Dance, Music, & Song Camps“We started by bringing our children; now, our teens bring us.”
–Tom Cole
August 14-20, 2023
For Adults & Families
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Program Description
Bring your whole family to Cascade of Music & Dance at Camp Louise, located in the state of euphoria, for a week of audacious joymongering. Get into a state of flow, making connections with family and friends old and new for dancing, music, and antics of all sorts.
At Cascade, you’ll find activities for people of all ages led by talented, caring instructors. In addition to contras, squares, ritual dance, and English country dance, you will have the opportunity to experience the traditional dances and music of Ireland and Scotland as well as singing and playing old-time American music. Swimming, nature walks, and art fill out the schedule.
Twice a day campers get the opportunity to come together in a camp gathering to sing, dance, and enjoy entertainment by our talented staff and campers. And as always, our days end with a dance party and late night activities as roving monitors check on little ones asleep in their cabins.
Come and join in the fun at camp and bring traditions home to share!
~Eric Schedler, Program Director
Class Descriptions
Period 1
Smalls: Music – Meg Dedolph
Come swish your squirrel tail, sneak up on a sleeping bear and sing other favorites, old and new, in this morning class just for the youngest campers. We’ll play rhythm instruments and enjoy stories and poems together.
Middles: Garland Dancing – Kappy Laning
Garland dancing is an English tradition that dates back to the 1600’s Garlands have been symbols of wishes for good luck and prosperity especially in the Spring season. It is accessible form for all ages dancing as a team. We will also have creative time in class for each person to make a head piece.
Talls: Social Dance – Rick Mohr and Chloe Mohr with Brian Lindsay
Focus on fun as we learn grown-up social dance skills in the safety of our same-age cohort.
Ages 13 & up: Music-making with Your Feet – Matt Olwell
In this class we will learn fundamentals from tap dance, flatfooting, clogging, and other percussive dance forms with an emphasis on improvisation and musicality. We will examine different historical and cultural contexts of traditional/vernacular percussive dances and investigate what it means to be a dancer who thinks like a musician and a musician who thinks like a dancer. We will explore ways to move and connect more satisfyingly to different kinds of music, and learn how to employ percussive dance vocabulary as a means of communication.
Ages 13 & up: Full English Breakfast – Dan Blim with Dave Langford, Dave Wiesler, and Ben Schreiber
Full English Breakfast will feature a sampling of the best old and new English country dances
Period 2
Smalls: Music, dance, games and silliness! – Stefan Amidon
Come ready to play singing games, learn songs, hear and act out stories and dance. Be magically transformed into plants and animals! Make new friends, but keep the old!
Middles: Music & Dance – Meg Dedolph with Sophie Wellington
Start getting your groove on with playparty games, easy dances and fun songs and rhythm games. You’ll get a chance to explore some of your favorite singing games and learn some new ones with your friends.
Talls: Rapper Dance – Kappy Laning with Jonathan Whitall
Rapper sword dancing is an English tradition dating back to the late 1800’s when steel became flexible. 5-7 dancers are linked together and the dance is created by dancing the swords in interwoven patterns to jig stepping. (They are only called swords due to their length but are not swords in way you may be thinking.) Smooth soled shoes are recommended.
Teens: Partner Dance – Matt Olwell
In this class we will employ exercises, improv games, and class discussions to build a robust skill-set for partner dancing. We will explore different styles of music and focus on the quality of our physical relationship to that music. Recognizing that connection and communication with a partner and the other dancers on the floor can be both verbal and non-verbal, we will examine embodied techniques for leading, following, and sharing gravity and momentum with an emphasis on the improvisational and social nature of partnering. We’ll learn some basics of waltz, two-step, and swing, decouple “lead” and “follow” from their traditional gender roles, and explore how our expectations of these terms and roles are changing, giving dancers a space to express a richer tapestry of danced social modalities.
18 & up: Contras & Cousins – Rick Mohr with Eric Schedler, Dave Langford, and Owen Morrison
Top notch dances plus terrific music plus friends new and old equals a grand good time. We’ll dance the best contras, plus a daily standout square, triplet, mixer, or mystery. Groove and challenge, tips and humor, community and you!
18 & up: Singing for Dancing – Chloe Mohr
We’ll explore different traditions that have singing for the dancers including play party games, Molly Dancing, Scottish Gaelic step dancing, Lilting (Irish), and singing for waltzes, English, and contra dances! We’ll try out these different types of singing in unison and in pre-prepared harmonies, and you’ll also have the opportunity to explore your own harmonies. We’ll get the chance to do a few of these for real dancers throughout the week.
18 & up: English Dance Musicians Course – Dave Wiesler
By pre-registration only: English Dance Musicians Course
Period 3
Ages 10 & up: Morris Dance – Jim Morrison
Description coming soon!
Camper-led activities
Period 4
Ages 9 & up (under-9s with an adult helper): Community Art – Sarah Bluestein
This year in the community art class we will be making strange and beautiful cardboard and paper-maché sculptures and puppets for the big parade at the end of camp! We will also be working on a variety of other projects throughout the week. Additionally, everyone is invited to bring any visible mending/knitting/crocheting/embroidery/other projects that you’re working on to the community art space to hang out and craft together!
Ages 10 & up: Country Western Harmony Singing – Stefan Amidon
All levels welcome to this class, where we’ll learn some sweet songs for keeping your herd calm. We’ll sing a ballad or two from way out west, dip into some Western swing, sing cowboy harmonies and perhaps even yodel for our dogies.
Ages 13 & up: Irish Sets – Owen Morrison with Jonathan Whitall, Eric Schedler, and Brian Lindsay
No experience is needed to enjoy these energetic set dances from the Sliabh Luachra region of Ireland. We’ll start by learning the polka step that will be used throughout, and we’ll explore a repertoire of dances learned from the late Timmy McCarthy of Ballyvourney, Ireland. The class will do some of the same dances learned last year as well as some that are new to Cascade.
18 & up: English Dance Musicians Course – Dave Wiesler
By pre-registration only: English Dance Musicians Course
Period 5
Ages 9 & up (under 9, if passionate, with an adult): Mummers Play with Sophie Wellington and Sarah Bluestein
Come work with us this week to collaboratively create and perform a mummers play! Building on a historic tradition, we’ll write songs and dances, make costumes and props, and do whatever else comes to us during the week to share a tale of trial and triumph! No experience necessary and please bring any fun talents and creative ideas you can think of!
Ages 13 & up: Community Band – Eric Schedler
Learn some fun and easy tunes that we will play for all-ages dancing and while parading around camp!
Ages 13 & up: Putting it Together – Advanced ECD – Dan Blim with Jonathan Whitall, Ben Schreiber, and Dave Langford
An advanced class of English Country Dancing, focusing on the joys of timing, transitions, and complex choreographies that make each dance uniquely satisfying.
English Dance Musicians Course
Program Leader
Program Description
This course is about getting off the page for ECD music. We will focus on the two main components:
- Knowing what else to play. We will discuss and practice how to construct simple but compelling melodic variations, to play effective harmony lines, to provide musical support and contrast, and to vary the mood or feel with different rhythmic textures.
- Learning how to pay attention to the dancers, the caller, and your bandmates — all while you are playing. We will discuss and practice strategies for making space in your brain to listen, watch, respond, and execute your ideas on your instrument.
