Weekend and Week-long Dance and Music Camps

BACDS operates a number of weekend and week-long dance and music camps catering to the needs of our community. Our camps cover a wide range of family friendliness and coverage of dance and musical traditions. Many are fragrance-free events.

Weekend Camps

Spring Fever

Spring Fever is on indefinite hiatus. There is no current plan for it to return.

Balance the Bay!

Balance the Bay is an urban Contra dance weekend held in San Francisco just a quarter mile from Ocean Beach. The weekend features high energy contra dancing, plus workshops in couple dancing, music, and calling. Balance the Bay is generally held on the second weekend in August at the Janet Pomeroy Center overlooking Lake Merced. Come experience the cool of summer in San Francisco! For more information, please visit the website

Fall Weekend/Fall Frolick

Through 2007, BACDS Fall Weekend was a family-friendly multi-tradition camp at the Monte Toyon camp near Aptos. In 2008, the weekend was renamed Fall Frolick and transformed into a primarily English country and display (morris/sword, etc) dance weekend, with a strong music and singing track.

Historically held on the weekend containing the third Sunday in October, the weekend remained at Monte Toyon through Fall Frolick 2019, after which the decision was made to move to the beautiful and well-maintained Bishop's Ranch in the Sonoma Wine Country.

Click the link above for the camp website with details on the amazing staff.

Contra College

Contra College is an intimate environment focused on teaching Contra dance to new and intermediate dancers. Experienced dancers can improve their skills, help newer dancers, or practice the other gender role. There is ample time to ask questions and to work on basic elements of the dance that enhance the quality of interaction with partners and neighbors. Contra Colleges are held on weekends with a Saturday night contra dance; the perfect way to put lessons into practice.

For more info please visit the website.

Week-Long Camps

American Week

After a brief hiatus, and many years after its first camp at the Mendocino Woodlands in 1981, BACDS American Dance & Music Week resumes this long tradition at a new Bay Area location. Join us for contras, squares, music, singing, and general fun in our new home on the San Francisco Peninsula at the Quaker Center in the redwoods near Ben Lomond, California. Please visit the camp website for details.

Family Week

Looking for a fun-filled week of dance, song, crafts, and activities for families of all sizes and ages? BACDS Family Week is the camp for you. Its program includes both age-specific and age-neutral activites, and is the ideal activity for families of all sizes (including families of one).

BACDS Family Week, founded in 1992, has more recently been held at the convenient location of Monte Toyon Camp in Aptos, near Santa Cruz.

For more information about the most timely camp's program and schedule, please visit the camp website.

Hey Days (formerly English Dance Week)

Hey Days English Dance and Music Week offers a fabulous array of workshops and music presented by the finest regional, national and international musicians and leaders of English country dance, display dance, song, and more. Our next camp will be June 15-22, 2025.

For more information about the camp's program and schedule, please visit the camp website.