Dovie Gaither, has had over 30 years experience in teaching and performing folk dancing and folk songs from around the world with a special concentration on Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia.  As a dancer for 28 years with the Tulsa International Folk Dancers and a member of the Balkan Choir, “Sedenka,” she has performed at numerous festivals and with the Tulsa Philharmonic. Dovie has studied with most of the leading folk dance teachers/performers from the Balkans, such as Peter Iliev, Boris Ilievski, Nicholas Hilferink, Andor Czompo, Atanas Kolarovski, Olga Sandolowich, Ahmet Luleci, and Yves Morea.  She has attended folk dance camps including the Old Country Weekend, Texas Thanksgiving Camp and Mainewoods Camp and has twice attended the East Coast Balkan Camp. In 2005, Dovie founded  and continues to direct the Balkanistas, a community women’s choir based in Eastport Maine which is dedicated to promoting and singing  Eastern European folk songs.  A resident of Eastport, Maine, Dovie plays cello with the newly formed Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony.