Dance, Music, & Song Camps“Fabulous music and dance in a magical setting.”
–Lorraine Graves
August 23-29, 2026 // Plymouth, MA
Renaissance, baroque, and medieval music for players and singers of all levels
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2026 info coming soon!
Program Description
Early Music Week offers joyful opportunities and challenges to players, singers and dancers of every level, from beginners to the highly experienced. As classes unfold through the week, we explore and discover the innovation and creativity that lie behind some of the world’s most vibrant and compelling Renaissance, Baroque, and medieval music, listening and playing with deeper understanding, as well as dancing together and enjoying all that Pinewoods has to offer.
Instrumentalists may focus intensively on their primary instruments, play or sing with others in mixed ensembles, and find time to explore something completely new. Singers can delve into early music repertoire in small groups, sing in a chorus and/or collegium, and try an introductory instrumental class. Everyone is invited to enjoy English country dancing, with instruction during the day for all levels. This elegant, low-impact, fun, and welcoming style of participatory dance is the highlight of every evening. Dances are led by expert callers with music played by an elegant live band. All are warmly encouraged to participate.
Schedule
Arrival and Departure
Sunday Arrival Schedule:
| 3:00 p.m. | The earliest you can start arriving at camp |
| 4:30-6:00 | Welcome party / lifeguard on duty for swimming |
| 6:00 | Tour of camp starting from the Camp House |
| 6:30 | Dinner |
| 7:45 | Orientation gathering |
| 8:15 | Opening night dance and party |
Saturday Departure Schedule:
| 7:45-8:15 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 10:00 a.m. | Final departure |
Draft Daily Schedule
| 7:45 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 8:15 | Stretches and vocal warm-ups |
| 9:00-10:15 | Period 1 |
| 10:45-11:45 | Period 2: English country dancing by level |
| 12:30 p.m. | Lunch |
| 2:00-3:00 | Period 3 |
| 3:20-4:20 | Period 4 |
| 4:30-5:00 | Tea time |
| 5:00-6:30 | Side-by-sides / free time |
| 6:30 | Dinner |
| 7:45 | Evening events (lectures, concerts) |
| 8:15-9:45 | Evening dance |
| 9:45 onward | Special events and after-dance activities |
Class Descriptions
2026 info coming soon!
Dance Terminology
| English country dance | TBD |
CDSS camps use a variety of calling terms, including gendered and non-gendered role terms, as well as positional language, at the discretion of each week’s Program Director. Read more about CDSS and dance calling language here.
Registration and Fees
Camp fees cover all accommodation, meals from dinner on the arrival day to breakfast on the departure day, and all of the various dance, music, and song events in the program.
This year, all of our weeks have sliding scale pricing for adults to help make camp financially accessible to more people. The fee you choose will not affect your chance of getting into camp.
How it works:
- The standard camper fee covers program staff pay and travel costs, facility fees, and all of the other costs associated with running this camp week.
- The higher price options allow you to add an additional amount to your registration fee to help make camp more accessible to more people. Thanks for supporting this community!
- If the standard camper fee doesn’t work for you, no worries! Feel free to choose one of the lower price options.
- If the lower price tiers still leave camp out of reach for you, we encourage you to apply for a scholarship and/or work exchange. See our Scholarships page for more details
| Standard Fee (2025) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $850 | $1,000 | $1,175 | $1,300 | $1,400 | $1,500 |
You can find more information about the registration process here.
Staff
