The Players over time
Band 1 - It all began with Dan & Ann
In the spring of 2001, I was introduced to a great fiddler, mandolin and accordion player, Dan Page. We were asked by caller Rosemary Lach to play for an English country dance workshop, a style that neither of us had met before and it was an adventure! In the fall, we started playing regularly for Victoria English Country Dance at Dan’s Hall. This was the beginning of The Dancehall Players, creating the foundations of our ECD style from our quite different musical backgrounds. Dan was primarily a folk dance musician. Though an experienced classical pianist, I had never before had the opportunity to accompany fiddle and play for dance. Live music every Thursday night - what a treat! And a great way for both of us to learn the new style - and gradually meet other musicians in those early years. - Ann
Dan Page 1930-2017
Dan built the dance hall attached to his 1890s farmhouse to be used for various forms of folk dance long before I first met him. A year or two after we started playing for English Country dance on Thursday evenings, I returned for the fall season to discover that he had added a stage to Dan’s Hall, and decorated it with the covers of old sheet music and a variety of instruments. There was space for more musicians to join us now as well as a tiny bit of stage for the caller too!
A decade or more before we started playing dances together, Dan was already well known in the folk music community here in Victoria, and farther afield. I later learned just how far, as I had the fortune of travelling with him occasionally to fiddle camps. Dan seemed to know everyone! He generously introduced me to many well known fiddlers - Calvin Vollrath, Jerry Holland, Buddy McMaster, Daniel Lapp, Patti Kosturok. All appreciated his enthusiasm, his deep knowledge, his ready wit, and his tunes. Dan had written over a hundred tunes by the time we started meeting regularly that first winter of 2001/02 to chat about music, rehearse and drink lots of tea at his kitchen table, warmed by the old wood range. Soon I would look forward to being the first to read through his latest production. I would sit at his old electric keyboard and a sheet of manuscript would sail through the air in my direction - “see what you can make of that.” Those were good times! Though Dan’s not here - and we really miss him - he will always remain at the heart of The Dancehall Players. - Ann
My favourite times at Dan’s place were in the kitchen - around the table, so much friendliness and good conversation. The tea was always on, often in the really big Brown Betty teapot! He seemed to know every fiddle player across the country, and so much about making things, fixing things, building things. And best of all, everyone was welcome. - Karen
I have known of Dan for so long, that I don’t remember exactly when we first met, certainly way before I joined The Dancehall Players. What I will always remember about Dan is his friendliness and caring attitude towards others. His home was open to all, and he generously allowed many to use his hall for their rehearsals, dances and concerts. I especially enjoyed sitting with him and others in the kitchen before the Thursday dances. - Keith
While Dan was alive there was a special charm to our weekly English Country dances at “Dan’s Hall.” The large room Dan had built at the back of his Victorian farmhouse was equipped with a small stage at one end and wood stove in the corner, and whimsically decorated with a hand made quilt, instruments hanging from hooks, as well as antlers, farm implements and other found objects. When you walked along the overgrown front path and in through the front door, you felt like you had stepped back in time. The stove would be crackling, Dan would be tuning his fiddle, and suddenly you felt transported to an age when village life was simpler and more intimate. When there was no lock in your neighbour’s door and you were always a known and welcome guest.
Not only was the space he had created so cozy and convivial, but his gentle, generous and easy-going spirit seemed to set the tone. For instance, the group for a long time was not formally organized. We didn’t hold club board meetings, or have a lot of rules. There was always a dish on the tea table where you could toss in some coins to help pay the cost of keeping the hall heated and lit. But there were no formal dues. Instead a casual country spirit of trust and goodwill presided - a gift of Dan’s personality.
