Winter Adventure 2024 Staff bios

ECRS is warm, welcoming and inclusive.

When I walked into Dotti Siftar’s Song Leadership Class in 1970 at my first ECRS Summer School, I found a big woman with a big voice who encouraged me to find my own. As an avid learner from many Girl Scout singing leaders, I also found in Dotti an encouraging teacher who brought out the best in each group, each “student,” and challenged us to try experimenting to create harmonies when we had no idea where they came from. I went back again, each year becoming more sure of the words, so I could concentrate on the melodies, learned to listen to my neighbors, and blend in or contrast with their offerings.

The result: rich, harmonious, community singing programs at ECRS like at no other place, that would take us to other countries, other’s visions of the world, and in so doing learn more about ourselves. We often left Dotti’s class, humming a newly-learned melody, or carrying the round into the dining hall at Geneva Point Center, and beyond. Her legacy to me: I now have the courage to come before a group of strangers, school children, Girl Scouts, teachers, or family reunion groups and invite them to join in singing a familiar song to warm up, and learn a new one they don’t know and pass on the tradition.