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Thank You for 2015
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| Family Dance during the Lawrence, KS, tour stop
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Yes, we're still celebrating! The last of our weeklong Centennial community residencies (a.k.a., the Tour) wrapped up just before Thanksgiving, the new website has just launched, camp registration is open, and the Botkin lecture is coming up (see below). Our Centennial publication, The Playford Assembly, is in final editing, as is the new journal, CD+S Online -- both are poised to publish by the end of the year.
None of this would have been possible, financially or emotionally, without the support of friends like you -- your donations and membership, notes of encouragement, Centennial Expressions, Local Heroes and Camp stories, and your gifts of events already held and in the works, all raising the visibility of dance, music, and song in our lives. We are enriched as a community by your presence. We wish you a dance, music and song-filled-and peaceful-new year.
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Centennial Review
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|  We'll be putting together a slide show/report early next year that encapsulates what this past Centennial year has been like. If you have photos or video of what your group did to celebrate, hold on to it. We'll let you know soon how to submit it.
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2016 Camp Registration Now Open
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| Family Week at Ogontz 2015
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It's not yet the end of 2015 but we're accepting 2016 camp deposits. Preliminary program info is on our website
now, with full details posting by January 1. See below for week names, program chairs, and dates. (We have two new weeks this year!)
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Share Your Stories in the New "Hive Mind" Column
| |  Every group is eager for fresh ideas for particular challenges. What approaches and experiments have you tried? What has worked well...or not-so-well? Any surprises? What did you learn? Our collective Hive Mind includes many inventive and thoughtful people-let's share the best insights in our new newsletter column, coordinated by caller and organizer Scott Higgs. Visit CDSS Hive Mind to share your story (200 word limit). Our first topic is "Attracting New Participants." We know there are lots of creative minds working on this challenge and hope to see lots of stories.
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Outreach Grant Deadlines
| | Application deadlines for 2016 are February 1, June 1 and October 1. Questions about grants? Contact Linda Henry, 413-203-5467 x 105. You can read a list of recent CDSS outreach grants here or find more information about funding here.
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Amazon and CDSS Smile
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Did you know that CDSS can receive donations from amazon.com? Go to AmazonSmile where you'll be prompted to select a charitable organization. (Be sure to select Country Dance and Song Society in Easthampton, MA.) For eligible purchases, the Amazon Smile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to CDSS. Thanks!
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Redesigned Website
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We've redesigned the website with a cleaner design, easier navigation, an improved how-to section, additions to the online library, and much more. You also can visit/add to community features on our Centennial site (Local Heroes, Camp Stories, Centennial Expressions, etc.).
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Crowd Source the Dance Map
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 Is your dance series on our Dance Map? (Go to the options button for instructions.) Our thanks to Jacob LeGrone for developing the map. Help us fill it up with dances!
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Local Heroes - You Have a Map, Too!
| |  The Local Heroes Map is up. We think that an appropriate way to celebrate the holidays in CDSS-land is to herald our Local Heroes-people who quietly make things happen for everyone else: who put out the song books, sweep the floor, create a potluck, and accomplish a million other tasks which make dancing, singing, and music-making so easy for the rest of us. See the community "thank yous" so far to Local Heroes all over the continent. Be inspired to recognize someone in your own community and share a story! We'll be accepting submissions through the end of the year.
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Are You a Bilingual Caller?
| | CDSS is developing a list of bilingual callers (Spanish/English and French/English). Let us know if you call contras, squares or English country dance, teach morris and sword dances, or lead songs in these languages. Send replies to Rima Dael, CDSS Executive Director.
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Free Ringtones!
| |  Show the world how much you love English and contra dance and song! Download a ringtone
from our store website!
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Annual Board Meeting Minutes Now Posted
| | The 2015 CDSS Governing Board minutes are now posted on our website.
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Lifetime Contribution Awards 2015
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The LCA parties in October, for Warren Argo and Brad Foster, respectively, were wonderful. Our thanks to Thelma Leuba et al. for hosting the former, and to Deborah and Tom Kruskal et al. for hosting Brad's. If you took photos or videos of either,
please forward them, or links to them, to [email protected]
so we can post them on our website. Thanks.
The recipient for the 2016 award will be announced early next year. See the articles about the 2015 recipients here.
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The Playford Assembly: Botkin Folklife Lecture
| |  Mark your calendars! On January 30, 2016, our colleague Graham Christian will talk about his book, The Playford Assembly, at the Library of Congress. (The book will be published by CDSS at the end of this year.) We're very proud that Graham and our book will be part of this distinguished series of lectures, which honors Benjamin A. Botkin, a pioneering folklorist who headed the LOC's Archive of American Folksong from 1942-1945.
The Playford Assembly is a collection of English country dances that have their origins in the 17th through early 19th century and is a successor volume to The Playford Ball (1990, CDSS). Like that collection, the new book reflects the pioneering work of Cecil Sharp and the generations of dance leaders and interpreters who have worked in his tradition since the 1910s. In the 25 years since The Playford Ball was published, interest in older dances has blossomed, resulting in a steady stream of new interpretations, rediscoveries, lucky finds, and revivals, and this is the basis for the new collection. More details about the location and time of the lecture will be available on our Facebook page later.
~ Pat MacPherson, CDSS Education Dept. Director
Illustration: Dottator et Lineator Loquitur. John B. Papworth (1775-1847). From Ackermann's Repository of Arts, 1817.
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Worldwide Morris Bell Shortage Threatened!
| |  So, this may be more of interest to the morris sides, but we have been in the midst of a morris bell shortage. It started over a year ago when the manufacturer of our bells could not fulfill our order. The company was then bought out and nobody there seemed to want to make our bells. They had other sizes, and other colors, but not what we needed. There were repeated emails and phone calls but to no avail. In the meantime, our supply of bells ran dangerously low, then dried up altogether. Things were looking grim.
