2024 Teachers

This is a list of last year’s teachers, just to give you a sense of our fantastic staff. We will begin publishing names for 2025 starting by the end of the year.

Dance

Joe Kaloyanides Graziosi

Greek Dance

Joseph Kaloyanides Graziosi was born and raised in the greater Boston area. Of Greek and Italian ancestry, Joe was exposed at an early age to Greek music and dance through both family contacts...Read More

Steve Kotansky

Balkan Dance

Steve Kotansky, known widely as a versatile dancer and teacher, has made many research trips to Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary, Greece, and Albania. He has been a regular on...Read More

Konstantin Marinov

Bulgarian Dance

Konstantin "Kotse" Marinov is from Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. From the age of 5 he performed with the Children's and Youth Ensemble "Zagorche." Kotse was born into a dancing family: he and his...Read More

Instruments & Ensembles

Emil Adamski

Macedonian Gajda; Zurla

Emil Adamski was born in Makedonska Kamenica, a small town in Eastern Macedonia, where he performed frequently as a folk dancer and folk instrument performer at the town's annual festival. He was...Read More

David Bilides

Macedonian Tambura; Macedonian Village Ensemble

David Bilides’ initial encounters with Balkan folk music were the weddings and dances of the New Haven, Connecticut, Asia Minor Greek community in which he grew up. After hearing other Balkan...Read More

Paul Brown

House Bassist (non-teaching)

Paul Brown has been playing music for 44 years, studying bass and improvisation at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and oud and makam with Haig Manoukian and Necati Çelik. Comfortable in...Read More

Beth Bahia Cohen

Greek Violin; Greek Ensemble

Beth Bahia Cohen has spent a large part of her career exploring how the violin is played in various cultures. Of Syrian Jewish and Russian Jewish heritage, she was inspired at a young age by the...Read More

Polly Tapia Ferber

Doumbek

Percussionist Polly Tapia Ferber is a music educator, performer, and recording artist who specializes in hand percussion from the Middle East, Turkey, North Africa, the Balkans, and Spanish...Read More

Catherine Foster

Brass Band Melody; Brass Band Ensemble

Catherine Foster has been performing music from Southeastern Europe for over 30 years and has been playing trumpet, clarinet, and saxophone with Borozan Brass Band, Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band,...Read More

Valeri Georgiev

Bulgarian Kaval

Valeri Georgiev is from the Bulgarian Danube town of Ruse. He studied kaval in Kotel with Stoyan Chobanov and Georgi Penev, and graduated from the Plovdiv Academy of Arts with a BA degree in...Read More

Raif Hyseni

Accordion; Albanian/Kosovar Ensemble

Raif Hyseni hails from The Republic of Kosova, which has a large Albanian majority. He grew up in the town of Mitrovicë, where he studied accordion at music school and performed in amateur...Read More

Aleksandar Jovevski

Macedonian Kaval; Macedonian Tambura

Aleksandar Jovevski graduated from the Skopje-based State Music and Ballet School "Ilija Nikolovski Luj, and received a degree in music from the University of Skopje. He is the leader of the band...Read More

Kalin Kirilov

Bitov/Bulgarian Village Ensemble; Balkan Music Theory

Kalin Kirilov, born in Vidin, NW Bulgaria, began singing and playing the accordion at the age of four. He studied tambura and music theory in Vidin and Pleven and graduated from the Academy of...Read More

Jerry Kisslinger

Tapan/Daouli

Jerry Kisslinger has played tapan/daouli for Balkan and folk-dance community events, concerts, and festivals throughout the United States for many decades and has taught regularly at EEFC camps...Read More

Nikolay Kolev

Gadulka

Nikolay Kolev, a native of the Thracian Rose Valley village of Karavelovo, has been playing gadulka since age 10. After graduating from the National School of Folk Arts in Shiroka Lŭka, Bulgaria,...Read More

Stoyan Kostov

Bulgarian Tambura

Stoyan Kostov has been playing Bulgarian tambura for over 40 years. He graduated from the folk music school in Kotel and the Plovdiv Academy of Music and Dance. Stoyan performed with Ensemble...Read More

John "Yianni" Roussos

Santouri

John "Yianni" Roussos has performed on the santouri in the northeastern U.S. since 1972. He played for many years with the Pericles Halkias Family Orchestra in New York City and more recently with...Read More

Singing

Lauren Brody

Shope Duet & Ballad Singing; Introduction to Balkan Singing

Lauren Brody is an accordionist, singer, researcher, professional piano tuner/technician and Fulbright scholar from New York City. She is a pioneer of the klezmer music revival in the United...Read More

Merita Halili

Albanian Singing

Merita Halili is one of Albania’s top performers. Born in the capital city of Tiranë, Merita grew up singing the lyric songs of her native region of Central Albania. Her nationwide debut...Read More

Mensur Hatić

Bosnian Singing

Mensur Hatić—teacher of voice, accordion and piano, and promoter of Balkan music—was born and raised in Brčko, in northeastern Bosnia, and has been playing piano and accordion since the age...Read More

