Erik Weberg's Publicity Information

Greetings.  Here is some biographical information about my role in the contra dance and English dance world and the musical scene which accompanies the dancing.  Use this for promotional material however you see fit. 

Please write to me at <erikcalls at kluberg dot com> (anti-spam notation; fill in @ and . where appropriate). 

I've written some dances which I find work well.  Click HERE if you want to see those.

I danced my first contra dance in Moscow Idaho in the Fall of 1986.  Several excursions to the dance hall were necessary for me to find the courage to actually dance, but once I, tried it caught hold quickly and I became a regular dancer.   Christian Petrich encouraged me to try calling for the first time in 1990 and soon after that I started regularly attending the first Wednesday open mic in Spokane Washington.  I called dances around Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho for a few years before moving west of the Cascades in 1993.  I was soon asked to call dances in Portland and up the Willamette Valley.  Since then I've been calling dances, festivals and weekends around the Pacific Nortwest from Seattle to Minneapolis, from Monterey to Fairbanks and most places between.  I am able to enjoy this craft because of the good folks who encouraged and taught me the calling ropes way back then, the booking agents and local dance committees who gave me golden opportunities to practice in their communities, and the thousands of dancers and musicians who forgive me my mistakes and make it all worthwhile.  If you're reading this you're probably one of them; so, thank you!

I call contra dances and the various relatives of that form.  In the last several years I've been teaching and leading English Country dances in Portland with initial guidance from Nan Evans.  It's a skill which I find surprisingly different from calling contra dances and one which I'm always looking to improve.  I enjoy introducing contra dancers to the beautiful, flowing figures of English dances by weaving them into contra dances.  The distinction between contras and ECD becomes blurred at times.  

With regard to contra dance programming, I choose dances based on simple criteria.  The dances have to feel good and they have to be fun.  Although I enjoy complex figures, complexity does not necessarily translate into dancing pleasure.  Flow, interesting figures, and connection with the music are what make dancing sublime.  Whether it's smooth like butter or driving like a freight train, it's got to make sense and feel good.  Those are the dances I choose to call.  I strive to teach efficiently and clearly with a playful approach and and a good sense of community cooperation.  

In recent years I've become more involved with the musical end of the dance world.  I play a silver "concert" flute, an Alto flute (which matches the range of a fiddle in standard tuning), harmonicas, bombardes (yes, plural) Scottish small pipes and I have new musical aspirations on the horizon.  The first dances I played for (and continue to play for) are English dances in Portland.  My musical energy is mostly committed nowdays to playing in the Portland contra dance band "Joyride" (Sue Songer, Kathleen Towers, Jeff Kerssen-Griep and myself).  As a dance organizer I work with my band to produce the Portland first Wednesday Joyride contra dance and I work with Sue Songer in producing the annual Portland Megaband dance. 

In a few sentences, my life outside of dancing and music has been painted many colors.  I've been a structural geologist, a high school math and physics teacher, a carpenter, an architectural/mechanical drafter, and currently and industrial engineer and dance caller and musician.  A common thread is the enjoyment I get from visualizing in three dimensions and observing and creating patterns.  My wife Caroline and I live in Portland, Oregon in an old house with Odin the Husky dog and a big vegetable garden out on the back half acre.  We finally replaced the falling-down barn with a new barn, though we still have moles and bindweed.  It's a fine home with great neighbors.  

If you need more or different information for publicity purposes, please write and let me know.  I can also send a menu of workshops that I am prepared to lead as well as references and a list of communities, dance camps and festivals where I've performed.  

Thank you for visiting.  I hope to see you on the dance floor someday soon.

Erik

If you have any problems with the image or would rather it be sent as an e-mail attachment, just e-mail me at <erikcalls at kluberg dot com> (anti-spam notation; fill in @ and . where appropriate). Thanks!