email address: <rdalsemer"at"mac.com >
(substitute the usual symbol for "at" - we post it this way to avoid spam)
I live in Hayesville, North Carolina in the extreme southwestern corner of the state: 2 miles from Georgia, 30 miles from Tennessee and "about two and a half hours from everywhere."
I was born and raised in Baltimore, where I co-founded the Baltimore Folk Music Society and helped start the dance program for the Folklore Society of Greater Washington. I served as president of The Country Dance and Song Society from 1990-1996. In the early 1980's I became a regular dance instructor at The John C. Campbell Folk School and moved to southwestern North Carolina in 1991 to become Coordinator of Music and Dance Programs at The Folk School. In my 16 years at the Folk School I have greatly expanded the music program and institituted annual training courses for callers and musicians. I also began producing a Friday night concert series which features many fine local and regional traditional musicians as well as our music instructors. The one hour concerts are free and open to the community.
I specialize in calling traditional American contra, square and circle dances. I've composed a number of new dances in traditional style and published two collections of traditional square dances ( Smoke On the Water and When The Work's All Done ) which, after being out of print for some time are available again from Hanhurst's Tape and Record Service. My 1982 book, West Virginia Square Dances, about old time square dancing in five W.Va. communities is also available again, free, online. I also enjoy teaching and calling English country dances.
Since 2000 I have been principal caller (and a member of the organizing committee) for the Mountain Folk Festival at Berea College in Kentucky, an annual dance weekend in March for middle and high school age dance groups.
In addition to calling, I play fiddle, guitar, mandolin and piano accordion. I'm a musician for Sticks-in-the-Mud Morris and Rural Felicity Garland Dancers and a member of the Dog Branch Cats string band.
I have two adopted sons: Peter and Andrew.
Here are links to other pages on my site: