Fairfield Folk Arts & Dance Co-op

Bare Necessities is a Boston-based quartet known nationwide for its unique presentation of English country dance music. The quartet, composed of Earl Gaddis and Mary Lea(violin and viola), Peter Barnes (flute and whistles), and Jacqueline Schwab (piano) has been playing weekly country dances since 1978, performing music primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries. They have toured in England as a band and have played for concerts, festivals, workshops, balls and dance camps throughout the United States and Canada over the years. In the course of concertizing and dance playing, they have become increasingly free in their improvisatory explorations of these beautiful melodies. The resulting sound is that of both chamber and folk music, yet extraordinarily inventive and playful with its interweaving of harmonies and countermelodies.

Bruce Hamilton is one of North America's premier teachers and callers of English Country Dance, and is currently on the board of directors of Country Dance and Song Society. His depth and breadth of knowledge of all things ECD is vast, as is his charm in teaching and leading both traditional and contemporary ECD dances. Bruce has been focusing on non-choreographic elements of English Country Dance: how to move well, how to be musical, how to recover from slips, how to be a good partner, body mechanics, and the social and mental aspects.

Bruce finds continued delight in the many aspects of English dancing -- the motion, the music, the person-to-person interactions, the choreography, the variety, the beauty, the physical and mental challenges -- and he loves showing those to others.