Dance, Music, & Song Camps| Program | Lottery Deadline |
|---|---|
| all camp sessions | March 16 |
| all intensive courses | March 9 |
We use a lottery system for over-subscribed sessions to make camp admission as fair as possible. We know waiting to find out if you got in can be frustrating! We have a lottery date in early spring to give a little extra time to people who need to get approval for time off of work, arrange for camp funding, get access to our website or assistance with online registration, or even find out about CDSS camps for the first time.
All registrations received by March 16 will be pending until after the lottery.
- If the number of registrants for a camp session exceeds capacity, we will hold a lottery on March 17 to determine whether campers are accepted or on a waitlist.
- If you apply by the lottery deadline, you’ll be notified about your acceptance status around March 18.
The intensive course lottery is one week earlier than the regular camp lottery.
- If you apply to an intensive course by March 9, you’ll be notified about your acceptance status around March 11.
- If you are accepted to the course, you will also be accepted to its host session.
After the lottery dates:
- We process all registrations and applications as first come, first served.
- You can see the number of open spaces at each session here.
You’re welcome to register for any session with open spaces or join the waitlist for any sessions that are full.
- To join a waitlist, just register yourself for camp.
- You will be asked to pay a deposit, which will be refunded if space doesn’t become available or you choose to leave the waitlist.
Lottery Priorities
When weeks are oversubscribed by the lottery deadline, we categorize registrations by membership status:
- CDSS Members (all adults are members)
- Mixed members and non-members (some adults are members and some are not)
- Non-members (no adults are members)
Registrations are assigned a random order within their category. Acceptances start from the first category and continue in the order listed until all spaces are filled. Remaining registrations make up the waitlist in the assigned order. Being a member increases your lottery chances but does not guarantee admission.
Exceptions to the member priority and randomly assigned lottery numbers include:
- Up to eight spaces at any session are reserved for people nominated by CDSS Affiliates by the lottery deadline
- CDSS Governing Board and Committee members are guaranteed admission to their first choice session
- If you registered for the same camp session in the last two years (2023 and 2024), were waitlisted in both years, and did not attend that session either year:
- You will be guaranteed admission the next time you register for the same session within two years (2025 or 2026, but not both), as long as you register before the lottery date.
- This policy applies on an individual basis only.
- If you have other people on your registration who don’t qualify for guaranteed admission under this policy, they are subject to the camp lottery.