Donka Koleva

Bulgarian Singing

Donka Koleva is a vocalist prized for her rich, clear and melodic voice. A graduate of the Folklore High School in Shiroka Luka, she worked as a soloist with the Sliven Ensemble for three years....Read More

Mavrothi Kontanis

Greek Singing

Mavrothi Kontanis is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer and teacher born and raised in the U.S., with roots in Halkidiki, Greece. Mavrothi's main instrument is the oud. He has studied and...Read More

Brenna MacCrimmon

Macedonian Singing; Turkish Singing

Brenna MacCrimmon has been learning and performing the music of Turkey and the Balkans since 1984. She has worked with Turkish and Macedonian groups in Toronto over the years and has made frequent...Read More

For the Kids

Jaquetta Bustion

Children's Activities

A pianist since childhood, Jaquetta Bustion's love of music began in her earliest school experiences in Philadelphia. She has been a music educator for over twenty years. Whether in public and...Read More

Sarah Ferholt

Kids'/Youth Band Mlado Selo

If you are 5 or 7 or 9, or if you are a teen or young adult, or if you have ever been a part of the Čoček Nation / YAMMS / Mlado Selo EEFC camp youth ensembles, join us! If we have tunes...Read More

Marlis Kraft

Children's Activities

Marlis Kraft has been involved in world music since her teens, when she started her own song collection in her native Switzerland, where she performed Balkan and Swiss music. Marlis taught music...Read More

Iroquois Springs Site Map

Use this map to help you decide which cabin or cabin area to request on your registration form. Please note that the Hideaway rooms are generally reserved for staff.

Click here to download a full-size PDF of this map.

Getting to Iroquois Springs

Although you are responsible for getting yourself to camp, we will also try and help campers arrange carpools and ground transportation. For specifics and contact info for our ride coordination program, see the red Camper Info tab above.

BY AIR

Iroquois Springs is in Rock Hill, in the southeast corner of New York State in the Catskill Mountains. The nearest large airports are those that serve New York City (we suggest JFK or Newark), or Stewart Airport in Newburgh, NY. The site is about 90 miles NW of New York City, 80 Miles NE of Scranton, PA, and 125 miles SW of Albany, NY.

BY BUS

There is frequent service via the Shortline Bus Co. to Monticello, NY from the Port Authority bus station in Manhattan. Monticello Terminal is about 6 miles from camp. We will do our best to arrange a ride from the station to camp, or you can take a taxi or other rideshare service yourself.

DRIVING

Set your GPS to: 66 Bowers Rd., Rock Hill, NY 12775.

From Manhattan, Westchester, Long Island:

• New York State Thruway North (87N)
• Exit 16 (Harriman) to
• Route 17 West (future 86)
• Exit 110 (Wanaksink Lake)
• Take a left at the stop sign off the exit
• Take a right at the fork (after the blinking light)
• This becomes Bowers Road and leads directly into camp.

• Take I-95 North to
• Garden State Parkway to
• New York State Thruway North (87N)
• Exit 16 (Harriman) to
• Route 17 West (future 86)
• Exit 110 (Wanaksink Lake)
• Take a left at the stop sign off the exit
• Take a right at the fork (after the blinking light)
• This becomes Bowers Road and leads directly into camp.

• Take the Mass. Turnpike West to Sturbridge
• take I-84 West to Walkill/Middleton NY
• take Route 17 West (future 86)
• Exit 110 (Wanaksink Lake)
• Take a left at the stop sign off the exit
• Take a right at the fork (after the blinking light)
• This becomes Bowers Road and leads directly into camp.
• From Albany & Points North:
• New York State Thruway South (87S) to Newburgh
• Take I-84 West to Walkill/Middleton NY
• Take Route 17 West (future 86)
• Route 17 West (future 86)
• Exit 110 (Wanaksink Lake)
• Take a left at the stop sign off the exit
• Take a right at the fork (after the blinking light)
• This becomes Bowers Road and leads directly into camp.

• Route 17 East to
• Exit 109 (Rock Hill)
• Make a left at the end of the exit ramp
• Make a right at the stop sign onto Rock Hill Road
• Go about one mile
• Make a left at the fork at the stop sign onto Bowers Road.

Dine & Dance—Bed & Breakfast

Come for dinner, early evening activities, the dance party and the late-night kafana. Then spend the night and enjoy breakfast before you hit the road!

Here’s how it works:

6:30 p.m.: Arrive at our lovely Catskills site in time for a delicious dinner (see Directions tab above). Before you get in the dinner line, check in at the Front Desk in the Dance Hall/Theater and set up your bunk.

At 8:00 p.m. take in a folklore presentation, singalong, or join in our auction. Dancing to live music begins in the main hall generally around 9:00.

Our Kafana in the woods is a bar and a club, a grill and a pub, and a place where much music and merriment happens into the wee hours. Stay as long as you like!

Sleep in a bunk with the bedding you brought from home.

Roll out of bed, have breakfast by 9:30 a.m., and hit the trail by 10.

All this can be yours for just $145. Such a bargain! A cheap hotel in Monticello is about $85 and contains no options for gajda, rakija, čočeks, or ćevapčići!

