Schedule

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Classes

Contras and Squares

Mindbending Contras (and more) – Cis Hinkle

Music by: Rodney Miller, Emily Troll, Max Newman: For those who want a little more spice in their dancing experience, we’ll explore some tricky moves, unexpected twists, and challenging timing in a variety of dance formations.

New Language of Contras – Lisa Greenleaf

Music by: Rodney Miller, Sam Bartlett, Max Newman, Stuart Kenney: There’s a new and exciting landscape of contra dancing, with cool figures as well as thoughtful options for role terminology. We will do lots of exploring and stylish dancing, all the while enjoying the motivating groove of The Stringrays.

Traditional Squares from Mid-Century to the New Millennium – Cis Hinkle

Music by: Sam Bartlett, Julie Metcalf, Stuart Kenney: In the 1950s, just before rock 'n' roll, square dancing swept the country. Creativity and innovation were all the rage, and new takes on the simple square dance form were invented every day. That inventive spirit is still alive and well among "traditional" square dance composers of today. Come enjoy some fresh ideas from a bygone age, as well as contemporary spins on this traditional form.

More dancing

Whirled Dance – Tom Roby

Music by: Aaron Marcus, Tim Ball, Emily Troll: Fabulous dances from around the world, primarily couple, with a focus on interesting patterns and improvisatory possibilities. We'll include dances that show up occasionally at contradances or at Mostly Waltz sessions, and provide general tips for better dancing.

Waltz Secrets – Tom Roby

Music by: Aaron Marcus, Julie Metcalf, Tim Ball: Wend your way through the wealth of waltz possibilities, while elevating your dancing with technique and partnering skills.

English Country Gems – Tom Roby

Music by: Aaron Marcus, Tim Ball, Emily Troll: Sample the best of contra's elegant ancestor, English Country Dancing. We'll enjoy dances ranging from zesty to lyrical, historical to modern, all to breathtakingly beautiful music. No English experience necessary!

Flatfooting (Beginner/Intermediate) – Aaron Marcus

Music by: Julie Metcalf: Flatfoot, buckdance, and Appalachian clog are different names for some of the percussive dance traditions that originated in the southern Appalachians to the music of banjos, fiddles and mountain dulcimers. Students will learn the elements of flatfoot dance not only as dancers, but as musicians, serving as a critical link between the dance and music. We will work on improvisation skills and create routines, and in the process we will learn how this dance relates to percussive dance styles in Quebec, Scotland, Ireland, and England. Bring a pair of leather-soled shoes if you have them (vintage clothing stores are a great place to find such shoes).

Music

Zen of Contradance Fiddling – Rodney Miller

This class is all about finding the flow of techniques and tunes, and is suitable for intermediate to advanced level of fiddling. Beginners are welcome to sit in and meditate.

Red Case Tunes – Stuart Kenney

An innovative, all inclusive music workshop featuring Stuart's original music compositions. We will integrate tunes, spoken word, rhythms and groove into a frenzy of heartfelt music. Bring instruments (any level), voices, and percussion. Come experience how tone and movement weave a groove for the human soul.

Jam Time with Julie – Julie Metcalf

Join us to learn some new tunes and wail away on old favorites: Northern, old-time, waltz time and everything in between! We'll enjoy the magic of playing music together. All levels and all instruments welcome. Let's party!

Singing

Harmony Singing – Jeremy Carter-Gordon

Let's dive into harmony, both the familiar and the less-so. Everything will be taught by ear, but for those who like little dots, some songs will have music as well. Come and explore all the ways we can sing together!

Songs of Social Struggle – Jeremy Carter-Gordon

We will look at the past 400 years of songs from working class movements for peoples' rights in the U.S. and U.K., and sing them for today. From the Diggers movement in 17th century England, to striking Kentucky coal miners in the 1930s, from The Peoples Charter and disenfranchisement in the UK 150 years ago, to women working in the textile mills marching against greedy bosses at the turn of the 20th century, these songs still hold a powerful message.

