2023 Teachers

Staff and class description listings are subject to update and change.

Dance

Michael Ginsburg

Balkan Dance

Michael has been director and lead trumpet player of Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band since 1983. He accompanied ZU to brass festivals in Guča, Serbia, three times between 1987 and 1990, as well as...Read More

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

Konstantin Marinov

Bulgarian Dance

Konstantin Marinov is from Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. From the age of 6 he performed with the Children's and Youth Ensemble "Zagorche." He was born into a dancing family: he and his father, mother,...Read More

Instruments & Ensembles

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

Catherine Foster

Clarinet & Ornamentation

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

Eleni Govetas

Greek Ensemble

Eleni Govetas was born into the musical Govetas family and has been immersed in music since day one. She began performing on doumbek with her parents at the age of nine and has continued to add...Read More

Christos Govetas

Greek Improvisation

Christos Govetas was born in the village of Proti, in the province of Serres in Greek Macedonia. After emigrating to Boston in 1978 he joined the Rebetiko band Taxími as a bouzouki and baglama...Read More

Mensur Hatić

Accordion

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

Jerry Kisslinger

Tapan

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 & Bitov Ensemble

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

Mark Levy

Macedonian Village Ensemble

Mark Levy created the first week-long Balkan Music & Dance Workshop in 1974, and co-founded the East European Folklife Center in the early 1980s. He recently retired from the faculty of the...Read More

John Morovich

Tamburica Ensemble

John Morovich grew up in Seattle's sizable Croatian community. Since 1973, he has studied, taught, and performed traditional music and dance of Croatia and other parts of Southeastern...Read More

Benji Rifati

Trumpet; Brass Band

Benji Rifati is an American-Rom who has spent years studying trumpet from Romani masters of Eastern Europe. His teachers include legends such as Zahir Ramadanov and Demiran Ćerimović, as well as...Read More

Varol Saatcıoğlu

Thracian Gajda

Varol Saatcıoğlu was born in Edirne, Turkey, into an extended family of musicians. At the tender age of five, Varol was accepted into the Istanbul University State Conservatory where he studied...Read More

Aya Safiya

Violin

Aya Safiya is a Bay Area-born violinist who specializes in traditional Greek music. She has studied Greek violin for over 25 years with various teachers including Nicos Chatzopoulos and Nikos...Read More

Sean Tergis

Doumbek

Drawing on a musical base in folk music from the Middle East, Turkey, Greece and the Balkans, Sean Tergis brings a unique element to his drumming through many different influences. At an early...Read More

Singing

Christos Govetas

Greek Singing

Christos Govetas was born in the village of Proti, in the province of Serres in Greek Macedonia. After emigrating to Boston in 1978 he joined the Rebetiko band Taxími as a bouzouki and baglama...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

John Morovich

Croatian Singing

John Morovich grew up in Seattle's sizable Croatian community. Since 1973, he has studied, taught, and performed traditional music and dance of Croatia and other parts of Southeastern...Read More

Carol Silverman

Romani Singing

Carol Silverman has been involved with Balkan and Romani music and culture for over thirty years as a researcher, teacher, performer and educational activist. An award-winning professor of...Read More

Michele Simon

Balkan Vocal Technique

Michele Simon has been involved with music all of her life, and with Balkan folk music for most of it, as a dancer, singer, drummer and teacher. She was raised surrounded by music of all kinds,...Read More

Lily Storm

Balkan Singing Survey

Lily Storm has been researching and performing Eastern European folk songs for almost three decades. A long-time member of Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble, she has studied and collaborated with many...Read More

For the Kids

Tano Brock

Youth Band

Tano Brock was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. At a young age, he began attending various music camps in California with his family, where he picked up his first instrument, doumbek. He...Read More

Darina Drapkin

Children's Activities

Darina Drapkin is a native Russian speaker, having immigrated to the U.S. over 40 years ago. Her enthusiasm, curiosity, and musical interests have led her into many genres and traditions of...Read More

Eleni Govetas

Youth Band

Eleni Govetas was born into the musical Govetas family and has been immersed in music since day one. She began performing on doumbek with her parents at the age of nine and has continued to add...Read More

Covid-19 Guidelines for Camp

Please review a full description of our Covid-19 guidelines and protocols here.

All About Camp Work Exchanges

The Mendocino Workshop runs smoothly thanks to a hard-working crew of work exchange campers, who receive a partial tuition waiver (and a few full waivers) in exchange for their work.

Work exchange folks have a job at camp, like washing dishes or cleaning bathrooms. In exchange for their hard work, they pay reduced tuition (in most cases 50%) to come to camp. Some jobs require special skills, experience, or knowledge of the workshop environment, others requiring lifting or standing, etc. Others are great for first-timers or require no special skills.

The Site Manager fields work exchange requests and helps manage the work exchange crews during camp, along with crew leaders who manage the larger crews.

What’s the difference between a work exchange and a workshop scholarship?
A work exchange job means that you get assigned some work/duties at camp and in exchange some or all of your tuition costs are waived. A scholarship is different—with a camp scholarship, some or all of your tuition costs are paid by generous donors and you do not have any work duties at camp. If you have applied for and end up receiving a scholarship, you may withdraw your work exchange request. Please note that the Mendocino scholarship application period has already ended, and that scholarship decisions will be announced in April.

