Alyssa (lyss) adkins

Alyssa (Lyss) Adkins is a Maine-based caller, dance/movement teacher, and fusion organizer who has been dancing all their life.  Introduced to contra by parents who met folk dancing, they also trained in ballet in their youth and quickly went on to explore hip hop and several partner dance styles including Blues, fusion, and West Coast Swing during their time living in NYC.  Lyss has taught waltz, contra dance workshops and fusion at local dances in Maine and Vermont, Boston Second Sun, Motley Hue, NEFFA, YDW, Five Borough Fling, and Pinewoods and is featured as a dance artist and contra caller in the Urban Stomp exhibit currently at the Museum of the City of New York.  They teach contra calling workshops in Maine, collaborated with Brooklyn Contra to write a free-to-all curriculum on contra dancing, and have called for local dances and weekend festivals alike all over the northeast and mid-Atlantic, with dancers describing their calling as clear, joyful, and energized.