Advanced English Dance Leaders Course

August 17-23, 2026 // Schwenksville, PA

Beyond Calling—Teaching ECD Technique & Style

During Cascade of Music & Dance at Kweebec with Joanna Reiner Wilkinson!

Program Description

As an English dance caller, you have the rare privilege and opportunity to not only influence what dances get done, but how people move and learn those dances. But in a social dance setting, callers rarely take the time or feel they have permission to teach dance technique and style. While this still leads to fine evenings of English dance, there’s so much more to the concept of dancing well and encouraging dancers to master the skills it takes to become an experienced or advanced dancer.

This course is for callers who want to incorporate dance style and technique into their social dance teaching and develop workshop topics based on how to dance: how dancers should move, hold their bodies, dance to the music, and remember dance instructions to overall improve their whole dance experience.

Course topics will include, but not be limited to:

Defining, practicing, and teaching English dance movement, techniques, and style
Identifying what to say, how to say it, and what not to say when you teach
Teaching to a variety of dancer learning styles
Encouraging dancers to learn and remember technique and choreography
Choosing repertoire that supports teaching dance style and skills
Connecting the music and the dance

Designed to encourage self-reflection, this course will include critique and the opportunity to support and be supported by a cohort of callers and musicians. Callers should sign up for this class with a genuine desire to learn new things, take risks in a supported environment, and try different ways of teaching and calling.

Course Details and Participation Requirements

There is a limit of 12 participants. This course is geared toward callers with at least three years of monthly or weekly English dancing experience and at least one year of English calling experience.

All applicants must complete a pre-admission questionnaire to be considered; see questions below. The course instructor and CDSS will review responses and select attendees.

Pre-Camp Work

Accepted attendees will be invited to meet with Joanna online before camp to discuss how the course will integrate with the musicians intensive and general camp program.

At-Camp Work

The class will meet for 2 periods each day. In the morning, we will review the daily homework assignment, discuss and practice various aspects of the course topic (yes, you will be dancing!), do small group exercises, and more. In the afternoon, we will team up with the English Dance Musicians Master Class, and each participant will have the opportunity to practice the techniques learned in the morning at the daily ECD session open to all campers.

Course Leader

Joanna Reiner Wilkinson

Registration and Fees

If you apply by March 8, you’ll be notified about your acceptance status around March 10. Applications received after March 8 will be reviewed on a rolling basis. If you are accepted to the course, you will also be accepted to its host session. The fee below covers both the course and the host session.

If the course is oversubscribed on March 8, there will be a lottery for admission, with some preference given to CDSS Members and applicants supported by their local community through priority admission nominations and/or matching scholarships. A CDSS Affiliate can vouch for a participant by nominating them for priority admission and/or offering funds for a matching scholarship. This kind of community support lets us know that the applicant would benefit the local community by attending the course! Matching scholarship funds are reserved for those with financial need.

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