Dance, Music, & Song Camps“You will have so much fun and gain a bigger family by the end of the week.”
–Kristen Planeaux
August 11-17, 2025 // Poland, ME
The week children take their families to
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Program Description
This Living Tradition
Once is a novelty, twice is a coincidence, third time is a tradition! It’s our third year of the Family Week community making Agassiz feel like home away from home, and we’re inviting you to come dance, sing, and play in the woods of Maine.
Kids and adults take separate classes in the morning, focusing on age-appropriate skill development and bonding with peers. Afternoons are all-comers sessions, where we build community and intergenerational connection. And all-camp gatherings are a chance for campers and staff to perform music, tell jokes and stories, and highlight what they’ve learned and built during camp.
In addition to music, ECD, morris, singing, contra, bal folk, longsword, waltz, stories, mummers’ play, and crafts, you’ll also have a chance to swim, hike, nap, jam, socialize, and after-party. We dance together as a community, then sing sequential waves of children off to bed, giving adults a chance to dance while monitors keep track of the dreamers.
Come recharge, reconnect, relax, and renew as we gather together to share joy and reinvigorate traditions and invent new ones. We’d love to see you there!
-Sophia and Luke Donforth, Program Directors
Schedule
Arrival & Departure
Monday Arrival Schedule:
| 3:00 p.m. | The earliest you can start arriving at camp |
| 4:30-5:30 | Welcome party |
| 5:30 | Tour of camp |
| 5:50 | Dinner |
| 7:10 | Community dance |
| 7:30 | Orientation gathering |
| 8:00 | Bedtime for 9 and under |
| 8:15-10:30 | Opening night dance |
| 9:15 | Bedtime for 10-12 |
| 10:45 | Opening night party |
| 12:30 a.m. | Bedtime for teens |
Sunday Departure Schedule:
| 7:45-8:15 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 10:00 a.m. | Final departure |
Draft Daily Schedule
| 7:45 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 9:00-10:00 | Class Period 1 |
| 10:15-11:15 | Class Period 2 |
| 11:20-11:50 | Gathering |
| 12:15 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:30-2:30 | Class Period 3 |
| 2:45-3:45 | Class Period 4 / swimming |
| 4:00-5:00 | Class Period 5 / swimming |
| 5:10-5:30 | Stories and shenanigans |
| 6:00 | Dinner |
| 7:00 | Evening gathering |
| 7:30 | Community dance |
| 8:00 | Bedtime for 9 and under |
| 8:15-10:30 | Evening dance |
| 9:15 | Bedtime for 10-12 |
| 10:45 onward | After-dance activities |
| 12:30 a.m. | Bedtime for teens |
Class Descriptions
Period 1
Ages 2-3: Stomp, Shout, Sing! with Cecily Mills
This class will focus on making music with our voices and bodies. Expect call and response style participation, songs with stories in them, and a chance to get your wiggles out. And perhaps an animal noise or two.
Ages 4-5: Rise, Shine, and Make Something Special! with DeLaura Padovan
We will gently wake up our minds and bodies each day with stretching, stories, and different kinds of art supplies to make fun projects. Bring your imaginations and be ready to create some wonderful stories and art!
Ages 6-7: Sing and Dance with Lily Leahy
In this class, six- and seven-year-olds will learn lots of silly songs, dances, and games. Each day will also feature a story, some of which we will get to act out! Bring your voices, dancing feet, and your giggles, and we’ll have a great time!
Ages 8-9: Music and Rhythm with Matthew Olwell
This class will explore ways to make rhythm and music with the voice, breath, hands, and feet. We will experiment with improvisation and musical “conversation,” pulling from different traditional idioms to create, play, and express.
Ages 10-12: Social Dance with Luke Donforth
Dancing is moving to music. Social dancing is moving to music with other people; and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We’ll explore a variety of different social dance forms, working in partners and groups for contra, English, polka, waltz, swing, and more.
Ages 13 & up: English Country Dance with Sue Rosen
We’ll explore the wide range of wonderful and accessible English country dances from the traditional barn dance to the treasured Playford repertoire and the more recent gems from both sides of the pond. With glorious music, we’ll have fun and dance beautifully.
Ages 13 & up: Morris Dance with Peter Kruskal
Learn, perfect, or play with the hanky and the stick at this morris class for all skill levels. Come with some comfortable sneakers and ready for some moderate athletic exertion. It’s a great way to wake yourself up in the morning! We will learn some traditional dances but will also explore some with dance creation and choreography, particularly for any experienced dancers who come.
Period 2
Ages 2-3: Paint and Play! with DeLaura Padovan
This class will give our youngest artists a chance to shine. Dress to get messy as we explore paints, Play-Doh, bubbles, and glue to make some beautiful art and have a lot of fun!