HOW TO REGISTER

Use our online form to register for the Bed & Breakfast option. See the red “Register Now” button above. Please note that all B&B registrants must follow the same procedures, timelines and protocols as all other camp registrants.

Evening Schedule 2024

This schedule is from last year, but we’ll keep it here a while to give you an idea of what to expect in 2025.

Culture Corners and Group Sings begin at 7:45 p.m. Dance parties, unless noted, begin at 9:00 p.m.

Saturday
Dance
Brass—Zlatne Uste

Sunday
Culture: A conversation with Emil Adamski and Aleksandar Jovevski with David Bilides and special guest Carol Silverman
Dance
Pontic—special guest Chris Tiktapanidis
Bulgarian—Bulgarian Staff Musicians

Monday
Group Sing: “Southern,” led by special guest Kristina Vaškys in memory of Corinna Snyder
Dance
Macedonian Village—Macedonian Staff Musicians
Zurla and Tapan—Emil Adamski & Jerry Kisslinger
Greek Demotika—Beth Bahia Cohen, Mavrothi Kontanis, Yianni Roussos

Tuesday
Auction Night (dance party begins around 10:00 p.m.)
Dance
Rhodope Gajda Sing-Along—special guest Mark Levy & Gajda Mafia
Greek Brass—Kavala

Wednesday
Group Sing: “Northern,” led by special guest Henry Goldberg
Dance
Greek Island—Beth Bahia Cohen
Pontic—Pontic Firebird
Albanian—Raif Hyseni & Merita Halili

Thursday
Culture: Joe Graziosi presents! Topic TBA
Dance
Mensur Hatić with special guest Toni Ristovski
Bulgarian—Bulgarian Staff Musicians
Macedonian—Macedonian Staff Musicians

Friday
Student Ensembles play for your dancing pleasure (dance party begins at 8:00 p.m.)

Daily Schedule 2024

This schedule is from last year, but we’ll keep it here a while to give you an idea of what to expect in 2025.

CLASS LEVELS

• Beginner (B): You are new to this instrument/singing style.
• Intermediate (I): You have some proficiency: can match pitches, accurately replicate phrases heard by ear, and play at speed.
• Advanced (A): You have technical mastery: you are focused on stylistic details and self-expression.

If you are interested in a class that is not at your level, you can always audit! Please remember that the pace of instruction will not be geared to you, and hold your questions till the end of each session. If a class does not have a designated level, all are welcome!

CLASS SCHEDULE

SLOT 1 (9:30-10:45)
Dance: Bulgarian—Kotse Marinov
Sing:

• Macedonian—Brenna MacCrimmon
• Greek Mainland Songs—Mavrothi Kontanis

Instrumental:

• Santouri B—Yianni Roussos
• Balkan Theory—Kalin Kirilov
• Tapan B—Jerry Kisslnger
• Macedonian Tambura A—Aleksandar Jovevski

Kids: Children’s Activities—Marlis Kraft & Jaquetta Bustion

SLOT 2 (11:00-12:15)
Dance: Balkan–Steve Kotansky
Sing:

• Bosnian—Mensur Hatić
• Bulgarian—Donka Koleva

Instrumental:

• Bulgarian Kaval I/A—Valeri Georgiev
• Doumbek B—Polly Tapia Ferber
• Bulgarian Tambura I—Stoyan Kostov
• Tapan A—Jerry Kisslinger
• Macedonian Gajda—Emil Adamski

Ensemble: Greek—Beth Bahia Cohen

Kids: Children’s Activities—Marlis Kraft & Jaquetta Bustion

SLOT 3 (2:00-3:15):
Dance: Greek—Joe Graziosi
Sing:

• Introduction to Balkan Singing B—Lauren Brody
• Albanian—Merita Halili
• Greek Island Songs—Mavrothi Kontanis

Instrumental:

• Santouri I/A—Yianni Roussos
• Brass Band Melody—Catherine Foster
• Bulgarian Tambura B—Stoyan Kostov
• Gudulka B—Nikolay Kolev

Ensemble:

• Macedonian Village—David Bilides
• Albanian/Kosovar—Raif Hyseni

SLOT 4 (3:30-4:45):
Dance: Bulgarian—Kotse Marinov
Sing:

• Bosnian—Mensur Hatić
• Turkish—Brenna MacCrimmon
• Bulgarian—Donka Koleva

Instrumental:

• Doumbek I—Polly Tapia Ferber
• Accordion—Raif Hyseni
• Bulgarian Kaval B—Valeri Georgiev

Ensemble: Bitov (Bulgarian Village)—Kalin Kirilov

Kids: Youth Band “Mlado Selo”—Sarah Ferholt

SLOT 5 (5:00-6:15):
Dance: Balkan—Steve Kotansky
Sing:

• Bulgarian Shope Duets—Lauren Brody
• Albanian—Merita Halili

Instrumental:

• Macedonian Tambura B/I—David Bilides
• Macedonian Kaval I/A—Aleksandar Jovevski
• Zurla—Emil Adamski
• Greek & Turkish Violin—Beth Bahia Cohen
• Gudulka I/A—Nikolay Kolev

Ensemble: Brass Band—Catherine Foster & Aani Kisslinger