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Jerry Duke, Ph.D., returns to our festival to teach a yet-named variety of Balkan and partner mixer dances. Jerry has been teaching European and American folk dance for over 40 years. He introduced Cajun dance to the International folk dance community in the early 80's and was one of the first to popularize Appalachian dance. He was dancer and choreographer for the Aman, Dobre, and Khadra Folk Ensembles and the Appalachian Celebration Company. His American and European choreographies have been presented at major concert halls and festivals throughout the US and in Europe. He has directed many folk dance events including the SF Kolo Festival, San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, and the annual World Cultures Concert at SFSU. He has taught at workshops and festivals in Canada, Europe, Taiwan, Mexico and throughout the US.
Jerry is Professor Emeritus and retired Coordinator of Dance Studies at SFSU where he taught dance ethnology and history as well as folk and social dance. He holds the Ph.D. in Dance Research, M.A. in Dance Ethnology & Folklore, M.A. in Modern and Ballet Dance, and has done additional graduate work in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology. He has studied dance and ritual in many areas of Europe, including the Balkans, and Greece, as well as among the Maori of New Zealand and the Yaqui of Arizona. His published ethnological field studies include dances in the Appalachian Mountains (US), Social Dance and Mardi Gras celebrations among the Cajuns in central and western Louisiana, step dancing in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and folk dance and Apokries celebrations in Northern Greece.

John Filcich For over 50 years John Filcich has been at the center of the California folk dance scene. He was the first kolo teacher in California and the first to introduce Balkan dance (kolos) at the Stockton Folk Dance Camp, in 1951. In 1952 he founded the Kolo Festival in San Francisco as a fundraiser for his friend Vyts Beliajus who was ill. Today Balkan dance at the Stockton camp and the Kolo Festival have become a tradition for folk dance enthusiasts. John was born in Croatia; the family came to Gary, Indiana when he was still a boy. The family settled in an ethnic community. Gary was a steel industry town packed with Eastern European immigrants who carried on their culture through music and dance at picnics and church bazaars. John started folk dancing in 1947, later opened Festival Records which became the chief supplier of folk dance music. Still active in the business and teaching, retirement is not in the cards.

Rikki Nicolae, will be teaching dances of Turkey. Erica "Rikki" Nicolae is currently the Dance Director for Ahmet Lüleci's performance company CollageWest, and teaches recreational folkdancing from Turkey and Bulgaria at venues around the Bay Area. She began Balkan folkdancing at Reed College in Portland Oregon. From 1998-1999 she studied folk dancing and singing in Bulgaria on a Watson Fellowship. Upon returning to the States in 2001, she began dancing with Ahmet LuleciÕ company Collage in Boston, where she proudly served not only as performer but also as drill seargent/dance instructor for new Collage recruits. After relocating to San Francisco in 2004, she embarked on Ahmet Lüleci's project to grow Collage and helped him found CollageWest. Rikki's other dance experiences include dancing with ensemble Naslada in Portland, Oregon; ensemble Ratchenitza in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, ensemble WestWind in Berkeley, California, and Yore in Stanford, California. She loves any opportunity to teach, especially dancing. She recently joined Bill Cope and Tom Farris on their project "BlackSea Surf", a Balkan-based band lending modern interpretation to the beloved folk music of Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, and beyond.