More

Make A Cranky – Sam Bartlett

Bartlett’s No-Talent Drawing Salon: We’ll focus as a group on drawing a Cranky Show (a moving visual story, illustrated on a long piece of paper, and then cranked by hand between two spindles), but people can also make their own mini crankies and there will be supplies for everyone to go crazy with drawing! Drawing tips provided by Mr. Bartlett, but free to be ignored by you!

Movement Improvement with Tai Chi – Cis Hinkle

Tai Chi, the ancient Chinese meditative martial art, is sometimes called “swimming in the air.” Come learn how to use of some of these gentle and powerful movements to enhance your dance experience with more flexibility, strength, balance, and flow. You’ll feel better at the end of class than when you came in, guaranteed!

Staff

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Lisa Greenleaf

Lisa Greenleaf has been treating dancers across the country to her high spirited, witty calling for many years, and is known for precise walk-throughs of zesty and flowing dances. Whether she is presenting cool contras, hot squares, or focused callers' workshops, Lisa engages the crowd with her humor and community spirit.

STAFF

Tim Ball

Tim Ball is a versatile fiddler and guitarist who grew up in Watkins Glen and currently lives in Newfield, NY. A staple of the contra dance and Irish music scenes in western New York for the better part of a decade, Tim has toured widely with contra dance bands such as Tempest and Tunescape, and performs with well-known rennaisance festival bands Empty Hats and Cantiga. He holds a degree from Ithaca College in classical violin performance, and has also studied early music, jazz improvisation, Suzuki Pedagogy, and the Creative Ability Development method. Tim maintains a private violin and fiddle studio in Ithaca, NY, and teaches regularly at camps including the Kanack School of Music fiddle camp and the Ithaca Suzuki Institute.
http://timballviolin.com

Sam Bartlett

Sam Bartlett is an irrepressible mandolin, banjo and guitar player, known to dancers across the country for his fine musicianship and philosophy of stuntology. His original music has been profiled by NPR's All Things Considered and Sing Out! magazine declared him a member of “the rhythm players hall of fame.” The inventor and most distinguished practitioner of stuntology, Sam will amaze and delight us with his latest discoveries. Sam's community art projects bring the whole camp into the creative process. Mr. Bartlett has made large scale paper sculptures and puppets for more than 30 years, from the hills of West Virginia to the public school in Gustavus, Alaska.
www.sambartlett.com

Jeremy Carter-Gordon

Jeremy Carter-Gordon grew up singing and dancing at Pinewoods. He recently completed an MA in Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage, and currently studies at the Eric Sahlström Institute in Sweden. Jeremy sings with Windborne, a quartet that studies and performs polyphonic singing traditions from around the world. He is known for his banjo picking and powerful bass voice, along with a joyous enthusiasm for song and dance.

Cis Hinkle

Cis Hinkle has delighted contra and square dancers since 1985 with her skilled teaching, welcoming manner, playful enthusiasm and masterful selection of dances. She is in great demand at music and dance festivals all over the U.S., England and Denmark, and is currently coordinator for Dance Week at the Augusta Heritage Workshops in Elkins, WV. When not on the road, Cis teaches tai chi classes in her native Atlanta, GA.

Stuart Kenney

Stuart Kenney is one of the most popular upright bass and five-string banjo players on the U.S. contra dance and acoustic folk music circuit. His regional musical interests sweep from Southwest Louisiana to Acadia and back to New England. Stuart toured with the late cajun master fiddler Mr. Dewey Balfa. He is a founding member of many great bands including The JEMS, StringRays, Tidal Wave, The Sevens, Airdance, and he spent 14 years touring with the legendary contra dance band Wild Asparagus. After contributing to more than 50 studio recordings, in 2014 he released his highly acclaimed solo recording, Red Case, featuring his original compositions--hauntingly beautiful melodies and ancient rhythms. In addition, Stuart's innovative teaching style has been presented at Jay Ungar’s Fiddle and Dance, Maine Fiddle Camp, Port Townsend Fiddle Tunes, Pinewoods American Week, Bay Area CDS American Week (where he was Program Director for 2015 and 2016), and countless folk music and dance events around the country and overseas. Although Stuart's music has brought him coast to coast and beyond, his musical home is at the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield, MA, where he plays for and hosts the TopHill Music and Dance Series.

