate professor of psychology at URI Paul has been known to use music as an effective teaching strategy with his students.

Harry Buffum

Harry Buffum plays guitar and helped form the Kingston Old Time Music Jam Session, which meets twice a month at URI.

Robin Bullock

Composer, respected instructor, workshop leader, and virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, specializing in 6- and 12-string guitars, cittern, mandolin, piano and bass guitar. A founding member of the innovative acoustic world-music trio Helicon (winners of the Association for Independent Music's prestigious INDIE Award for Best Seasonal Recording) and an alumnus of trailblazing Celtic groups The John Whelan Band and Greenfire, Robin has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe and appeared on over two dozen CDs. His own recorded work includes four critically acclaimed solo CDs (Green Fields, Midnight Howl, Between Earth and Sky and The Lightning Field), as well as the already-classic mandolin collaboration Travellers with legendary bluegrass mandolinists Butch Baldassari and John Reischman, A Midnight Clear: A Celtic Christmas with fellow INDIE winners Al Petteway and Amy White, and his most recent project, Celtic Guitar Summit with California fingerstylist Steve Baughman. Robin's further credits include three Washington Area Music Association WAMMIE Awards, a Governor's Award from the Maryland State Arts Council, and a feature broadcast on National Public Radio's hugely popular Celtic music program "The Thistle and Shamrock."

Issa Coulibaly

Trained by master drummer in his native Mali, Issa is an expert in the traditional style of djembe drumming, utilizing the goatskin drum popularized in Francophone West Africa. A performer with Komme Djosse, the high-energy troupe of West African musicians, dancers, poets, and storytellers founded by his countryman Seydou Coulibaly, Issa is committed to introducing the traditional arts of the Malinke, Bambara, Khassonke, and Bobo peoples of Mali to non-Malians. A frequent performer with New Works/World Traditions world dance company affiliated with Brown University, he regularly teaches workshops at the Dance Complex, and at the Brazilian Cultural Center in Cambridge, MA.

DocWood (Steve Wood)

DocWood is a recording artist for Neoga Music (www.neogamusic.com) and has been performing folk music since 1964. He is currently working on his fourth Neoga CD to compliment his first three releases: Golden Vanity, Muley Point Mud, and Never Enough Thyme. He is part of a trio of University of Rhode Island professors known as the Cognitive Dissidents (Stephen Myles and Paul B. De Mesquita). The group performs songs of social justice. Two recent performing highlights include opening for Pete Seeger (as part of the Cognitive Dissidents) and a solo set of baseball songs performed in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. ¡°DocWood¡± has a day job as Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Rhode Island.

Augusto Dougal

Augusto is a 24-year-old, Guatemalan-American student of the Talent Development program at the University of Rhode Island pusuing a double major in Biology and Microbiology. He has had a strong dream to start his own dance company—a dance company like none-other, one where all are welcome with or without prior experience in dance. The only qualities that he looks for are passion in music and a hunger for diversity. The mission of his dance company is to spread the knowledge one another’s culture and traditions through the universal languages of the arts. He has been able to find people who hold that key in their hands, and will in their hearts to spread love and not hate. Dreams of Diversity through Dance, a step closer to a better tomorrow with today’s leaders!

Koyel Ghosal

Koyel started learning the sitar from Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan at the tender age of 8. In the past 6 years she has been under the guidance and tutelage of Shri Chaitanya Koppikar, who in turn is a disciple of Pt. Bimalendu Mukherjee, Pt. Budhaditya Mukherjee and Pt. Arvind Parikh. At the age of 12, Koyel won a gold medal in the interschool music competition - The Centrafest. She has also participated in the All India Radio Music Competition, and in solo and ¡®jugalbandi¡¯ (duet) concerts held in Pune, Khopoli and Mumbai (India). In the United States she has performed extensively in New England. She has performed for several events at the University of Rhode Island, where she also won the Talent Show 2002 held by the Multicultural Center. Her solo performances at other Universities like Johnson and Wales (Providence) and MIT  (Boston) were well received and was invited to perform at The World Literature Center (New York), First Night Providence 2003, as well as for concerts in Newport and New Hampshire.  She has also developed her skills in Tabla under Shri Swamirao Deshpande and has had the privilege of learning for a short period of time from the Tabla Maestro Late Ustad Alla Rakha Khan Sahib. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Pune (India) and is currently pursuing her Masters in Biochemistry at the University of Rhode Island.

Dave Haller

An avid researcher of the history of American songs, David plays fiddle in the Kingston Old-Time Jam Session, which meets weekly on Mondays in South County. He is the organizer of the AS220 Old-Time Jam Circle at the URI CCE Campus.

