Dede Alder

Dede Alder began her music studies in the fifth grade, as a member of her school's band. Her interest in percussion led her to study ethnic and hand drumming. During high school at TC Central, she started her own percussion business, "Rhythmic Adventures." Dede received her Associate's Degree in Music at Northwestern Michigan College and later studied African Drum and Dance with Titos Sompa and Cheikh Thiam. She studied world percussion through Layne Redmond, Judy Piazza, the North American Frame Drum Association, and in Ireland and Hawaii. She has studied classical percussion with David Warne (Sun Radius Music), John Alfieri (Interlochen), and Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher (MSU). She attended Interlochen's adult band camp in 2006 and 2007 and has performed at Interlochen's Korson Auditorium on several other occasions. Dede has just added Drumset to her list of musical itinerary with a new teal blue Tama GrandStar.

Dede has attended workshops on Health Rhythms Empowerment Drumming, Facilitators Playshop Skill Training, and Drum Circle Music. She has played with many bands of different genres and is an experienced studio musician. Children and adults alike are continually delighted and mesmerized by her teaching and performance possibilities. Dede also has been developing her dance skills over the past years and is a talented dance performer in the styles of bellydance, tribal bellydance, partner, modern, and improv.

Janice Edgar

Janice began her healing journey on the 'Red Road' in November 1996 at the Kumik, a traditional Anishnaabe Lodge located at Indigenous Service Canada's Head Office in Gatineau, following a mental breakthrough. She made her first Indigenous hand drum in 2009, at a workshop offered by Health Canada shortly after she began working as a Strategic Communications Officer with the federal department's First Nations and Inuit Health Branch and began learning the traditional songs and Teachings soon after. She has been a member of the Iskotew Lodge's Peace Flame drum circle since August 2009.

When Julie Vachon, facilitator of the Peace Flame drum circle and a Drum Camp facilitator, told her about Drum Camp, she was eager to attend. Since then, she has enjoyed supporting Julie with her workshops and was honoured when a proposal to facilitate colouring workshops that offered drum camp participants a chance to slow things down, be creative and go within, was accepted. She loves to colour and pairing her love of drumming with colouring offers a unique opportunity to give back. With heartfelt thanks to Julie Vachon for her friendship, guidance and ongoing support.

Lori Fithian

Lori Fithian has been facilitating drum circles and leading workshops since 1998. She grew up in a musical family, starting out early banging on Tupperware as a toddler, tapping on 7-up bottles and an old set of bongos in family porch jams as a kid, playing the french horn in school – all before discovering the world of hand drumming and drum circling, around 1989.

A “folk” student of many different drum traditions: West African, Brazilian, Japanese, Cuban, Middle Eastern and more, she travels around Michigan with a van-load of all kinds of drums and percussion sharing her love for the universal groove that touches hearts and brings folks together in rhythm. She’ll try any musical instrument, and encourages others to get spontaneous, creative, silly and connected through music and all kinds of rhythmic expressions – drum, dance, voice, etc.

Jenn Foley

Jenn believes that the djembe has an incredible power to heal, transform and energize, and she loves to share it with anyone who wants to learn. She teaches kids and adults in all different settings - schools, camps, private classes, group classes, and even workshops in the workplace.

The first time Jenn went to Womyn’s Drum Camp she experienced the full energy of the djembe, and the sounds it could make when using West African technique…and she’s been hooked ever since. She bought a drum after her first day at camp, and even traveled to Guinea that winter to study at the source!

Jenn is passionate about providing a welcoming, accessible, and upbeat experience to everyone who joins her classes. She believes that the laughter, joy, and playfulness that naturally emerge while drumming are powerful catalysts to the healing and transformation that this instrument can bring.

Suzanne Grigg

Suzanne's love of music and performance began back in the 60's in the coffeehouse circuit. As part of a sweet trio, she played guitar, sang and 'tapped' on her tambourine for enthusiastic young people.

The 70's took her to her degrees then to the West Coast of Canada as a Physical Education Teacher, hiking teens up mountainsides to camp or ski, taking groups on canoe trips and creating a senior credit course in Dance, in many forms.

Upon her return to Southern Ontario, Suzanne created a successful business 'FITNESS AND HEALING....as you like it', offering One-on-one Training, Group Fitness Classes of various descriptions, Yoga and Children's Dance Classes.

The business and the land evolved over the years, feeding her spiritually and leading her toward more Yoga, Reiki Healing Work, Labyrinth Work and Meditation. The Labyrinth and Fire Circle were magical places to hold Women's Drum Circles and Drum Making Workshops.