Aaron Marcus

Aaron Marcus is well-known throughout the country for his performances with Frost and Fire, Giant Robot Dance, and locally with The Turning Stile, and Keys to the Cellar. Aaron brings exuberant energy, danceability, subtle lyricism, and spontaneity to any band arrangement, whether an accompanist on piano or clogging while playing tunes on concertina. Aaron incorporates a variety of old and new styles into his playing and composing, including traditions of the British Isles, Sweden, New England contra dance, West Africa, classical piano, Cape Breton, and the Appalachians. His CD with Frost and Fire, Midwinter Spring, showcases a number of his original compositions. Aaron most loves to teach percussive step dance, and play for English, Scottish and contra dances locally in Central Vermont. When not dancing, Aaron works as an endangered-species botanist, and will happily tell you about all the cool plants of Pinewoods.

Julie Metcalf

Julie Metcalf, fiddler and violist, can often be spotted at contra and English dances in the Boston area, either on stage playing fiddle or on the dance floor. Coming from a family of musicians, she was encouraged to make music from an early age; Julie picked up the violin for the first time when she was 4 years old and has been playing ever since. Julie holds a degree in Violin Performance from Berklee College of Music, where she studied traditional and contemporary styles music. She has played Celtic chamber music with the Folk Arts Quartet and Mexican music with Boston's Mariachi Palenque. Julie currently performs with the Agnostic Fiddle Insurgency and The Gig Hunters. Julie is also an accomplished jawharp player. She plays jawharps from around the world, as well as other unusual instruments including the marxolin and mouth bow, in concert with Larry Unger.

Rodney Miller

Rodney Miller was designated a "Master Fiddler" in 1983 by the National Endowment for the Arts. He is widely considered to be the foremost exponent of New England style fiddling, a uniquely American blend of French Canadian and Celtic influences. Over the past 40 years, he has toured the U.S., British Isles, Australia and Denmark, performed and taught at hundreds of music and dance festivals, and recorded over ten fiddle albums. Rodney is currently playing in the contradance bands: Stringrays, Rhythm Raptors and Jigjazz.

In 1999, Rodney represented the state of New Hampshire, playing traditional fiddle music at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. He has also appeared on Garrison Keillor’s "A Prairie Home Companion," performed live with the Twyla Tharp Modern Dance Company at the debut of a modern dance choreographed by Ms. Tharp set to Rodney's fiddle music.
www.rodneymiller.net

* Max Newman

Guitar and mandolin player Max Newman has made a living as a practitioner of traditional music for the past decade and half. Dance music is his central focus, as well as the community that stems from it. In addition to making music, Max co-organizes several events, including Youth Dance Weekend, a camp dedicated to developing leadership among the next generation of contra and English participants. He also worked for CDSS as the Youth Projects Intern, leading workshops and developing materials for dance organizers, callers, and musicians.
www.maxnewman.com

Tom Roby

Tom Roby picked up folk dancing during undergraduate days at Swarthmore, and it turned into a lifelong addiction to a wide variety of dance styles. On the choreographed side, he has called English and contra dances and taught Balkan dances on both coasts and in the Midwest. On the improvisational side, he has taught regular classes in Hungarian dancing and waltz, including frequently at Mostly Waltz for Boston. He enjoys getting others moving to music as quickly as possible and helping them discover the invisible secrets of dancing well.
http://www.math.uconn.edu/~troby/folkd.html

Andy Shore

Andy Shore had been calling and teaching Modern Western Square Dancing (MWSD) since 1989. In 2005 Andy discovered the joys of Contra Dancing and, since attending the contra caller workshop at CDSS Pinewoods American Week in 2007, has been an avid Contra caller as well. Andy has taught hundreds of square dancers - from absolute beginners to Challenge level (C1) - and his knowledge of both squares and contras makes him uniquely capable of clearly and effectively relating new square dance moves to experienced contra dancers. Andy calls contras and modern squares regularly in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas of Northern California.
http://site.andyshore.com/

