Our Callers

English Country Dances are taught and prompted at each dance by some of the best ECD callers in the Los Angeles area. Dance programs are compiled by the callers, using a variety of dances from the 1600s to today, mixing simpler and more complex dances in different shapes or sets (circles, squares, two-couple, three-couple, longways sets).

Our current roster of callers includes:

Our Caller James HutsonJames Hutson co-founded the Culver City English Country Dance series (with Annie Laskey) in 2006. He was Dance Master for the first Los Angeles Playford Ball in 2001 and was dance leader for several subsequent Playford-to-the-Present Balls. He has also conducted workshops in ECD at various festivals throughout the region, and has led ECD programs for the Bay Area Country Dance Society, the Historical Tea and Dance Society, and the Jane Austen Society of North America. He has been the dance leader at the annual Jane Austen Evening in Pasadena for several years. Contact James at 310-479-7263.

CCECD Callers - Renee CamusRenée Camus is a writer and dancer now living in San Fernando, California, with her animator husband and four beautiful cats. She started English country dancing at Pinewoods when she was 8 years old, and decided then that it would be part of her career. After receiving a masters degree in dance history, she founded and directed a dance company dedicated to preserving historical social dance called Centuries Historical Dance, and produced the DVD Dancing through the Centuries: Dawn of a New World, serving as writer, director, narrator, choreographer, and dancer. She taught various styles of dance around the Washington, DC area, including tap, Irish step dancing, ballroom, and ECD, and has taught at many dance camps around the country, including Pinewoods, Berea, Cumberland, Terpsichore’s Holiday, Flying Cloud Academy’s Vintage Dance Week in Cincinnati, and the Newport Vintage Dance Week in Rhode Island. She ran the First Friday Dance Parties in South Pasadena, offering a mix of English country, contra, and couple dances, and she recently began writing her own English country dances, which she hopes to publish. She’s also written about entertainment, including dance, for Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles magazine, Reel Life with Jane, Moviefone, and Mashable, among others. She designed and maintains the Culver City ECD website you’re currently reading. Contact Renée at camusr6@gmail.com or through her website.

Callers - Ric GoldmanRic Goldman calls Contra and English Country dances coast to coast and overseas, delighting in all the wonderful dance communities he encounters. He loves combining simple and sophisticated dances into programs that challenge and entertain both newcomers and experienced dancers alike. His clear, concise, yet warm and approachable teaching style brings a feeling of form, flow, and fun for dancers of all levels, with a repertoire that extends from the usual favorites into many hidden gems: lesser-called and experimental dances. He’s a patient teacher with a great sense of humor. Contact Ric at 650-906-8707 or letsdance@rgoldman.org.

Jacqui GrennanJacqui Grennan of Los Angeles, CA, has been dancing since 2009 and has spent many evenings and weekends dancing and calling ever since. Jacqui likes to put together dances that are varied in movement and in pace that will be enjoyable for newer dancers and for those who have been dancing for years. She is noted for her clarity in calling and her ability to adjust to the dancers on the floor. She sees herself as the host of a party and gets great satisfaction from seeing the dancers and band having a good time during the dance. From 2015 to 2017, Jacqui was a Board Member of California Dance Cooperative and the organizer of the 3rd Saturday contra dance series. Contact Jacqui at jacquigrennan@gmail.com or at her website at www.jacquigrennan.com

Callers - Victor LindseyVic Lindsey hails from south Orange County and has been calling for 3 years, for San Diego ECD, Culver City ECD, Victorian Tea & Dance Society in Pasadena, and Orange County ECD in Anaheim. His clear and concise teaching gets beginners going quickly, and his love of some of the more complex dances presents exciting challenges to experienced dancers too. He loves working with the more traditional dances of the 1600-1700s, as well as modern dances of the last 60 years. He started English Country Dance 6 years ago when his wife, Diane, got him hooked on it, and couldn’t wait to get more involved. They are frequent visitors to the Fall Frolick dance camp in the Bay Area.

CCECD Callers - Judee Schumacher-PronovostJudee Schumacher-Pronovost lives in Riverside and has been calling English country dances since 2000. She founded the Orange County English Country Dancers in Anaheim, which meets monthly, and she calls regularly for the San Diego English Country Dancers. Judee proudly taught Andrew Jackson to dance in a History Channel special, and in 2009 called dances at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire, England, where the 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice was filmed. She frequently acts as guest caller and has called at events such as the Gualala Patriot Days Ball, the Jane Austen Society of North America balls, the Playford ball in Los Angeles, and the San Diego May Ball. Judee is a kindergarten teacher, and regularly presents dance to the Orange County music teachers at Orff Schulwerk workshops. Contact Judee at judithpronovost@mac.com.

CCECD Callers - Annie LaskeyAnnie Laskey first danced English country dance at the Renaissance Faire in Southern California in 1979. She rediscovered the dancing twenty years later through a musician friend, and has been an enthusiastic dancer ever since. Casual participation in a caller’s workshop in 2001 put her on the road to being a caller, and she now leads dances regularly in the Los Angeles area, with occasional gigs out of town. She is a past member of the local board for ECD & Contra, the California Dance Cooperative, and also served four years on the board of the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) national dance organization. Along with James Hutson, she founded Culver City English Country Dance. Contact Annie at ccecd@aol.com.