I remember when, after the club had been going for a number of years, some members began to feel that we needed more structure- regular meetings, regulations. We held our first “annual general meeting.” Dan put up with it, but rather reluctantly. At one point I heard him mutter “hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Dan, you are missed! - Lael
Ann Schau
We ‘retired’ to the west coast in 1999, moving back to be close to family. A couple of years later I was introduced to the folk music scene through Dan Page. The story of The Dancehall Players started in 2001 when Dan and I started playing for English Country Dance at Dan’s Hall. Though an experienced classical pianist, I had never before had the opportunity to accompany fiddle and play for folk dance. Live music every Thursday night - what a treat! And a great way to learn the style - and meet other musicians. I also played with Dan for Newfoundland dance and in his contradance group, MT Pockets String Band, as well as the New Page Country Dance Orchestra.
I love living here in Victoria. We visited often when I was growing up in Vancouver, and I remain drawn to the beauty of this unique Garry Oak ecosystem and miles of ocean coastline. Here I indulge my passion for gardening and natural history, teach piano and theory, learn other instruments, dance with friends, sing in choirs with husband Mikkel, enjoy ‘expeditions’ with our grandchildren. And above all, play, improvise, create and share music with my friends in the band and the greater folk community.
Band 2 - The band expands
Gradually after ECD started at Dan’s Hall, our group expanded. As we learned our style, people would sit in with us - and some were keepers! I began playing chamber music with Gregory about 2002. Our first ECD gig was at a Hands Across The Water weekend here in Victoria - we substituted one Saturday afternoon workshop to give the hired band a ‘rest’. Susan, a violinist from Vancouver, friend of caller Rosemary Lach, joined us. Though the three of us had never played together before, we clicked! Soon after, we met our cellist Karen at a Thursday night dance and invited her to join us. She was also a tunesmith, like Dan. They inspired me and the three of us would gather periodically in the summer at Dan’s Hall to play each other our tunes. One of my fondest memories of the Hall is summer breezes blowing through, the warm camaraderie of my friends, and the sound of clucking chickens outside in the field. Somewhere there’s a cassette tape of that day!
Dan was an admirer of the work of Keith Malcolm. He had a collection of Keith’s tunes that we played frequently at our Tuesday morning sessions. Dan introduced us all after a few years and soon Keith was joining us on Thursday workshop sessions at the hall. Within a few years the expanded band played at all the English Country dances in Victoria and occasionally in Vancouver and on Mayne Island. We made our first album together in 2010. - Ann
Gregory Brown
Ah yes music; it burst into my life at a young age when I was busy building model aircraft, engineered structures out of toothpicks and breeding tropical fish while trying to write an adventure novelette. I don’t know how it snagged me but it did and no amount of attending MAA meetings enabled me to shake the addiction and after all these years I still seem to need my daily dose of this captivating pastime. I have had many a happy hour in the past 20 years playing with my ECD cohorts and have come to see that great wealth presents itself in many forms and to be musically engaged is to be truly rich. A smile for all my fellow band members.
Susan Larkin
Although home is currently Vancouver, Susan crosses the water as often as she can to play with The Dancehall Players. There was lots of music growing up in Ottawa, including a recorder group, violin lessons, youth orchestra, and the annual Larkin Christmas carol party. Having decided not to pursue music further, Susan put down the violin but discovered choir singing while studying health sciences at university. After a move to Vancouver, that seed sprouted into a music degree in voice at UBC – not very practical, but it was such a pleasure and privilege to be immersed full-time in music. International folk dancing led to contra dancing which led to English country dancing, and Susan fell in love with the grace of the music and the dance form. This inspired taking up the violin and recorder again. Susan loves how the dances and music fit together, and the inspiration of endless tunes, old and new. Playing for dances is such an in-the-moment creation - responding to the dancers and other musicians, with the standing invitation to harmonize, required the learning to trust oneself and one’s bandmates enough to do just that! No tune is ever the same when playing with these lovely musical friends, The Dancehall Players!
Karen McIvor
Born and raised in Victoria, I am the product of a wonderful school strings program starting in elementary school, and I am also the grateful recipient of a wonderful cello from a very generous woman. I stopped playing some years ago, but my cello is again part of The Dancehall Players, in the talented hands of Caleigh Aalders who joined the band for the most recent recording, Out Of The Silence. The band has given me great joy and great friends, and the opportunity to learn to write dance tunes, thanks to Dan’s inspiration and encouragement. Some of these tunes are collected in my book of sheet music, Fresh Tunes.