Emily Troll

Emily Troll plays fiddle and accordion and currently hails from Portland, ME. An avid lover of French-Canadian and Old-time traditions, she's spent many years at Pinewoods and Maine Fiddle camp honing her skills as informally as possible. You'll often see Emily playing with her all-girl band, Anadama. When she's not playing, she's probably dancing. When she's not dancing, she's probably teaching second grade, or taking a long walk on the beach.
www.anadama.bandcamp.com

* ADVISOR, PLUS

Steve Howe

Life at Camp

ABOUT PINEWOODS CAMP

CDSS has been at Pinewoods Camp since 1933. Located on 25 acres of woodlands near Plymouth, Massachusetts, it provides the setting for educational vacations filled with music and dance. Spacious, wooden outdoor dance pavilions are nestled among the towering pines. Cozy two-person cabins offer accommodations between two beautiful lakes, which are ideal for swimming, kayaking, canoeing and relaxing. The main pebbly beach has a long dock, with deep-water swimming to the anchored raft offshore. Scattered along the shores of the two lakes are other, more private, entries to the water. Gatherings, parties and concerts are held in the lakeside Camphouse, next to the main beach. The open-air, lakeside Dining Hall offers delicious meals and a congenial atmosphere for meeting new friends. With their large stone fireplaces, both the Dining Hall and the Camphouse provide a warm place to gather in cooler weather.

Plan your packing so that you can carry luggage to your cabin over narrow, sometimes uphill paths. There are carts available in the parking areas to help with loading or unloading.

Pinewoods is about a one hour drive from Boston, MA, and about five hours from New York, NY. It is accessible by train, bus and van service.

GETTING TO CDSS PROGRAMS AT PINEWOODS FROM BOSTON'S LOGAN AIRPORT!

It is easier than ever to get to CDSS programs at Pinewoods Camp from Boston's Logan Airport! Book a flight that arrives by 1p.m. and reserve a seat on the 2:00 van to camp – this is the earliest we will be ready to receive you. The van runs from Terminal A right to camp, where the greeters will help you unload at the place most convenient to your cabin. You can also reserve a seat for your 9:45 departure on the last day of camp, suitable for flights noon and later. Please reserve your van seats at least 1 week before you arrive. We cannot guarantee space for late reservations. Also, talk with us if your flight times are incompatible with these vans, we may be able to schedule additional vans at other times.

ARRIVAL TIME

The program begins with swimming and an informal tour of camp on the afternoon of the first day; followed by an orientation meeting and dance after dinner.

Arrival time is after 3:00pm on the starting Saturday. Departure is by 10:00am the final Saturday.

PACKING SUGGESTIONS

You will need to bring a flashlight to find your way around at night. A battery powered or wind up alarm clock and insect repellent may be useful. If you are on a special diet, you may need to bring your own particular food. An ice chest for drinks and snacks to share at after-dance parties may be handy. A specific packing list is sent with acceptance information.

Don't forget to pack your swimsuit, raincoat, sweater, towels, bed linen, and blankets or a sleeping bag. An extra blanket could be needed.

STORES

The nearest stores are a 15-30 minute drive away.

HOUSING

All participants are assigned on-site housing in the month before camp starts. Space is limited; we can't guarantee that all specific requests will be filled. Requests may be made on the Registration Form or with information sent later.

A cluster of cabins on the Hill
(photo by Bruce Holmes)Most housing is in double-occupancy cabins with bathrooms close by. There are some buildings with several single rooms, as well as a few houses with a variety of bedrooms and bathrooms. Double cabins tend to be quieter than singles or houses.

