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Celebrating CDSS's Year of Song!
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Dance and Sing Your Brains Out This Summer!
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Click image for slide show
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Planning on lazing around your backyard this summer? Staycations are good-summer camp is even better! Come join friends and colleagues for a week-or two-learn, rediscover or continue to delight in our old and new dance, music and song traditions at our residential weeks for adults and for families in MA, MI, NH and WV or flip through the flipbook and see what takes your fancy. Roster of weeks. Register. Scholarships.
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CDSS Online Journal Debuts
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| The modern reboot of our scholarly journal, Country Dance and Song - now called CD+S Online - debuted in May. We've reengaged with original research and scholarly analysis and writing, and enriched with links to other articles, videos and audio recordings. Sit down, put your feet up and have a thought-provoking read. Archives of CD&S (1968 to 1996) and its predecessor, The Country Dancer (1940-1966) also are on the site, as are guidelines for submitting future articles to editor Allison Thompson.
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Pourparler
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CDSS is a longtime supporter of Pourparler, the annual gathering for teachers of traditional dance and music in schools and communities. This year the event will be September 22-25, 2016 in Eugene, OR. Come share, dance, discuss and network! (CDSS members get a discount.)
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American Traditional Song Symposium
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Presenting the rich and varied voice of American life, history and culture during CDSS's Year of Song
 Save the Date! Friday-Saturday
November 18-19, 2016
University of Massachusetts
Boston Harbor Campus
Boston, MA
Friday evening, November 18:
Jeff Warner and Alex Cumming in Concert
Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm, November 19:
Ballads and blues, work songs, spirituals, shape-note singing, contra dancing-vital and evolving music, and the roots music that gives it strength. Come join singers, scholars and songwriters for a day of concerts, forums, participatory workshops, dancing, jam sessions and song circles. Featured performers/presenters will include Scott Ainslie, Rev. Robert Jones, Hannah Naiman, Jesse P. Karlsberg, Bennett Konesni and Edith Gawlor, Pam Weeks and Bill Olson, and Elijah Wald.
Saturday evening, November 19:
Gospel and Blues Concert
Contact: WUMB-FM, 617-287-6900, wumb@umb.edu. More details on the CDSS website soon.
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CDSS Receives Major Gift
| | As announced earlier this spring, the Sage Foundation in Washington State has awarded CDSS an unrestricted grant of $1,000,000 to continue our programs, services and advocacy on behalf of traditional dance, music and song traditions. Support, from you and hundreds of friends like you, to our Spread the Joy Centennial Campaign was crucial in demonstrating to the Sage that CDSS is an organization worth supporting.
The gift will allow us to fully pursue the goals of the campaign. It will fund ongoing Education and Outreach programs and North American Community Residencies, and allow us to invest in long overdue technology and infrastructure upgrades. And perhaps most significantly, as the five-year pledge is fulfilled, it will allow us to build a substantial operational reserve. You'll be hearing more from us in the coming months about the impact of the campaign and our plans for the future. For more information, see http://www.cdss.org/sage-foundation-gift. We are very grateful to the Sage Foundation.
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Morris Bells!
| |  Our new morris bells from England are now cheerfully residing in our Store and storeroom, waiting for their new homes. We've shipped out over 2800 bells since April 1. Order yours today and let the dancing continue!
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Year of Song/Song of the Month
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|  Have you listened to the monthly songs, posted on our website circa second Tuesdays? This spring we shared "The Bonnie Blue-Eyed Lassie," a classic traditional Irish love song; "Spring," a 19th-century shape-note hymn; and "Dancing at Whitsun," a morris song with modern lyrics set to a traditional tune. June's selection is "The Press Gang," a "Forebitter" or Fo'c'sle song, introduced and sung by Chris Koldewey. Lyrics and tune notation are published with each song.
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Board Nominations (deadline June 30)
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CDSS Board Meeting
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The CDSS Governing Board will have positions to be filled next year and would really appreciate your nomination suggestions. Think about yourself and the people you know in your community and beyond. We're always looking for great people who have the appropriate mix of skills, experience, time, energy, teamwork style and have a passion for traditional dance music and song. Skills that are always needed are fundraising, accounting/financial expertise or business acumen, or other board experience. There are also opportunities to serve CDSS on committees and task groups as community members.
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CDSS News, summer 2016
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Doug Plummer
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The Summer issue is now posted online; the printed version for members will arrive by snail mail soon. Contents include:
Web extras for this issue include photos by Sheila Moran ("What Women Wore") and Doug Plummer ("Long Bouts," "The Exec Visits"), tunes played by the Dancehall Players ("The Exec Visits"), and several multimedia citations ("CDSS Sings").
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Short Notes and Reminders
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Pinewoods Seeks Executive Director
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Pinewoods Camp, Inc., seeks an experienced Executive Director. PCI preserves, operates and maintains Pinewoods Camp and its woodland environment for the use and benefit of traditional music, dance, and song communities. Pinewoods Camp is a rustic, seasonal, arts and education retreat for adults and families located near Plymouth, MA. Campers and programs are provided by outside program providers. Pinewoods Camp Inc. is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and staffing of the facility. The Executive Director's responsibilities include management of camp operations, long term facilities planning and maintenance , financial planning, environmental stewardship of the grounds, and cultivation of relationships with program provider leadership and the extended community of camp supporters. The Executive Director maintains relationships with a large number of stakeholders, including historic and new program providers, attendees at sessions (some of whom have decades of history with camp), volunteers who work as unpaid summer staff or attend work weekends to open and close camp, neighbors who share the ponds, and various individuals who have unique and ongoing relationships with camp. The Executive Director is the only fulltime year-round employee of Pinewoods Camp, Inc. and reports to the Board of Directors. Salary commensurate with experience. Benefits package subject to negotiation. For more information about the requirements of this position and to apply refer to the job posting at http://www.pinewoods.org/jobs/executive-director-position/. Application deadline is July 1, 2016. |
Contributors to this issue include: Caroline Batson, Linda Henry, Lynn Nichols, Pam Paulson, Sarah Pilzer and Doug Plummer.
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