Kim and Reggie Harris

Originally from Philadelphia, PA, this upstate New York-based husband and wife duo tours throughout the year, performing for audiences of all ages at theaters, folk clubs, festivals, colleges and schools. Recently, Reggie has been co-writing with fellow Wind River recording artist David Roth, as well as with songwriting sensation Greg Greenway, while Kim has been pursuing a seminary degree. Kim and Reggie have also composed and arranged for television, radio, video, and multimedia presentations, and their skill at doing so, and flair for performance are dynamic. Drawing equally from folk-songs (such as those written by Pete Seeger or Phil Ochs) contemporary songs (like their own and David Roth's), and traditional songs, (like Wade In The Water) the Harris' are masters of arrangement and energetic delivery. Growing up in Philadelphia, Kim and Reggie Harris both heard lots of music in their homes, churches, and schools. They've listed everything from Bach to folk, gospel, jazz, and rock as an influence on their music and writing. Married in 1976, they've been performing at colleges and large and small venues all over the world for nearly thirty years now, and log in a huge number of widely varied performances every year, often delivering shows that become highly interactive with audiences enthusiastically singing and clapping along. They used their songs, stories and narrative to discuss slavery and African-American's quest for freedom and justice throughout history. They have sung about African-Americans whose work and accomplishments are less well-known, like Paul Robeson. They have also sung about people who have been wrongly denied justice in America, like Rodney King. In The Heat of The Summer reflects the diversity of their performances, and captures on disc the spirit of their live show, providing a vibrant display of the emotion and intimacy that make their music so accessible.

Somaly K. Hay 

Alejandro Jimenez

Alejandro has been a K - 8 General Music and Instrumental Music Teacher in Hartford, Connecticut for 29 years. He received his Bachelor in Music Education Cum Laude from the University of Puerto Rico. He has also received Orff certifications in level 1 and 2 under Jos Wuytack and Dr. Sue Snyder. Alejandro is a Latin music performer and has published recordings through World Music Press, Music K-8 Magazine, Kodaly Institute, McGraw & Hill "Share the Music" Books 2 and 6 and Silver Burdett Book 2.

Rachel Maloney 

Rachel was born in the coal mining town of Norton, Virginia where her father worked in the mines. Deep in the heart of Appalachia, her love of fiddle music developed at an early age. Living later in North Carolina, her repertoire continued to grow, remaining predominantly Appalachian. The bands she was involved in reached as far north as Canada and as far south as Florida, remaining mostly east of the Mississippi, venturing frequently to Europe. In 1987, Rachel was offered a position as performer, composer & musical director at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. During this time, she has continued to do one major tour a year, usually to Europe, after shorter tours to North Carolina and Virginia. Her musical interests have further developed to include film and T.V. scores, electronic and multi-media collaborations and new music compositions.

Matthew McConeghy

Matt first heard fiddle from his mother who played (for her dinner) at barn dances in New Hampshire while a student at Keene College in the 1930s. About 1970, Skip Gorman, Bob Beers, Clarence Langen and other great fiddlers seduced him away from folksy singer-songwriting and into old timey fiddling. Life happened, but after a 20 year fiddle drought, he picked up his bow again in 1999 and has since become a regular at local sessions. His musical direction is strongly toward traditional New England music, but he also plays English Country Dance with the quartet, Jack's Maggot and fiddles for a Morris Dance side and a West Gallery sacred music group. He maintains the heavily used "RI Music" website of roots music links and online gossip. When not fiddling or web surfing he is a Professor of Environmental Science at Johnson & Wales University.

Stephen Myles

Cognitive Dissident Stephen Myles sings and plays mandolin, guitar and mandola.  An intermittent itinerant musician and luthier, he returned to academia in the 90’s following fifteen years of playing folk, bluegrass, old-time and swing music on the club and festival circuits.  He currently joins URI colleagues DocWood and Paul Bueno de Mesquita performing and teaching about the power of music and art as catalysts for social change.

Allison Newsome

My work over the years has been concerned with the evolution of our ecology and the human psyche as changes occur from the wilderness to the agrarian into the industrial. I tend to work in companion, that is, two works interacting together as one. To be raised in the redwoods of Santa Cruz, Calif., then move North East to receive an MFA from the Rhode Island School Of Design, proceed to Mexico for ten formative years as a ceramic sculpture, and then back to Rhode Island has been quite a journey. During the 1980's the narrative aspect of my work was likened to the WPA social realism of the 30s .Among the leading contemporary influences of the WPA period of art were the Mexican Muralists Diego Rivera, Jose' Clemente etc. It was my destiny to journey to Mexico. In 1986 I was introduced to Mexico as faculty for The Rhode Island School of Design, teaching a winter session course at the Instituto allende, san Miguel De allende. I proceeded to work in Mexico at the Instituto over the course of ten years. The vertical totemic forms of my sculptures are the influence of having been raised in the most vertical of environments; growing up, our house was underneath the towering redwoods.

Osunkemi and Sangoyemi (Elizabeth Coleman and Barbara Eaton)

Ken Perlman 

Ken is both a pioneer of the banjo style known as "melodic clawhammer," and a master of finger style guitar. He draws his material from traditional sources -- the music of Scotland, Ireland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and the American South. He has written some of the most widely respected banjo and guitar instruction books of modern times, and he has been on staff at prestigious teaching festivals around the world. He has toured much of the world and made several recordings.