General housing categories at Pinewoods are:

• Quiet or party areas
• Double or single occupancy
• Double cabin
• Building with bathroom
• Specific area or building

For Family and Campers' Weeks, housing will be assigned based on the age of the youngest family member; most children over six are assigned a roommate in a cabin near their parents.

JOBS

In the cooperative spirit of camp life, all campers have a daily job to help camp run smoothly.

Jobs are usually a half hour or less per day, every day, and the same job all week. Jobs are assigned in the month before camp starts; you have the opportunity make specific requests about your job assignment either on the Registration Form or later with your Registration Status Form.

We can't guarantee that all specific job requests will be filled, but please let us know if you have a preference or limitation (e.g., dust allergy, unable to lift heavy objects, can't stay up late, can't get up for breakfast).

At family sessions parents are generally assigned a job with their young children.

General job categories are:

• Dining room: breakfast, lunch or dinner (set/clear tables)
• Kitchen (serve food, clear, wash dishes, make coffee/tea)
• Sweeping (pavilions, community areas)
• Party help (late night party setup/cleanup)
• Clerical (office, bookstore, auction)
• Greeters (must be able to arrive by 2:00pm)
• Gopher (campstore, auction, lifting)

PHONE & COMPUTERS

Though your plate will be full with activities while at camp, for those of you who must keep in contact with work or home, there are options. There is first class mail and UPS service. We do ask that laptops and cell phones be kept out of the awareness of other campers. Even if you can't, others want to enjoy this time away from the reminders of work-a-day living.

Fees

The fee for the week is $895

DEPOSITS AND PAYMENTS

Online payments can be made with Mastercard or VISA. We can only take the amount you approve, so balance payments need to be initiated by you.

Mailed-in registrations can be paid by Mastercard, VISA or by check, made payable to CDSS, in U.S. Funds. Mail to CDSS, 116 Pleasant St Suite 345, Easthampton, MA 01027

A deposit of $150/person/week, if not paying full amount, is needed with registration.

Full cost depends on the Week and, at family programs, the ages of children.

Full payment for sessions starting before August 1: due May 20

Full payment for sessions starting on or after August 1: due June 20

There is a fee of $25 on any late payment.

Deposits/payments are processed upon receipt. In the case of cancellation from the wait list or from a session, a refund will be issued as per our cancellation policy.

Registration can be completed online or Registration Form (pdf) may be mailed, hand-delivered, e-mailed or faxed to the CDSS office. Registration confirmation and status will be sent out after April 1. If you wish confirmation that we received your application, please send a stamped, self-addressed postcard or email us at camp@cdss.org.

Looking to pay your camp balance? You'll find the payment form here. 

SCHOLARSHIPS

We offer work scholarships to any camper in need, and named scholarships to practicing teachers, leaders and musicians. Please read about our scholarship programs before applying. Scholarship applications will be considered at the time of registration and should therefore accompany the Registration Form.

Donation in support of Scholarships are needed and gratefully accepted. If you are able to help another person benefit from our programs, you can do so by making a contribution along with your registration or at our online store. In addition, at each week of our summer camps, we hold auctions which raise money for future scholarships.

For Accepted Campers

If you have registered and been accepted, you should have received an email from Steve Howe that includes your Registration Status Form and an attached file titled Information for Accepted Campers. The email was sent to only one email address per registration. The body of the email is the Registration Status Form; please contact us with any specific updates and corrections to that form including your contact information, housing and job requests, your meal preferences, expected arrival time and emergency contact information. Here are link to several printable bits of important information.

Acceptance Information: This should have been attached to your Registration Status Form email.

If we do not yet have your signed Waiver, please do that now.

Getting Ready: A page with some hints on life at camp.

Packing List: Suggestions of things to bring

Public Transport: Directions to camp

Driving: Directions to camp

Special Diet information information, also available online: If you have dietary concerns, please see this form or online survey.

Car-pooling/Rides Information: Can you offer or do you need a ride to camp? CDSS offers Van Seats between Pinewoods and Boston's Logan Airport.

Class Questionnaire, also available online: Please let us know what classes you are likely to take

Printable page of class descriptions