It has been such an honour to have led our early morning and evening Yoga sessions here at Drum Camp for all of these 25 years or so. My years of work experience and my passion for flowing with others to a place of gratitude, peace and well-being are the perfect blend for leading 'AWAKEN THE DAY', a very gentle, stretching, relaxing way to work out those drumming kinks and to start the day feeling renewed. Note: no previous Yoga experience necessary.

Caroll Halford

Caroll Halford CLMC, Crone, grandmother, mother, sacred circle dance facilitator and Lebed Method of Movement & Healing. Weaver of dance & ritual to help build and strengthen community, celebrate birth, death & all the many milestones in between. Caroll has facilitated SCD at Drum Camp, Dance Camp, Red Tent, many different spiritual gatherings and facilitates a weekly dance group in London. Dance has been her teacher and continues to provide her with gifts beyond measure.

The dances she will bring will add a richness to the everyday whether alone or in group gatherings. We will dance for community, for joy, for healing and for finding the quiet space in the center of our being as we honour the sacred both in ourselves and in each other.

Queen Hollins

Queen is a visionary and holds sacred ancestral traditions while channeling Nu and tangible ways to apply these birth rites to our daily lives. She is creatress of ancestor’s daughters and ongoing young women’s rite of passage community empowerment movement, since 1999, located in Long Beach, California. This community movement encourages awareness of our oneness with all that is, self-empowerment and an inner knowing that we are infinite possibilities.

Queen teaches Nu Traditional Afrikan Dance Movement. She is visionary to a combination of ancient ancestral movements and modern concepts that fill each movement with intentions of physical, emotional balance and well being whereby self-empowerment via self expression unfolds harmony and the desired state of being.

Sheila Horrell

Sheila has been drumming for the last 30 years, ever since being introduced to the primal magic of the drum by master percussionist Ubaka Hill.

After studying percussion with various drummers here and internationally, she has been facilitating workshops and drum circles for many groups in Southwestern Ontario, including schools, universities, camps, nursing homes, conferences and agencies.

In addition to facilitating drumming, Sheila is also a member of percussion groups in London, including "The London Groove Collective", and sings and plays with WomenSpiritSong choir and Joyful Noise choir. Sheila is a proud volunteer at My Sister's Place, the Grand Theatre, the Women's Circle at Brescia, and Heart-Links, a small London NGO which walks in solidarity with a community of women and children in the desert regions of Northern Peru.

The experience of introducing new drummers to the ease and joy of music making with the drum has been a prime motivator for Sheila's continued success. There is nothing like witnessing someone relaxing into their own rhythm and having fun contributing to the music of the whole drumming community.

Elisha MacMillan

Elisha MacMillan is a mixed-ancestry storyteller, dancer, sociologist and filmmaker. Embodied healing, inter-generational connection, communing with nature and envisioning equity are resonant threads woven through her community projects, movement retreats and online courses. Drum and dance medicine is essential to her work, an integral part of life for her ancestors from Jamaica, Scotland, Europe, and West Africa.

Marci Mandel

As an explorer of the human spirit, Marcia Mandel has studied with Masters from around the world in various forms of energy work, including Reiki, meditation, soundwork, yoga and Qigong. Whether working as a sound journey practitioner, hike leader, or Reiki Master, she is known for the magical way she weaves the many styles into One to create a warm, nourishing, sacred space.

Kathleen McGriff-Powers (Mahasti)

Kathleen began dancing at age 4, with the usual ballet and tap and continued through college. After a break to have children, 13 years ago Kathleen attended a beginner’s belly dance class and fell in love with it. She decided to start formal training, and sought out classes and instructors that taught the classic Egyptian, as well as folkloric style. From there, Kathleen discovered American Tribal Style (ATS) and studied Carolena Nereccio of Fat Chance Belly Dance. Kathleen keeps current with both tribal and cabaret styles of belly dance through studying with master instructors such as Ranya Renee, Morocco, Dahlena, Elena Lentini, The Indigo, Zafira Dance Company and Ultra Gypsy as often as possible, and also conducts research of the history of Middle Eastern dance, music, and culture.

Kathleen first began performing with Folkloric Dance Studio. With two other womyn from that studio she formed Hip Chik Raks, a cabaret and ATS dance troupe. Today, Kathleen studies and performs with Kadri of Sol Vibes in Buffalo, New York. She is also one half of the belly dance duet Khyf.

