Immersive camp experiences play a special role in sustaining local dance, music, and song communities. People who come to camp return home with new skills, energy, and inspiration to enrich their local scene. At CDSS, we are committed to making our camps more accessible to more people by addressing structural, financial, and geographical barriers to participation.

Over the past few years, we’ve awarded scholarship assistance to hundreds of campers. We worked with CDSS Affiliates to provide special matching scholarships to campers sent by their home communities. And we've embraced a sliding scale fee structure for all adults, providing even more lower cost options for campers.

But we're not done yet! Over the next two years, we'll incorporate a number of exciting changes and additions to our regular lineup of camp sessions. From shorter, more affordable options (including a new mini-session at Pinewoods) to a beautiful new-to-CDSS location in the Pacific Northwest, there’ll be more to experience and explore!  

We’ll run this plan for at least 2026 and 2027. Our vision for the new mini-session is that it will be flexible, with a different theme each year.

Right now, we are not planning any significant adjustments to our other sessions. (Save the dates for Dance, Music & Spice (June 13-20, 2026); Family Week at Agassiz Village (August 8-14, 2026); and Cascade of Music & Dance (August 17-23, 2026)!)

Starting in 2027, CDSS will take over the long-standing Lady of the Lake June Music and Dance Week in Harrison, ID. The Lady of the Lake board invited us to assume responsibility for June Week to ensure that the beautiful and successful camp they created continues far into the future.

This is a huge honor and historic opportunity for CDSS. June Week has a strong and thriving community of campers. The facility, Camp N-Sid-Sen, is located on the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene in the panhandle of Idaho. Camp N-Sid-Sen is a stunningly beautiful location that has been developed and nurtured over the years by the Spokane dance community and is excited to continue hosting music and dance programming.

Over the next few years, we will continue working with Lady of the Lake to facilitate a thorough transfer of knowledge, give us time to integrate the new program and facility into our camp offerings, and ensure that we truly get to know and understand what makes June Week thrive.

We hope to see you at camp this summer! And then at one or more of these wonderful sessions in the coming years! If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to katy@cdss.org. 

Have a great summer!

Katy German, Executive Director

Whitney Rowlett, Director of Programs

Sarah Babbitt Spaeth, Camp Programs Manager

Photos (top to bottom) by Penn Fix, Ben Schreiber, Katy German, Penn Fix, courtesy of Lady of the Lake, and Laurel Sharp.