“The challenge, the joy, the laughter, the friendships, the good dancing!”
Hey Days 2026 will open on Sunday June 14, 2026. Dinner will be served that evening and will be followed by a dance. The week will close after breakfast on Sunday, June 21.
If you like to dance, sing, play music, take workshops, and party all day long and into the wee hours, the schedule provides that opportunity. You may also choose to take time off to visit with friends, relax in the sun, swim in the pool, go for a walk, or peruse the well-stocked bookstore. Either way, take this opportunity to try something new!
| 7:45 – 8:45 a.m. — Breakfast | 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. — Class Period 4 |
| 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. — Class Period 1 | 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. — Class Period 5 |
| 10:15 – 11:30 a.m. — Class Period 2 | 5:15 p.m. — Free / Social Time |
| 11:40 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. — Daily Gathering | 6:15 p.m. — Supper |
| 12:15 p.m. — Lunch | 7:30 – 10:00 p.m. — Evening dance |
| 1:30 – 2:45 p.m. — Class Period 3 | 10:00 p.m. — After-dance parties, refreshments |
“The schedule was really good. I enjoyed having so many choices: I thought the gathering was a nice way to create a community get-together in the middle of the day, and I loved the free time/social time opportunities that allowed people to get to know one another in a venue other than the dance floor.”
Class Titles and Descriptions 2026
7:45 – 8:45 a.m. — Breakfast
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. — Class Period 1
ECD: Signature Styles from Playford to Maggot Pie
For dancers of ALL abilities
Kalia Kliban
What defines a choreographer’s style or the spirit of an era? Each day, Kalia will focus on a different stylistic signature that has shaped English Country Dance. We might explore the raw energy of the early Playford editions, the sophisticated elegance of the Golden Years of the 1720s, or the playful inventions of the Maggot Pie era. Through a program of welcoming and accessible material, we’ll look at the patterns and character that make each of these voices so distinctive.
Music Class: Playing from Tune Book Archives
For musicians of ALL levels
Mara Shea
Explore an assortment of 18th-19th-century tune manuscript books from different genres, and play music from Scotland, Wales, colonial America, and England. These collections include songs, formal art/classical music, and reels, strathspeys, and jigs. Many of the tunes are simple, with melody only. Others show more influence from classical / formal music, with invented variations and harmonizations, even for simple tunes that normally are unadorned folk melodies. We’ll spend some time with the focus of Mara’s research – the Dawson book from Aberdeen.
Storytelling
For ALL
Charles Adams
Storytelling is perhaps the oldest art form of all, and it’s part of being human to want to tell them. We’ll examine our own histories, communities, families, and imaginations to find stories that make us laugh, that help us heal, that build relationships, and forge community. We’ll take an embodied approach to storytelling, finding the physicality of our characters, of their environments, and the actions they take. We’ll find their voices and their stances, and we’ll engage a bit of Junebug Theatre/The Free Southern Theatre’s approach to storytelling for community building and change. We’ll explore storytelling basics like structure, grabbing attention, character and object placement, memorization, and more! And we’ll do a little bit of improvisation work that might help us when we get stuck. Drop-ins are fine; if you attend each session you’ll walk away with a polished story and skills that will help you develop and perform for others!
Music for English Dance Leaders Intensive
For callers with experience, by application
Gene Murrow
Read all about our special Music for English Dance Leaders Intensive here.
10:15 – 11:30 a.m. — Class Period 2
ECD (Advanced): By the Numbers
For SKILLED and ACCOMPLISHED dancers
Kalia Kliban
From one to six, each day the number will bring a new focus for advanced concepts and dances. The first day will feature dances with solo moments and opportunities for individual skill building. The second day, advanced skills for dancing with another person, figures for 2 dancers, tunes in 2/4, 2-couple dances. The third day, triple time, triple minors, and more … and so on up to six.
For dancers who are already comfortable with triple minors, dolphin heys, heys for 3 and 4, and double figure 8s, and who can maintain a sense of humor in the midst of chaos.
ECD: It’s Easy If You Know Where You’re Going
For dancers of ALL abilities
Sharon Green
Discover the accessible side of a choreography legend! While Fried de Metz Herman is often revered for her complex masterpieces, she also created a treasure trove of delightful, less daunting dances with grace and logic. Sharon Green — who worked with Fried to edit the front matter of some of her books — will guide you through these hidden gems. And this isn’t just a dance class; it’s a tribute to a teacher and friend. Sharon will intersperse the dancing with personal anecdotes and tidbits from Fried’s introductions to “Ease & Elegance,” “Fringe Benefits,” and “Serendipity,” offering a rare window into the wit and wisdom behind the choreography. Come for the beautiful patterns, stay for the stories, and see why Fried always said, “It’s easy, if you know where you’re going.”
ECD: Solid Ground
For dancers of ALL abilities
Juliette Webb
Master the essentials of English Country Dance with confidence! ECD is a language, and this week we are going to become fluent. Rather than focusing on complex patterns and brain-teasers, we will devote our time to the joy of moving with confidence. This is your chance to master core figures and deeply explore the foundational skills that are sometimes skipped: how to connect with your partner, how to recover when things go wrong, and how to dance with musicality. We’ll also learn a dance on that evening’s program. This supportive, low-pressure environment is designed to give you the solid footing you need to enjoy every dance of the week.
Perfect for newer dancers and for anyone who wants to polish their skills.
