The Avant Gardeners are a group of contra dance musicians from Charlottesville, Virginia. The core members are Laura Light (fiddle and vocals) and George Paul (keyboards), though they frequently are joined by many other musicians (including Dan Sebring, Dave Wiesler, Ralph Gordon, Jubal Creech.) They write most of their own music, and play a variety of styles from traditional, swing and blues to klezmer and 70's.