Keith Malcolm
Keith Malcolm was born in Ottawa, Ontario and grew up mostly in Portland Oregon. He had his first violin lesson at the age of eight, and played classical music throughout his youth. While living in Vancouver BC as an adult, he was exposed to other styles of music like folk, Celtic, old-time fiddling, bluegrass and gypsy swing.
Keith has proudly been a part of The Dancehall Players for well over a decade now. Though he hasn’t played his fiddle for awhile because of arthritis, he still composes tunes for the group - for traditional dancing, or just for listening. He has also released a book of his tunes, Keith’s Own Stuff, with volume 2 in the works.
Band 3 - New faces, new voices
After a dozen years or so, our band began to shift, as Dan, Keith and Karen curtailed their musical activities for various reasons. In 2012, we invited Lael Whitehead as our guest for our second album, More From Dan’s Hall.
She had been playing with us frequently on Thursday evenings at Dan’s Hall and was not only a wonderful multi-instrumentalist but also fit right in to the ‘feel’ of the band. After that she became a regular member of The Dancehall Players. Some time after, when we were booked to play a Hands Across The Water weekend in Victoria, Lael was not available for the final day of workshops, so she arranged for friend Aaron Ellingsen to fill her spot. Aaron had not met English Country Dance style before! We all really appreciated how he played with us and as a bonus, he fell in love with the music in the process (as have we all!). Around the same time, Keith found it more difficult to make Thursday evenings and other gigs, so gradually Aaron became a permanent band member. Karen stopped playing cello around 2015, and recommended her friend and fellow cellist, Barrie Webster. He started coming regularly to Dan’s Hall, joined us on gigs when he could - and now we’re happy he’s a regular band member! - Ann
Lael Whitehead
Lael Whitehead has lived in the Gulf Islands for the past twenty-two years where, along with raising her three daughters, she has dabbled in raising sheep, horses and chickens. She and husband, architect Richard Iredale, are now growing a cider apple orchard. Lael has performed, sung, composed and recorded with a number of ensembles including Jaiya, Banquo Folk Ensemble and The Dancehall Players.
Lael divides her time between music, volunteer counselling, long walks in the woods and playing with her grandkids (oh, yes, and pruning little apple trees!).
Barrie Webster
Barrie Webster spent the first five years of his life in West Vancouver (when 78 rpm records were state of the art!). Brought up in a classical music environment, he benefited from the high school strings program in Kelowna. While completing his first two degrees in Chemistry at UBC, Barrie maintained his amateur music interests and later in Melbourne, Australia, and Leeds and Liverpool, UK where he played cello in the Liverpool Mozart Orchestra. Barrie became a professor at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, in the environmental analytical chemistry of pesticide residues. The cello continued to feature in his life, largely in orchestral and chamber music. During his post-university years in the private sector, Barrie studied cello privately and subsequently began playing the mandolin and tenor banjo. For about 25 years, he played in Fine Companions, the Village Green English Country Dancers' dance orchestra.
Barrie moved to Victoria in 2010 where orchestral involvement continued. He joined the Civic Orchestra of Victoria, the Hampton Concert Orchestra, and also the Victoria Mandolin Orchestra. In 2015 Karen McIvor, then cellist with The Dancehall Players, suggested that Barrie take her place when she found she could no longer continue. Since that time, he has attempted to fill Karen's shoes and has on occasion brought out his tenor banjo. He thanks both his parents and Mark Rose, his junior and senior high school orchestra teacher, for having enabled a life full of music.
Aaron Ellingsen
Aaron lives on Cortez Island, where he divides his time between running a small sawmill, working for BC Ferries, raising a lively young family and playing fiddle and mandolin whenever he gets the chance. He has been a member of many ensembles and bands over the past twenty years- including popular Victoria dance bands Odd Hack and Rig-A-Jig, the eclectic early music group, Banquo Folk Ensemble and the New Page Country Dance Orchestra. Aaron performed and recorded with The Dancehall Players from 2014 until 2021.