About the work and jobs:
Workers are required to arrive at camp by 4:00 p.m. the first day of camp and stay until 11:00 a.m. the last day. Note that we cannot accommodate part-time campers for work exchange. Work exchangers are also expected to be timely and responsible throughout the week (that means arriving to your shifts on time, getting the work done, etc.)

At Mendocino, the majority of work exchange positions are on the Dish Crew. Folks on the Dish Crew work two 90-minute shifts per day. There’s a swap meeting the first night to trade around shifts and optimize your schedule, but it’s still possible you may have to miss a class or two. Lots of the people on Dish Crew enjoy being part of a team, making friends, and having some additional structured time. (And everybody loves using the sink sprayer!) This is a great crew for first-timers, as no prior skills or knowledge of camp are required, and making new friends is quick and easy.

Other crews include Bath Crew (cleaning bathrooms/washhouses, taking out trash, some auxiliary setup of chairs/benches); Donation Store Crew (setting up, running, and closing down the Donation Store. Often includes pre-camp organizing get togethers in the Arcata area for those available); Kafana Crew (setting up, running, and closing down the Kafana. Includes lots of late-night shifts.) Other specialty jobs include the Gofer (town runs everyday for supplies), Medic, Stage Manager and Sound Techs in the Dance Hall and Kafana, Housing, Rides, Bedding, and other admin help. Many of these positions require special prior experience at camp or in a similar role.

How to apply:
Requests for work exchange will be collected on a rolling basis through May 1st. We encourage you to make your work exchange request early to ensure we have a spot for you. Jobs may run out, and date of request is strongly considered when assigning jobs to applicants. Please note that we can only accommodate full-week campers for work exchange, and that application for a work exchange position does not guarantee a work exchange position. Applicants who are offered work exchange jobs are expected to accept the commitment and register for camp within a timely manner. We look forward to having you on the team! Apply here.

Mendocino Woodlands Camp 1 Map

Use this map to help you decide which cabin or cabin area to request on your registration form. Please note that the central section (Cabins 17-31) is generally reserved for staff.

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

Getting to Mendocino

Mendocino Woodlands Camp One is in Jackson State Forest about 175 miles north of San Francisco, roughly 12 miles inland from the coastal town of Mendocino.

From the south, take Hwy 101 North to Cloverdale. Highway 101 bypasses Cloverdale, so take the Hwy 128 Fort Bragg/Mendocino exit (after a couple of Cloverdale exits). Some 60 miles later (twisty road, but gorgeous vineyard, redwood, and coastal scenery), take Hwy 1 North to Mendocino.

From the north (Oregon), take I-5 South to Grants Pass, then Hwy 199 to Crescent City. From there, take Hwy 101 South to Leggett. From there take Hwy 1 South (insanely twisty road to the coast, with the reward of breathtaking ocean views) to Mendocino.

From Mendocino, go east on Little Lake Road (Co. Rd. 408) from Hwy 1
(at stoplight) for 5.6 miles, then turn right on Co. Rd. 700 (winding dirt road). Drive for 4 miles to Camp One. Please drive slowly and carefully on this dusty road!

If you’ve never been to the Woodlands, plan to arrive before dark. Registration will be located just outside the dining hall.

Dine & Dance—Bed & Breakfast

Come for 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:

• 6:00 p.m.: Arrive at our lovely redwoods site (see Directions tab above). Check in at the Kafana and set up your bunk. Join us for a delicious dinner, starting at 6:30.
• Then 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, 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 $135. A cheap hotel in Ft. Bragg (forget the town of Mendocino), easily runs twice as much and provides no options for gajda, rakija, čočeks, or çiftetelli!

HOW TO REGISTER

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

Evening Schedule

Note: Schedule is subject to change
Culture Corners and Group Sings begin at 7:45 p.m. Dance parties, unless noted, begin at 9:00 p.m.

Saturday
Dance
A Balkan Sampler!
Greek Zournadhes/Daouli with Eleni, Christos & Bobby Govetas
Bosnian & More with Mensur Hatić on accordion
Brass with Tano Brock and friends
Bulgarian with the Bulgarian Staff Musicians

Sunday
Special Dance Workshop (7:45-8:45): Dance for Musicians with Michael Ginsburg
Dance (9:00-)
Bulgarian—Bulgarian Staff Musicians
Epirot Greek—Drómeno

Monday
Group Sing—Croatian & Yugoslav: John Morovich
Dance
Greek Brass—Catherine Foster & Michael Ginsburg
Greek Island—Aya Safiya & friends

Tuesday
Auction Night (dance party begins around 10:00 p.m.)
Dance
Tamburica—John Morovich
Brass—Fanfare Zambaleta

Wednesday
Culture Corner: A conversation with Carol Silverman & special guest Alex Marković, topic TBD
Dance
Macedonian Village—Michele Simon, Mark Levy, Jerry Kisslinger & friends
Greek Zournadhes & Daouli—Eleni, Christos & Bobby Govetas
Bulgarian—Bulgarian Staff Musicians

Thursday
Group Sing—Macedonian & Bulgarian: Michele Simon
Dance
Rhodope Sing-Along—Mark Levy & Gajda Mafia
Brass—Benji Rifati
Greek—Drómeno

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

Camper Information

Registered campers, click here to access information about camp life, accommodations, what to bring, and everything else you need to know as you prepare for the Mendocino workshop.