Kathleen performs and studies all styles of belly dance from Classical Egyptian to World Fusion Tribal. She also enjoys performing and has a deep passion for African drumming and dance, Studying with masters like Ubaka Hill, Queen and Afia Walking Tree has done everything to enhance her appreciation of all dance and music.

Tara Mhic Coinnigh

Tara is a voice coach, music teacher and international touring artist who specializes in vocal music of all genres, Bhakti yoga chanting and various percussion disciplines. Bodhrán was the first Instrument Tara learned at 4 years old, after voice, from her Gaelic family. She learned Sean Nós Singing and harp traditions indigenously, and loves to share the craft of celtic drumming style from this earthy bardic, social and simple perspective. She also has passion for sound medicine through frame and hand drumming, drone and gong devotional playing.

Tanya Porter

Tanya Porter is a drummer and percussionist with over 35 years of experience and a deep love of rhythm as a way to connect, listen, and come home to ourselves — and to show up more fully for one another. Her drumming journey began on the drum kit in 1986 at the Ontario College of Percussion, and later unfolded through extensive study with Afro-Cuban and West African drum teachers, along with workshops with master drummers.

She has performed, recorded, and collaborated across a wide range of musical and artistic settings, and brings a welcoming, embodied approach to drumming that emphasizes presence, shared rhythm, and community. Tanya is the creator of Rhythmic Re-framing, a mindfulness-based drumming modality that integrates rhythm and awareness, and she shares drumming in community, educational, professional, and wellness settings.

Tanya is the Founder and Living Arts Director of The Inner Space, through which she teaches yoga, meditation, and drumming, and she is the author of Drawing Breaths – A 7-Step Daily Self-Care Journal Practice.

Terri Segal

Terri is an Expressive Arts Therapist, Facilitator, and Educator who is dedicated to sharing the therapeutic value of creative expression through Drumming and Expressive Arts workshops. For the past 10 years, Terri has studied and taught West African Drumming and World Percussion. She is a trained Expressive Arts Therapist and Drum Circle Facilitator. Terri participated in HealthRhythm’s Group Empowerment Drumming Facilitator Training Program, Village Music Facilitator Training Program, completed a three week West African Drum and Dance Intensive with Company Fore-Fote in Guinea, Africa, holds a BA Honors in English from McMaster University, and is a graduate of Expressive Arts Therapy at The C.R.E.A.T.E. Institute.

Through her business Rhythmic by Nature, Terri facilitates Drumming Programs at schools, social service agencies, and for small and large businesses for the purpose of teambuilding, wellness, recreation, and education.

Terri brings her gentle and affirming leadership skills to her empowering, resourceful, and community building workshops. She honors each participant’s unique gifts, is an empathetic role model, a good listener and an intuitive guide.

Mar Stevens

Mar Stevens connected to her inner drum beat as a child drumming on her grade school desk. She began her drum journey twenty years ago with Master Drummer, Afia Walking Tree, of Spirit Drumz, playing the djembe and djuns. Afia recognized her drum spirit early on and became her mentor in the West African drumming tradition. Mar studied with her for many years. She continued her studies of West African drumming by attending the Fore-Fote drum camp in Guinea, West Africa. She studied with Master Drummers and dancers on the Island of Roume, learning songs, dances, and rhythms.

Mar performs and is the leader of the drumming ensemble, Sistahs of the Drum, a Bay Area group of Women of African descent, whose mission is to heal, transform, and witness through the power of the drum. The group performs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Mar also led the women’s Brazilian marching band, Sista Boom, at many parades, for 12 years. She has performed at various venues in the Bay Area: Music is Medicine Festival, Ashkenaz World Music Community Center, Bioneers Conference, Mills College, University of California San Francisco, Cal State East Bay University, San Francisco State, Oakland Temescal Festival, Laurel Music Festival, and many more.

Mar currently teaches drumming and percussion, at Meadows Livingstone school, which is an Afrocentric elementary school in San Francisco. She also teaches djembe, djuns and percussion at various sites in the San Francisco Bay Area: Total Rhythm Studio, Born to Drum Camp, and Malonga-Casquelourd Center. She has many private students.

The drum has been transformative in Mars life, and continues to inspire and heal her. She is honored to have the ability to pass on the lineage of the West African drumming tradition.