This past fall, a member of a morris side mentioned that they had been able to find similar bells from Native American dancers. This lead was pursued, and it led to a wholesaler in Texas (who did not want to tell us where he got them, but we are clever), and to a manufacturer in Germany.
About this time, we also sent an email to our usual supplier's parent company appealing to their pride in English cultural heritage, and reminding them that as the only English manufacturer of morris bells, the future of morris dancing, and indeed English cultural heritage throughout the world, was depending on them. If it had been late winter, we would have reminded then that if there was no morris dancing on May Day, spring would not be coming, but we don't have that kind of leverage in the fall.
In any case, I am writing this in November, and by the time the newsletter comes out we will hopefully be rolling in bells, and this crisis will have been averted. I don't know how it is going to happen, but I wanted to let you know we are doing all we can to alleviate this serious crisis.
~ Jeff Martell, CDSS Store Manager
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Centennial Expressions
| |  Have you danced, played or sung some of the dances, tunes and songs created for our Centennial? They can be found at Centennial Expressions and you're welcome to add to them! Our thanks to these expressive friends):
Mary Alice Amidon, Bird's Eye View (song)
Philippe Callens, The Centennial (ECD)
Jonathan Jensen, Spread the Joy (song)
Rick Mohr, Centennial Reel (contra)
Gary Roodman, Double Jubilee (ECD), with tune by Dave Wiesler
Dave Wiesler, At the CDSS (song)
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Technology Update
| | While we're still experiencing some quirks with our online store, the system is improving!
If you had an account on the previous store site, it's still there, but you need to change your password for security reasons. Under LOG IN (top green bar), put your email address in the space under "Returning Customers" and then click the "Forgotten Password" link to reset your password. If you run into difficulty with your account, or you're having trouble ordering, joining/renewing, donating, or registering for camp, call us at 413-203-5467 (press 0, when prompted) and we'll help you, Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm, Eastern Time, or call you back as soon as possible. You also may use the new Trouble Ticket system by sending an email.
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Two New Camp Programs in 2016
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The Revels Village is an additional CDSS family program at Ogontz Camp in Lyman, NH, July 24-31. All the things you love about our family weeks will be there, with a twist-the activities, crafts, and skills that we participate in will be combined in a fully-staged Revels community event at the end of the week. Paddy Swanson is Program Chair. The week is a collaboration between CDSS, Revels Inc., and Revels North.
Dance, Music & Spice is an English and American program, with its own twist: Great Lakes beach ecology (nature), active outdoor camp activities (e.g., kayaking, tree climbing, and birding), gourmet cooking, games, and folk art activities such as quilting, photography, and possibly puppetry, weaving, or felting, will be held at Camp Cavell, on Lake Huron, in Lexington, MI, August 14-21, 2016 (Sunday-Sunday). Carol Ormand is Program Director. A special thank you is due to our Midwest friends who are helping to create this new week.
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2016 Camp Schedule
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PINEWOODS CAMP, Plymouth, MA (Sat.-Sat.)
Family Week, July 16-23 (Sam Bartlett & Abby Ladin, program chairs)
OGONTZ CAMP, Lyman, NH (Sun.-Sun.)
Family Week, July 31-Aug 7 (Bettie & Steve Zakon-Anderson)
TIMBER RIDGE, High View, WV (Sun.-Sun.)
CAMP CAVELL, LEXINGTON, MI (Sun.-Sun.)
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In the CDSS News, Winter 2015-2016
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The Winter issue is now posted online; the printed version for members will arrive by snailmail soon. Articles include:
- News from Canada-Chehalis Contra Dance Weekend, by Sally Sheedy and Jane Srivastava
- Proactive Management of "Problem Dancers" - Creating a Dance Environment Safe for All, by Will Loving
- What's Your Pronoun?, by Miriam Newman;
- What I Did Last Summer-A 24 Year Old's First Time at Sleep-Away Camp!, by Alexandra Deis-Lauby
- Yoga for Dancers-Yes, Virginia, More Hip Openers..., by Anna Rain
- The Ballet and the Country Dance, by May Gadd
- CDSS Sings-In Accents Clear?, by Deborah Robins and Larry Hanks
- The Centennial, another great anniversary dance, by Philippe Callens with tune by Jonathan Jensen
Web extras for this issue include: Deborah and Larry singing, video of Philippe's dance, videos from Chehalis, and a clip from the ballet "Rodeo" (Agnes De Mille consulted with May Gadd on that). Cover photos are by Ryan Carollo and Byron Wiley. And don't forget to read the Letters and Announcements and the Store Update.
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Stay in Touch Online
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 Facebook - news about the organization, other organizations, whatever comes into our heads. |
Join CDSS Today!
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 Whether you are a traditional contra, techno contra, square or English dancer; practice morris, rapper, longsword or garland traditions; perform traditional or early music and song - you belong in the CDSS network! Your membership ensures that CDSS can continue to support, advocate, educate, connect and sustain the dance and music traditions that we cherish for ourselves and for our families for the next hundred years. Read more about membership or sign up or renew today!
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Contributors to this issue include: Caroline Batson, Christine Dadmun, Robin Hayden, Linda Henry, Jeff Martell, Pat MacPherson, and Lynn Nichols. Photos by Byron Wiley, Denise Smith, Marty Stock, courtesy Thelma Leuba, courtesy Revels Inc., Judy Greenhill; CDSS Centennial logo by Ethan Hazzard-Watkins.
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