Evie Ladin

Want to connect your group or event in an easy, fun, accessible experience? Square dancing has become stereotyped in an unflattering way, yet those who do it fully appreciate the way it connects groups with no requirement of previous experience. We often work with groups of total beginners, who are surprised at how much fun they have, so easily. Not didactic in any way, we respond to the nature of the crowd, encouraging folks to jump in and enjoy dancing to the groove-based live stringband music. We can play background music when folks are tired, or regroup to lead dances in different shapes and tempos. Either way, a square dance party is a surprising good time, and we love giving people this authentic experience. We only work with live music, avoiding dorky recordings. We live and breathe these traditions and hope the audience respects and enjoys this living art form.

Banjo player, singer, songwriter, percussive-dancer, choreographer and square-dance caller, Evie Ladin grew up steeped in traditional folk music/dance, and brings a contemporary vision to her compositions and choreography. Evie’s performances, recordings and teaching reconnect Appalachian music/dance with other African-Diaspora traditions, and have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Lincoln Center, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass to Celtic Connections, Brazil to Bali. Based in Oakland, CA, Evie tours solo, with Keith Terry and her Evie Ladin Band; and has produced 9 CDs and two instructional DVDs. In the percussive dance world, she is Executive Director of the International Body Music Festival, directs the moving choir MoToR/dance, does educational outreach with Crosspulse, and is an ace freestyle flatfooter. Her Body Music has gone viral in the choral piece Silvy, arranged by Moira Smiley. In the trad world, Evie teaches Clawhammer Banjo and Old Time Harmony singing at the infamous Freight & Salvage, online at Peghead Nation and numerous camps and events. She leads rowdy square dance parties, getting every body easily dancing. In the songwriter world, she writes clever catchy songs, subtitling her own band “neo-trad kinetic folk." A highly entertaining performer, Evie enjoys facilitating arts learning in diverse communities.

“Evie Ladin is a natural entertainer with a gift for infusing folk practices with contemporary verve.”
—SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE