Featuring:
Dance music by special guest fiddler Katie McNally, along with Don Ladig on flute and Sherry Ladig on piano
Entertainment during the interval by Jennifer Licko and Dick Hensold with Gaelic song and bagpipes from the Western Isles of Scotland
Music workshops with Katie McNally on Sunday!

We are excited to be featuring up-and-coming fiddler Katie McNally. Katie grew up steeped in the vibrant Scottish and Cape Breton music community in Boston and is the 2009 New England Scottish Fiddle Champion. She was a student of Hanneke Cassel and has performed at venues such as Club Passim, The Barns at Wolf Trap, Symphony Space, Brighton College in Brighton, England, and various folk venues throughout New England. Katie performs regularly with guitarist Eric McDonald, has been a member of the Boston-based fiddle supergroup Childsplay since 2009, and recently did a national tour with world-renowned Galician bagpiper Carlos Núñez. Katie often plays for Scottish Country Dance events in the Boston area, and has been on staff at Pinewoods and at Scottish Weekend. Katie is a devoted teacher as well as a performer. In addition to her private students, she has taught at the Boston Harbor Scottish Fiddle School, Boston Symphony Hall, the Passim School of Music, and the Tufts University Community Music Program. Her debut album, Flourish, was released in December 2012.

Katie will be accompanied by pianist Sherry Ladig, along with Don Ladig on flute. A frequent performer of many styles of folk music including Traditional Irish (Dunquin), Scottish dance and concert performance (Night Scotsman), and mid-to-late 19th century American (The New Pearl Button Players), Sherry performs Celtic and 19th-century historic music regularly in the Twin Cities. She will be familiar to most local Scottish dancers as the bandleader of Thistledown and a frequent musician for other Branch socials and performances. Also an active composer, Sherry is the composer-in-residence for the Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra and composes a wide range of works for all types of instrumental and choral ensembles. Don Ladig is a garden designer and commentator on all things horticultural. He plays the wooden flute and a phalanx of whistles in Dunquin, Night Scotsman, Elite Rabble, and The New Pearl Buttons.

Registration here (Online registration and payment is now available!)

Ball registrar: Tom Harries, e-mail: registrar [at] rscds-twincities.org

Hospitality is available for out of town guests in the homes of local dancers. Please indicate your needs on the registration form or, if you are registering online, email Chandi McCracken: chandi [at] mccrackens.org

Andy McCracken, e-mail: andrewmcc [at] izoom.net

Download ball dance instructions (PDF) [corrected 15 April 2013 ]