Chris Sackett

Chris Sackett was first introduced to the country dance form in 1975 during an international folk dance class at Lane Community College. Carl Wittman was a guest instructor within the course. Chris has been teaching English and Scottish Country Dance since he co-founded the Ashland Country Dancers in 1978. In 1980, he was a co-founding board member of the Heather and the Rose Country Dancers.

Chris was fortunate to participate in Playford first-edition reconstruction with Carl Wittman during the summer of 1980 when Carl was the director of the dance elements for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Green Show. This experience was foundational to Chris’ future efforts as a choreographer. In addition to composing English and Scottish country dances with his wife Brooke Friendly, Chris has also composed tunes for some of the dances included in the volumes of Impropriety. He has coproduced and supervised post-production for the six volumes of Impropriety CDs featuring the band Roguery, as well as Roguery’s CD Minding the Gap.

Theatrical choreography credits include the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s productions of Wild Oats and Artichoke. Other credits include the production of Entertaining Strangers (with Brooke) and Alice Through the Looking Glass. He is a retired professor of Theatre Arts at
Southern Oregon University and holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia.