Balkan Music &
Dance Workshops

Every summer the EEFC presents two week-long summer camps. Follow the links below to read all about and register for the 2024 workshops!

June 15-22, 2024
More info…

August 10-17, 2024
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Kids at Camp!

Our in-person workshops are a great experience for families. Get the scoop to ensure everyone has a blast!


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Get the FAQs

Find out almost everything you always wanted to know about the EEFC’s in-person Balkan camps.
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East Coast Balkan Music & Dance Workshop

Iroquois Springs, Rock Hill, NY
August 10 – 17, 2024



 

Since 2005, the East Coast edition of the EEFC’s Balkan Music & Dance Workshop has been held in the Catskill Mountains. Join us as we transform the Iroquois Springs site into a village filled with music and dance, friendly conversation, and joyful celebration. Each year we welcome new and old faces, students and teachers, families and friends to gather around our common theme—Balkan music and dance! Whether it is all new to you or you are a seasoned participant you’ll find much to do, to learn, and to experience.
 


East Coast Camp at Iroquois Springs
 

The Facility

The EEFC’s East Coast Balkan Music & Dance Workshop is held at Iroquois Springs, located near the town of Rock Hill, in the Catskill Mountains. It is an immaculately maintained, spacious site with a pleasant, open country atmosphere. It is located 90 miles NW of New York City and 80 miles NE of Scranton, PA, on NY Route 17. The camp has bunkhouse-style cabins with porches, electricity, abundant storage space, and interior bathrooms. For more privacy there is plenty of space for tents. The site has a lake, swimming pool and attractive common buildings.

The Workshop

The Iroquois Springs workshop runs from Saturday evening to the next Saturday morning. Classes begin Sunday morning, and are held each day through Friday. Following a review session Friday morning, participants have the option to perform in a student concert. The week closes on Friday with a Balkan-style lamb roast and the last of the week’s great evening parties. We have part-time attendance options available.

 

East Coast Camp Workshop Class

The Program

A broad array of instrumental, vocal, ensemble and dance classes at all levels are offered across five daily 75-minute class slots. See the sample daily schedule. We provide an instrument-lending program to enable new students to get started on harder-to-find village instruments. In the early evenings the program includes folklore presentations and panel discussions, group sings with musical accompaniment, and our fun, community-building fundraising auction. Live music dance parties featuring our world-class staff musicians will delight your feet in the dance hall; and the party continues late into the night in our more intimate cafe-bar and grill, the kafana, with a variety of musical sets by staff and campers, from the ecstatic to the roof-raising.

Food

The workshop features three delicious meals a day and an evening snack, with selections to please both omnivore and vegetarian tastes.

Families

We welcome families! The Iroquois Springs workshop features two class periods a day in children’s activities, singing for younger voices, and a youth band. Children are also welcome and encouraged to take adult classes, according to their capabilities. Find more info on Kids at Camp.

Work Exchanges

A few partial-tuition-waiver work exchanges may be available for full-week participants. Inquiries for work exchanges will be entertained only after registration has begun (see below). Please contact the Iroquois Springs Workshop Site Manager as soon as possible if you wish to be considered for a work exchange. The Site Manager will follow up on individual work exchange requests by June 15.

Registration, Fees, and Other Information

Workshop registration for 2024 will be open in early spring of 2024. Stay tuned! Click here for tuition information and to register. Workshop updates will be announced through our E-newsletter (sign-up if you haven’t already), the EEFC Discussion list, and on our Facebook page.

2024 Teachers

Our teaching staff is in process. Please check back often as we add names to the list! Staff and class description listings are subject to update and change.

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

Bajsa Arifovska

Macedonian Tambura; Macedonian Village Ensemble

Bajsa Arifovska was born in Kočani, Republic of Macedonia. She studied at the State Music School in Štip, enrolling in the Music Theory department with a second major in violin; throughout her...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

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 Village Ensemble

Bio coming...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

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


Corinna Škėma Snyder

Introduction to Balkan Singing

Corinna Škėma Snyder was 12 when she started singing and studying women’s music from the Balkans, first with the Cambridge Slavic Chorus, and then with Laduvane, both in Cambridge MA. She...Read More


Dragi Spasovski

Macedonian Singing

Dragi Spasovski learned to sing from his mother, whose sweet voice was the backdrop to his boyhood in Skopje. Her repertoire seemed limitless and her love of singing infused his life. Beginning in...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

 

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.

 

From New Jersey, Philadelphia & Mid-Atlantic States:

  • 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.

 

From the Boston area:

  • 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.

 

From Western New York State:

  • 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

Note: The 2024 evening party and activity schedule will be published at a later date. Stay tuned!