Ages 4-5: Singing and Dancing with Cecily Mills
This class will focus on combining song, dance, play, and collaboration. We will focus on music as a way to be creative, have fun, and be in community with one another. As the song goes, “the more we get together the happier we’ll be!”
Ages 6-7: Craft and Art with Sarah Nicholson
Come and explore the fun of paper folding and collage!
Ages 8-9: Longsword with Peter Kruskal
Longsword dancing is a rich and varied tradition celebrated in cultures throughout Europe. The “swords” are blunt long wooden props held at either end by dancers to form a connected ring. Dancers then weave these swords into patterns and displays to music. Please bring sneakers.
Ages 10-12: Morris Dancing with Dan Coppock
We’ll be getting up to some capers, dancing a Cotswold hankie dance or two. Strap your bells on!
Ages 13 & up: Second Cup Contras for All with Luke Donforth
The kids are off in their classes, you’ve had a little time to wake up. Come savor some contra dancing like a nice second cup of coffee (or tea) in the morning.
Ages 13 & up: Harmony Singing with Lily Leahy
Come sing and create harmonies! In this class we’ll learn several pieces in three and four parts. All levels are welcome; we’ll learn both from sheet music and by ear. Simply bring a love of singing and the magic will fall into place!
Period 3
Ages 8 & up (younger, if passionate, with an adult): Community Art with Sarah Nicholson
Create for the sake of joy! Come and play with a variety of materials and discover where your creative process will lead you. Paper, paints, and other inspirations will be provided for making paper beads, prayer flags, small books, collages, or creations of your choice.
Percussive Dance with Matthew Olwell
Embodied in tap dance and Appalachian flatfooting and clogging, percussive dance in the United States is a vibrant and complex web of traditions which spans hundreds of years and lies at the heart of our cultural history. Exploring the highly improvisational nature of these styles, this class will examine the places where the styles intersect and overlap. We will explore phrasing, musicality, and economy of motion to acquire a foundation of rudiments that cross multiple forms. We will also view visual media and discuss some of the complexities that the tangled history of these forms presents to us today. Great for students of any level (no previous experience necessary). Leather-soled shoes are recommended.
Group Sing with Helen Kuhar
Join Helen and friends for songs new and old, ranging from pub songs to sea shanties to songs about Midnight Pizza! If you love to sing or love to listen, this is the place for you. Bring your songs, yourself, and your voice for a welcoming afternoon session amongst friends.
Period 4
Ages 8 & up (younger, if passionate, with an adult): Family Band with Bruce Rosen and Cedar Stanistreet
Let’s learn some new tunes by ear: contra and English country dance tunes, waltzes, walking tunes, hambos, and more. Lots of repetition and a relaxed pace will provide a productive and enjoyable daily tune session. Melody and backup musicians at all skill levels are encouraged to participate.
Object Manipulation with Roger “the Jester” Reed
Controlled throwing and passing of objects. Always wanted to juggle? Success guaranteed!
Camper-led Activities
This one’s up to you! Each afternoon we’ll have time for something fun that campers want to share—go on a hike? Play board games? Write a song? Create a scavenger hunt? Dream it up, share your idea at morning gathering, and see who joins you to do it in the afternoon!
Period 5
Ages 8 & up (younger, if passionate, with an adult) Dance Sampler with Dave Wiesler, Rachel Bell, and Susan Kevra
Susan, Dave, and Rachel will play a variety of waltzes, couple dances, and bal folk dances for you to enjoy. Dance instruction will be available.
On bal folk days, come learn the basics or practice the skills you’ve already been building! Bal folk encompasses a big variety of French and European dances, ranging from meditative to energetic, with formations in lines, circles, spirals, and pairs.
Mummers’ Play with Paddy Swanson
Life, death, rebirth, terrible jokes, awful acting, simple songs, massive enthusiasm, and no pay. An annual treat for old and young. No experience or talent required.
Ages 13-17 (Teen Class): An exploration of the fabric arts with Cecily Mills
In this class, we’ll learn a variety of wearable crafts. There will be a mix of group instruction and self-guided crafting. Each day we’ll demonstrate a different skill to start the class and then split off to explore that skill more, or return to a previous day’s project.
Dance Terminology
| Contras and squares | Larks/Robins |
| English country dance | Positional and Larks/Robins |
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
Sliding Scale Adult Fees
| Standard Fee | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $850 | $1,000 | $1,175 | $1,300 | $1,400 | $1,500 |
Fees for kids
| Ages 0-1 | Ages 2-3 | Ages 4-6 | Ages 7-9 | Ages 10-12 | Ages 13-15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $75 | $350 | $600 | $675 | $800 | $1,000 |
You can find more information about the registration process here.