Silas Pinto (Tigri)

Tigri loves everything there is to love about Capoeira (its history and its energy), having studied the martial arts for most of his life. Aside from Capoeira, he presently holds 3 black belts in Tae Kwon Do, Kempo Karate and San Cho. He teaches TKD and Kempo Karate in Warwick RI, but Capoeira remains his chief passion. He has a very interesting tale to tell about his Capoeira beginnings and experience and will gladly share it. He is just as excited to listen to others’ tales. His culture is extremely important to him; therefore, he tries to incorporate it into everything that he does. He teaches his students about both Brazilian and Cape Verdean cultures and how  they are affected by the art of Capoeira and its many styles. His dream is to successfully integrate the two cultures of Capoeira through continuous practice. He is currently a student at the University of Rhode Island pursuing the doctoral program for school psychology.  He also founded the Future Impact Martial Art Team while at URI. According to his successor, the team was eventually inducted as the official demo team for the World Martial Art Hall of Fame in Ohio.

Sally Rogers

Sally Rogers is a musician who lives outside of Hartford Connecticut with husband Howie Bursen and daughters Maya and Malana. She plays guitar, banjo, dulcimer, and specializes in traditional folk, old-timey and (most recently) children's music. She plays both traditional and original pieces and has been recognized by numerous awards including Best Folk Album of 1982 (Circle of the Sun), Best Children's Recording of 1992 (What Can one Little Person Do?) and again in 1993 (At Quiet O'Clock). She has made frequent radio appearances on "A Prairie Home Companion" and the nationally syndicated "Mountain Stage."

Chris Turner

Born into a musical family in London, England, Chris Turner learned the harmonica and recorder as a child. He has been playing professionally since 1967 working in a variety of idioms including Folk, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country, Early and Avant-Garde music. While traveling extensively in Europe and Africa, he assimilated many different musical styles. Early in the 1970*s, Chris studied composition with Christopher Small and improvisation with John Stevens. In 1975, Chris Turner was recognized for his virtuosity when he was awarded the European Harmonica Championship. Chris has toured with numerous professional bands and appears on many recordings. He has worked extensively as a Composer, Music Director, and Arranger for various theatrical organizations including Rhode Island’s prestigious Trinity Repertory Company, as well as for films, animations, Radio and TV. Besides a variety of harmonicas, Chris is also proficient on flutes, bagpipes, shawrns, keyboards, brass, synthesizers and some percussion.

Valerie Tutson

Valerie Tutson is Energetic and Enthralling!!  Having appeared in international festivals in Africa, Europe and North America as well as theaters, colleges, schools, churches and libraries across the United States, Valerie Tutson has a reputation for raising people's sensitivities.

She draws her stories from around the world with an emphasis on African Traditions. Her repertoire includes myths, folk tales and historical pieces and stories that she learned in her travels to South Africa. Valerie also teaches classes in the art of storytelling and theater at an alternative middle school in Providence. She is the host of Cultural Tapestry for Rhode Island's Cox Communications, a talk show celebrating the diverse cultures of new England.

Listen to her and you, too may be able to tell the story in three languages!

Clarissa Uttley

A resident of Lincoln, Rhode Island, Clarissa is currently the lead teacher of For Pete’s Sake Pre-School and Kindergarten in Attleboro, Massachusetts.  Formerly, she was the Education Specialist at the Capron Park Zoo for the city of Attleboro, where she developed and presented environmental education programs, such as Animals in the Classroom, for children and adults. She also implemented a volunteer program to train teenagers to present workshops in educational summer camps.

Dustin Vinson

Dustin Vinson has been affiliated with the Multicultural Center for the two years he has been a graduate student at the University of Rhode Island’s Department of Music.  He works as a professional musician and music teacher in New England.  Dustin is native to Shreveport, Louisiana where he began his life as a musician.  He has toured with national acts and has been the head of his own group, which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Dustin has recently been accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in London, England where he will complete his post-graduate studies and teach in the areas of performance, theory and history.

George Wilson

George is a multi-instrumental virtuoso and singer whose repertoire encompasses a variety of traditional and folk styles. As a fiddler, he has mastered nearly 400 tunes for dancing and listening- tunes from New England, Quebec, Cape Breton, Scotland, Ireland and Shetland. Accompanying himself on the 5-string banjo, George performs songs of Uncle Dave Macon of early Grand Ole Opry fame. He also presents the gutsy, bluesy songs and 12-string guitar style of the African-American folk legend Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly). George has performed and recorded with the popular Fennig¡¯s All-Star String band since 1975 and with the Whippersnappers since 1976. He plays at contradances, festivals, and dance and music camps nationwide. George has two recordings featuring his fiddling- Northern Melodies from 1995 and The Royal Circus: A Menagerie of Northern Fiddle Tunes, released in 2000. Both are upbeat collections of his dynamic fiddling which is strongly influenced by Cape Breton and French Canadian styles.