Originally from North Berwick, near Edinburgh, Linda now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, but travels home to Scotland whenever she can. Linda began Country Dancing at Primary School and is a former competitive Highland dancer. Her father plays accordion and Linda played in a SCD band; her musical background has a big influence in her teaching.

Linda has taught adult and youth classes in the San Francisco Branch, and workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. Linda is an experienced ceilidh caller and can often be found leading the dances at weddings and parties!

It gives Linda great pleasure as a teacher and dancer to share the traditions of Scotland through its music and dancing.

Picture dancing Mairi's Wedding on a wharf under the stars on a summer night -- that was Pam's introduction to Scottish Country Dancing many years ago at an international folkdance evening in NYC. Such a memorable evening -- great venue, but oh that dance!

Graduate studies took Pam to several different parts of the country with only occasional SCD opportunities, but eventually a job as an atmospheric scientist for the federal government took her to the Washington, DC area with its many and regular SCD classes. It was there that she decided to pursue her SCD teaching credentials in the late 1990's. A few years ago, Pam and her husband retired to Chapel Hill, NC, where she experiments with transitioning their yard into a perennial garden of mostly native plants -- despite the deer! She continues to teach with the Durham-Chapel Hill SCD group, endeavoring to share the joy of that summer night dance long ago with as many people as possible.

Susie Petrov started dancing at the Monday night dance in Washington, DC in the summer of 1973 and went dancing every Tuesday with her classmates that next school year. After finishing her piano studies at the Peabody Conservatory, Susie Petrov launched herself into her passion of researching, performing and teaching Scottish dance and music.

Susie had the opportunity to teach young Scots through 1990's as a tutor for the Feis na Gael summer music courses in the north and west of Scotland; in Golspie, on the islands of Lewis and Tiree. Here was a chance to combine her day job of music teacher with her night and summer work performing Scottish music! In 2000, Susie was a guest lecturer at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire in Glasgow.

Susie teaches Scottish dancing and performs Scottish music for dances, Highland Balls, Ceilidhs and concerts with several groups of colleagues and with the Parcel of Rogues with Glenfiddich Fiddle Champion, Calum Pasqua. She met Paul Woodiel in 1988 after he had heard her rehearsal through the floor with his downstairs neighbor, accordionist, Norb Spencer. They started the ensemble Local Hero and have been fortunate to play together regularly since then.

Susie has numerous recordings and two collections of Scottish music to her publication credit. Susie and Paul recorded "Peace and Plenty" and "A Highland Childhood" together.

Paul Woodiel has worked as a free-lance musician on Broadway since his first gig in Fiddler on the Roof in the late 1980s. He has played for contra and English dancing since his teenage years and Scottish dance has been his specialty since meeting Susie in 1988.

His list of musical accomplishments is a long one working as concert master and soloist in numerous Broadway shows and performing with numerous orchestras in and around New York.

We are fortunate to hear him play Scottish music for concerts, Highland Balls and at Pinewoods Dance Camp's ESCape and Scottish and English Country Dance sessions.

In his spare time, he enjoys playing Scandinavian music on the nyckelharpa and hardanger fiddle. You might even hear him playing French Medieval music on his hurdy gurdy!