Country Dance & Song Society > About CDSS

Category: About

Dancers at the Yuletide Frolick in Lawrence, Kansas. Photo by Lisa Nelick.

Cozy up with the Winter 2023 issue of CDSS News! Read about our new Strategic Plan and other updates from the Board; learn more about Sharon Green, our 2024 Lifetime Contribution Award recipient; take inspiration from the Dancing Bears of Alaska; and much more.

We are pleased to present our new five-year strategic plan, developed by the board and staff and with community input over the past two years. Click here for more about the development of the new plan.

Mission

We connect and support people in building and sustaining vibrant communities through participatory dance, music, and song. We steward the living traditions of English country dance, contra and square dance, morris and sword dance, and the music that is an integral part of these traditions.

Vision

Individuals nourished and communities strengthened by dancing, singing, and making music together.

Values

  • We commit to Stewardship, sustaining and cultivating these living traditions and the financial and cultural resources that have been entrusted to us.

  • We embrace Creativity and Innovation, both in the living traditions we steward, and in the ways that we approach our own work and support communities.

  • We believe that Participation is at the heart of the living traditions in our mission, and therefore we have a responsibility to ensure that everyone who wishes to do so has the tools and access they need to join in.

Strategic Goals

  • Help affiliates adapt in a changing world

    Many of our affiliate communities are facing challenges related to pandemic recovery and generational leadership shifts. CDSS will provide support and leadership to set communities up for long term success by bringing people together, providing resources and learning opportunities, and facilitating the transfer of knowledge.

  • Re-evaluate and update the CDSS membership model

    More people participate in the traditions in our mission than are reflected in our current base of support. CDSS aims to develop an updated membership model that values current contributors and participants, and attracts new supporters, while better connecting with the broader communities we serve.

  • Achieve financial sustainability

    CDSS will expand and diversify our funding streams in order to balance the budget, launch strategic initiatives, and sustain our mission into the future.

  • Embed cultural equity in CDSS programs and operations

    In the context of CDSS, cultural equity encompasses the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people have access to the dance, music, and song traditions defined in our mission. We will embed cultural equity in our work, with a focus on increasing access to CDSS resources, removing barriers to program participation, and researching and sharing the complete histories of the traditions we steward.

From the Mic with Ben Sachs-Hamilton

In this episode of From the Mic, Mary is joined by contra dance caller and community organizer Ben Sachs-Hamilton. Ben started contra dancing at 12 and started teaching dances at 15. Since then, he has called and organized for dances across the northeast, with a focus on LGBTQ and gender-role-free dance communities. 

British and German WWI soldiers socializing around a small Christmas tree

Marc Bernier introduces “Christmas in the Trenches” by John McCutcheon. The song tells the tale of the 1914 Christmas Truce between the British and German lines in the First World War from the perspective of a fictional British soldier.

From the Mic with David Smukler

In this episode of From the Mic, we hear from the most wonderful David Smukler. A dance caller, scholar, organizer, choreographer, teacher, champion of chestnuts…the list goes on. David joined Mary over zoom from his home in Syracuse, New York. He grew up singing folk songs with his mom and began dancing contras in New Hampshire as a teen. In 1981 he was drafted to call for his local dance and has been calling ever since. David calls contras and squares, English country dances, and family and community dances.