Meet the Board

Noel Kropf, Garrison, New York
Secretary; Technology Committee Chair; member of Finance Committee. Term: 1/2015 —

I am an avid dancer, singer, and sometime fiddler. Our family is in love with Balkan music and dance and this is our primary community. I started folk dancing in 1969. Around 1979 I attended the EEFC camp at Mendocino and was hooked, and since then I have attended nearly every EEFC camp on the East Coast. I’ve worked on the EEFC online discussion list (listserv) since 1993. I have volunteered with NYC Golden Festival since 2005, and have been on the Golden Fest Organizing Committee for the past decade.

I serve on several nonprofit boards and as Treasurer of our homeowners’ association. I have volunteered as webmaster for groups including Sierra Club NY, EEFC, and Golden Fest. I am a software developer by trade.

I will work to help our EEFC fulfill its mission, to enable the rich experiences that happen at our camps and related events.

Craig Kurumada, Arcata, California
Development Committee Chair. Term: 9/2018 —
I attended my first Balkan Camp at the Mendocino Woodlands in 1988 and have been coming ever since.

My educational background is in linguistics and German. I played French horn from childhood to college and enjoyed playing Western European classical music. I have always been attracted and intrigued by traditional music and dance. I became a folk dancer, singer, and musician in rapid succession upon joining Salt Lake City’s Živio Ethnic Arts Ensemble, and touring Macedonia, Croatia, and Hungary in 1987 and 1989. I co-founded the Arcata, California-based international band Chubritza after a trip to Bulgaria in 1993.

Although I was a development staff member for the EEFC in the mid-1990s, this is my first term as a Board member. I look forward to using my training and experience in fundraising and nonprofit work to bring long-term financial stability to the EEFC.

I retired in 2016 from Humboldt State University’s Math and Computer Science Departments, where I was an administrative coordinator. I’m currently assembling Bulgarian bagpipes (gajdi) with the mission of getting them into the hands of those who want to learn to play.

Alex Marković, Chicago, Illinois
Vice President. Term: 9/2018 —

I am a cultural anthropologist interested in music and dance, identity, and politics in the Balkans. I am also Serbian-American, and I grew up in the Serbian community in Chicago where I began dancing at the age of seven. Throughout my teenage and young adult years, I was active in various Serbian and Greek folk dance groups, and began to teach dance as well as research the cultural context of dance and music in the Balkans. I went on to earn an M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Illinois-Chicago, conducting ethnographic research on Romani music and ethnic identity in southeastern Serbia.

It was during my graduate study that I was first exposed to the EEFC. At the suggestion of my mentor Dr. Carol Silverman, I attended my first camp and was blown away by the music, the dancing, and the community! I have been an avid supporter of the camps and of the educational mission of the organization ever since. Because my interest in performing Balkan folk dance & music intertwines with my scholarly work and anthropological training, I anticipate drawing from these different spheres of my life as a board member to support the work of the East European Folklife Center. I am committed to using my experiences to guide important discussions about cultural aspects of the organization’s mission, and for long-term strategizing for the sustainability and growth of the EEFC.

Melinda Russial, Santa Fe, New Mexico
President; Administrative Committee Chair; member of Scholarship and Finance Committees. Term: 10/2016 —

After two decades of immersion in classical clarinet, I wandered into the 2015 Mendocino workshop and felt like I heard music for the first time. The sounds of the Balkans ricocheting around the redwoods was mesmerizing enough, but I was captured just as much by the unique and welcoming qualities of the EEFC community.

I currently direct the Music Department and teach music and philosophy at the United World College – USA. I have taught in the arts and humanities in classes ranging from elementary school through college, and I have worked in administration at a variety of arts and education nonprofits. My teaching and research interests include experiential education in the arts and expansion of the American music education paradigm through folk and contemporary musical traditions. I perform regularly in Western Classical and Balkan genres.

Corinna Snyder, Brooklyn, New York
Program Committee chair, Family Liaison. Term: 9/2011 —
I have been coming to the EEFC workshops since 2008, and started bringing my kids with me in 2011. My first experience with Balkan music was hearing, and then learning the repertoire of the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Choir, when I was in high school. I moved deeper into traditional vocal music from both Bulgaria and Macedonia in my 20s, co-founded the vocal trio Black Sea Hotel, and currently play with two Brooklyn-based Macedonian groups: Loza and Glas. I live in Brooklyn, New York, I hold a PhD in cultural anthropology, and I work as a director of organizational learning and development at an enormous consulting firm.

Demetri Tashie, Jackson Heights, New York
Program Committee member. Term: 9/2008 —

I am a musician who plays, among other instruments, lauoto and zourna, and have attended many EEFC workshops on both coasts. I have been a longtime mover and shaker with the Greek American Folklore Society (GAFS) and am currently on their board. I am also a judge for the FDF and HDF Greek festivals. I live in Jackson Heights, NY, where I work as a graphic designer.

Barbara Uhlemann, St. Louis, Missouri
Treasurer; Finance Committee Chair; member of Development and Administrative Committees; Scholarship Committee member. Term: 9/2015 —
I have been coming to Balkan Camp since the early 1990s. In addition to the excitement of participating in the classes, evening dance parties, and many other activities and events, I have been deeply moved by the friendliness, generosity and camaraderie that are part of the week’s experience. Balkan Camp has also become a very special family experience for my husband and me. We started bringing our now-teenage grandchildren to camp when they were little and have watched with delight as they have made friends, developed skills, and come to love Balkan music and dance.

I have been an active participant in the St. Louis folkdance group for many years. I have a small business managing financial reporting for other small businesses, and I serve on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations.

I am grateful to all those who have worked so hard in the past to make Balkan Camp a reality and am glad to have the opportunity to do what I can to help ensure the future of this amazing organization.