Dugan Murphy is a contra dance caller performing across the U.S. and Canada. He always puts on a great party. His voice is smooth like a movie-trailer voice-over, his joyful energy is infectious, and his outfits are… well, you’ll have to see them to understand. He chooses intuitive dances and teaches them with just the right amount of direction, leaving spaciousness for dancers to groove to the music.

He began calling in 2011 while living in Cincinnati, Ohio and within four months was booked at a local dance weekend. Since returning home to his native Maine, he’s called throughout the Northeast and across the country, from local dances to big events like Flurry Festival (Saratoga Springs, New York), Ooh La La dance weekend (Richmond, Quebec), and Contradancers Delight Holiday week (Mogantown, West Virgina).

In 2016, Dugan created a Calling 101 class for brand new callers, which he’s taught to around fifty students in classes set in Portland, Maine, Brooklyn, New York, and Toronto, Ontario. He serves as an ongoing mentor to emerging callers. Also in 2016, he co-organized Portland Intown Contra Dance, a lively weekly series on the peninsula in Portland, Maine.

He’s also a Maine Humorist, voice artist, storyteller, and nonprofit consultant.