Julie Vachon

Julie Vachon is a woman of mixed ancestry who has overcome violence, addictions, anxiety, and depression through the help of many Elders, ceremonies, and therapy. The drum, that sacred heartbeat of Mother Earth, called to her and has helped Julie find her voice, connect with her ancestors and to grow spiritually. On a healing journey since 1995 she has developed a deep connection with Spirit, Water and Mother Earth, and continues to learn through ceremonies.

Through her life experiences Julie has become intuitive and compassionate to the needs of others. She is passionate about helping women find their voice and to heal, leading circles, and offering ceremonies. Julie brings authenticity and passion in all her interactions. She encourages others to experience the power of the drum and to connect with their emotional self. She uses many different tools for wellbeing; energy work, creative art therapy, drumming and singing. With love, laughter, and her strong connection with nature she lives the sacred teachings passed on by many Elders.

Amy Vitro

Amy Vitro is a folkloric drummer and multi-instrumentalist in the Washington, DC metro area. She is a member of multiple drumming performance groups, including La Marvela (Afro-Colombian), Semilla Cultural (Puerto Rican Bomba), Bele Bele Rhythm Collective (West African), and Batalá Washington (Afro-Brazilian Samba). She also co-created Amor y Luz Music, a Latin and classical duo presenting both original music and music showcasing Latin American women composers and artists.

Amy has been training in West African drumming traditions for over two decades, with a focus on shekere rhythms and culture. She has taught shekere at multiple festivals and camps, including the Born To Drum camp in Oakland, CA. While Amy plays multiple folkloric and classical instruments, she finds the shekere to be deeply transformative and loves sharing her understanding of this instrument with others.

Afia Walking Tree

Afia Walking Tree, M.Ed., is a Jamaican-born, internationally acclaimed percussionist and visionary facilitator. She combines her deep connection to the earth and the drum to cultivate sustainable life-art practices. Through dynamic edutainment performances, workshops, embodied lectures, coaching, and permaculture design, Afia uses drum medicine as a transformative tool to challenge and dismantle gender, racial, and intersectional violence.

Afia serves as an adjunct professor at the California Institute for Integral Studies, an Artist in Residence at the African American Policy Forum, and the V-Day Jamaica representative for One Billion Rising. She currently resides on a 25-acre farm in Jamaica, where she is the principal steward, curating healing journeys and eco-experiences for gender-expansive women, queer individuals, and trans-masculine folx. Her livity fosters intentional connections to rhythms of land, ancestors, movement, and drum. Come and visit us at SolidarityYaadJamaica.org or check us out on Instagram at solidarityyaad_ja.

Jeannine Welton

Jeannine believes that if you raise your vibration and frequency, you will emanate this out to the world and affect everyone that you come into contact with making the world a better place. You will walk away from one of her classes feeling lighter, rejuvenated and with the knowledge to help your body heal itself.

Jeannine is a RYT 200 receiving her training in Costa Rica through Awakened life School of Yoga in 2017. Recently she completed a Therapeutic Yin teacher training and more recently has become a Fascial bodywork coach with Human Garage. Jeannine also has many energy work practices such as Reiki that she likes to infuse into her gentle sessions. Jeannine also works hands on and online with people helping them to release traumas, past injuries, and improve mobility in their body.

Pele Yemaja

Pele Yemaja was formally trained in piano at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, beginning at age 6-through 16. Beethoven soon gave way to boogie, but over time she was quietly led to the path of the drum.

Her passion was ignited in 1993 at Ubaka Hill’s workshops at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, where she first encountered the rhythms that called her spirit. That year marked the beginning of her formal training in drumming, joining the first Drum Song Orchestra that performed at that festival for many years to come.

Over the past three decades, Pele has studied with master teachers including Ubaka Hill, Linda Thomas Jones, Edwina LeeTyler, Judy Fatu Henderson, Deb McGee, Paloma and Afia Walkingtree.

In 2008, she traveled to Conakry, Guinea, to study drum and dance with Afia Walkingtree and M’Lamine Camera, the principal soloist of Les Ballets d’Afrique Noirede Mansour Gueye. Immersed in the living traditions of Guinea, Pele fell deeply in love with West African drum and dance. Upon her return, she became a drummer for New Traditions African Dance, continuing to carry the many rhythms forward with not only the djembe, but the Keneni, Samban and Dundun as well.

Pele has also had the honor of recording with Ubaka Hill on the albums Shapeshifters (1995), Dance the Spiral Dance (1998), and most recently she celebrated another milestone, serving as percussionist for the renowned musician Ruth Barrett on the album Once and Future Amazons (2020).