Chehalis Contra Dance Weekend

05/17/2026

Chehalis 2026 is excited to welcome Cis Hinkle as one of our callers this year!
Cis Hinkle has delighted dancers since 1985 with her skilled teaching, welcoming manner, playful enthusiasm, and masterful selection of dances.

A self-described ‘facilitator of fun’, she is in great demand at dance festivals all over the US, England, Denmark, and beyond. When not on the road, Cis teaches tai chi classes in her native Atlanta, Georgia. Here is a sample video of her calling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4IuHZF--AU

05/03/2026

Registration is open! Please take a look at our website: Chehalisdancecamp.com

04/17/2026

Dear Dancers,

The count down is on! Chehalis Dance Camp (October 23-25, 2026!) registration opens on May 1st! Please visit us at our website at chehalisdancecamp.com

TALENT
Bands
Stove Dragon: Four exceptional New England contra musicians join forces as Stove Dragon, the kindly dance-beast, breathing in notes and breathing out smouldering rhythms and flickering melodies, igniting dancers' feet and toasting listeners' ears. Stove Dragon includes Oliver Scanlon, Rose Jackson, Sam Zakon-Anderson and Silas Hamilton.
Raven & Goose: Raven & Goose are a nationally touring contra duo. With fiery fiddlin' and foot stompin' piano, they play original compositions and breathe new life into traditional tunes, all delivered with a passion that will get you up and dancing! Raven & Goose is Corwin Zekley and Grace Fellows.
Callers
Cis Hinkle from Atlanta, Georgia. Cis Hinkle has delighted dancers since 1985, with her skilled teaching, welcoming manner, playful enthusiasm, and masterful selection of dances.

Angela DeCarlis (they/them) from North-Central Florida. Ang finds a lot of joy in clear and careful teaching. Their often melodic calling style always responds to and resonates with the music.

VENUE

We are excited to return to Camp Elphinstone on the Sunshine Coast, which is a 40 minute scenic ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. There have been many upgrades to the camp since we were last there in 2010, and we look forward to hosting Chehalis Dance Camp on our new dates: October 23-25, 2026!

The main accommodation is in 3 lodges which each house 32 people with 4 people per room. There are 4 private washrooms with showers in each lodge.

There are also bunk-style winterized cabins for those who wish to save a little money. Washrooms are located in a separate central building.

If you wish to stay in your RV/camper you can park in the upper parking lot, however, there are no hook ups available. No tenting at this site.

The dining hall is in a uniquely shaped building with windows toward the lawn and Howe Sound.

The dance hall is a rustic building close to the water.

Visit our website for further details
Like us on Facebook to get late-breaking announcements about talent, schedules and more

01/30/2026

Our website just got updated! Please have a look at chehalisdancecamp.com

12/20/2025

We are excited to announce the confirmation of our second band for Chehalis Dance Camp 2026. "Four of New England’s finest contra musicians come together into a single kindly dance-beast: meet Stove Dragon, breathing in notes and breathing out smouldering rhythms and flickering melodies, igniting dancers’ feet and toasting listeners’ ears." Stove Dragon includes Oliver Scanlon (fiddle, mandolin, feet, vocals) Rose Jackson (fiddle, vocals) Sam Zakon-Anderson (keyboard) and Silas Hamilton (guitar). Add Chehalis 2026 to your calendar -October 23-25, 2026!!

11/20/2025

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!

We will be returning to Camp Elphinstone on the Sunshine Coast for Chehalis 2026!! Camp Luther was unavailable for September and October 2026, so we looked at several places and thought why not try Camp Elphinstone again!? They did not have our usual 3rd weekend in September available, but did have Oct 23-25 open. The camp has made some significant upgrades to their facilities since we were last there in 2010! You can visit their website here https://ymcaelphinstone.ca/ to have a look around.

We are extremely excited and grateful that our callers Cis Hinkle and Angela DeCarlis, one of our bands Raven & Goose as well as our sound man, Andy Smith, were able to rearrange their schedules for us! We have yet to confirm our second band, but are keeping our fingers and toes crossed!!

We will be adding more information to our Facebook page over the next few months and will be changing our website to reflect the new location. In the meantime, please add these dates (Oct 23-25, 2026) to your calendar!

Hope to see you at Chehalis 2026!

The Chehalis committee

Janet Rozanski
Cecelia Holcapek
Mona Reaume
Cindy Taylor

09/24/2025

09/24/2025

Here are just a few photos from our weekend 😀

09/09/2025

Another item almost off my list of things to do for Chehalis contra dance weekend!! We hope to see you there!!

09/02/2025

Dear Dancers,

There are just over two weeks to go before Joyride: A Contra Dance Band and The Free Raisins along with callers Jeremy Korr
and Koren Wake will join us for another Chehalis Dance Camp!! We are very excited about our talented bands and callers. Our line up of workshops is fantastic with plenty of dancing, singing and musician’s workshops. Here are just a few to help tickle your fancy:

Quirky Contras - Contras with unexpected twists. Jeremy

Shadow Swapping - Chaos-Free!
We’ll set ourselves up for intentional play among consenting sets of shadows, and discuss how and when to swap smoothly while respecting the integrity of the dance. Koren

Caller Nightmares & Resilience Strategies - Jeremy

Caller discussion - how do we plan a set of dances that will thrill the crowd? What makes a dance "easy" or "hard" to call or to dance, and what makes it fit (or not fit) into a given set? Koren

Supporting the Dancers - Free Raisins How to play in a way that supports the dancing.

Here are some photos from last year: https://www.facebook.com/JCsDancePhotography
Please visit our website https://chehalisdancecamp.com/index.html for more information. Click here to register https://chehalisdancecamp.com/registration.html
We would love to have you join us! And please pass along this information to friends who may wish to attend!!

08/06/2025

I can’t believe how quickly summer is going this year. There are only just over 6 weeks until Chehalis Dance Camp and we hope you can join us!

We have a wonderful line-up with:

Bands
Joyride: Portland, Oregon. George Penk on fiddle; Erik Weberg on flute, harmonica and bombarde; Sue Songer on piano and fiddle; and Jeff Kerssen-Griep on guitar and percussion.

The Free Raisins: Boston, San Diego, and Vermont. Audrey Knuth on fiddle, Jeff Kaufman on mandolin and feet, and Amy Englesberg on piano and accordion.

Callers
Jeremy Korr from Southern California (winter) and Eastern Massachusetts (summer) and Koren Wake from Seattle.

We will be returning to Camp Luther, on Lake Hatzic near Mission, BC

Please click here to register: https://chehalisdancecamp.com/registration.html Most campers choose to stay in the cabins, there is also a large grassy area for tenting and places to park your camper van or RV. There is very limited space left in the Lodge rooms for an additional $60 per person.

Hope to see you in September!

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