Sing Together in Harmony
For singers of ALL abilities
Cynthia Shaw
Sing fun and quirky songs with gusto. We’ll sing songs in two- and three-part harmony, including sea chanties, English and American folksongs, and little-known novelty songs. Class will include suggestions about taking care of your voice, breathing, singing without tension, and vocal warmups.
11:40 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. — Daily Gathering
Daily Gathering
Open to ALL
Facilitated by Juliette Webb
Our daily camp gathering is a chance to entertain your fellow campers. Read a poem, tell a joke, perform a skit, sing a song … share your talents — sublime, ridiculous, or somewhere in between.
12:15 p.m. — Lunch
1:30 – 2:45 p.m. — Class Period 3
ECD: Music Made Visible
For dancers of ALL abilities
Gene Murrow
George Balanchine, Imogen Holst, and others have noted that “dance is music made visible.” The music of England’s social/folk dance tradition is unusual in its embrace of a wide variety of musical forms and styles — “duple” meter jigs, reels, hornpipes, and marches; “triple” meter minuets, waltzes of several varieties, and slip jigs; and several eccentric forms. Explore how you as a dancer can embody these musical structures through movement, focusing on techniques to enhance grace, expressiveness, and musicality in English country dance. Learn how to understand and respond to the diverse rhythms, moods, and styles of the music to make the dance a visual representation of the accompanying tunes.
Longsword
For dancers of ALL abilities
Kalia Kliban
Longsword is a mesmerizing linked sword dance tradition from northeast England. Long, straight, single-handled swords link dancers in a ring; moving over, under and around them creates fascinating patterns, culminating in a ‘lock’ or star of interwoven swords. Learn Sleights, a fun longsword dance with a variety of tunes, figures, and locks. Sleights is a flexible, highly customizable dance ideal for a mix of new and experienced dancers. There will be be some bending and kneeling involved.
Dance Reconstruction
For ALL
Susan de Guardiola
How do we move from a cryptic 17th-century sentence or a 19th-century diagram to a functional dance that we can enjoy today? Reconstruction is more than just listing the figures; it’s about capturing the movement and musicality of a specific time. Analyze the cues hidden in historical texts, exploring how reconstructors must make decisions to suit their purposes. Dive into primary sources to reconstruct dances together, exploring the detective work required to interpret historical instructions. Perfect for callers, choreographers, and anyone who wants a behind-the-scenes look at historical dance.
As is used in the original period texts, gendered language will be used in this workshop.
Music Class: Camper Band
For musicians of ALL levels
Eric Martin
Camper Band Class is a great way to connect with others in making beautiful and inspiring dance music! The main goal for the first part of the week will be to prepare for camper night. We will work on learning the tunes for the dance and will experiment with variations of instrumentation, texture, and mood. After the camper band night, we will have fun exploring various other ECD tunes playing around with arrangements and band communication skills.
Ability to read music is helpful but not required.
3:00 – 4:00 p.m. — Class Period 4
ECD: Dance Party
For dancers of ALL abilities
Join us for a fun session of English Country Dance, taught and prompted by the participants in Gene Murrow’s English Dance Leaders Intensive, with fabulous music by staff. Support your fellow campers as you enjoy a relaxing afternoon of dance.
Early American Dance
For dancers of ALL abilities
Susan de Guardiola
Step into the ballrooms of the late 1700s, a fascinating turning point where formal courtly traditions met a new, energetic social spirit, to explore the repertoire of the early American republic. Discover how the structured, square-set Cotillion influenced the figures of traditional longways dances. Learn some footwork and stylistic flourishes—such as the chassé and rigaudon—that brought these sophisticated sets to life, using modern non-gendered terminology.
Round Singing and Writing
For singers of ALL abilities
Jacob Chen
Sing lots of rounds! Want to try writing your own? Let’s explore the joy, playfulness, and craft of creating rounds! Each day we’ll try a unique approach to writing — starting with a hook, a chord progression, a thematic idea, or a sequential pattern. We’ll also look at essential elements of popular rounds and learn how to build those components into our own creations. Feel free to bring ideas, themes, or previous works to share and receive feedback! No prior music theory knowledge is required — just a willingness to try out ideas and play with melodies. By the end of the week, we’ll aim to have a handful of completed rounds!
Music Class: Arranging ECD Tunes
For musicians of ALL levels
Karen Axelrod
Learn how to arrange tunes for dances, for fun, or for concerts. We’ll start by playing through some 3-part arrangements of English country dance tunes and analyze what’s going on with each line. Then we will work on creating our own arrangements, using bass lines, fill, counter melodies, and rhythm variations. As a group, we will come up with ideas for each tune, with lots of focus on listening and responding. We will also look at how to create a dance-length arrangement of a tune, with an emphasis on how to tell a story and create an arc for the piece.
4:15 – 5:15 p.m. — Class Period 5
Dance, Music, and More — Grab Bag Sessions
Open to ALL
Led by campers
Experience a wide variety of one-day workshops led by staff and campers — something different every day! Campers will be invited to propose sessions as part of their pre-camp questionnaire.
Music Class: Recorders
For ALL
Laura Kuhlman
While this is a required class for those in the English Dance Leaders course who are not musicians, all campers are welcome to join us for a gentle, low-pressure introduction to the recorder. We will focus on getting comfortable with the instrument and enjoying the process of making music together in a supportive, relaxed environment. For participants in the English Dance Leaders Intensive, this workshop is a chance to step into the musician’s shoes and gain a fresh perspective on the partnership between caller and band.
Please bring your own soprano recorder and this book. Suggested recorder (if you don’t already own one).