33rd Annual SNOPA!

Welcome back to SNOPA! We are so pleased to announce the return of our annual international dance weekend at Camp St. Croix in Hudson, WI!

This Twin Cities-sponsored weekend will include dancing, teaching, socializing, and reconnecting with other dancers from across the midwest. SNOPA! is traditionally organized around a theme, and this year’s theme, Stara Treka, will hopefully inspire a range of costumes for the Saturday evening party.  We're joined again Saturday evening by our dynamic six-person international ensemble, Orkestar Bez Ime! 

SNOPA! 2025 will feature:

• Dance workshops with three terrific teachers (Catherine Rudin, Leslie Scott and Mady Newfield), with opportunities to strengthen your learning

• Larger and hopefully springier plywood dance floor this year

• Dance party Friday evening, to recorded music

• Social hour/group sing/instrument jam on Saturday afternoon 

• Instrument jam sheet music can be downloaded HERE

• Dance party Saturday evening featuring Orkestar Bez Ime; wear a theme-related or favorite folk dance outfit if you wish!

• Sunday dance reviews

• Meals and lodging

• And lots of singing, dancing, playing, and just general SNOPA goofiness

For details on teachers, the schedule, what to bring, directions, etc., see below. 

Attendance is by pre-registration only! 

Registration deadline: February 4, 2025

** Discount for registering by January 21, 2025! **

We’ve tried hard to keep the cost down in the face of rising prices since the last event. A few work scholarships are available. Questions? Contact Terry McGibbon, hyebar@yahoo.com or 651-639-9346. 

• SORRY, REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED FOR 2025

• Download the flier HERE with fees and a printable registration form

• Or:  Register Online HERE

• Pay online HERE  (or simply mail a check)

• View the T-shirt choices HERE - white logo on magenta/berry shirts, with the logo as seen below:

• See refund policy below

• Download the weekend dance syllabus HERE (document yet to come). We’re asking people to print their own syllabi ahead of time.

• And see all the details below: schedule, what to bring, and more.

Details

Accessibility

We want to make SNOPA! as accessible as we can for dancers of all physical abilities.  If you have questions or would like to request accommodations, please contact Terry McGibbon, hyebar@yahoo.com or 651-639-9346, by January 10, 2025.

Volunteer Effort

SNOPA! is a nonprofit organization (but NOT a 501c3) and is not a Tapestry function. Volunteers make it run. Thanks for your help during the weekend. Children are welcome as registered participants. (Parents must supervise their children's behavior. No youth activities are planned). 

Teachers

Our teachers this year will be Catherine Rudin, Leslie Scott and Mady Newfield.  Their bios are below.

Catherine Rudin has been dancing since the 1960s, mostly Balkan folk dance and mostly in the

greater Midwest, but other dance genres and places too. From junior high school through college

she danced in Madison, Wisconsin. In recent decades her main home base has been the Omaha

International Folk Dancers, and for the past few years she has co-led the Tuesday Zoom Friends

group online. She has taught at SNOPA many times and is thrilled to see it revived! In her non-

dance life, Catherine is a linguist, knitter, gardener, and very amateur mariachi violinist. 

Mady Newfield has been dancing all her life, and teaching, leading, and organizing traditional

dance in the western suburbs of Chicago for close to 4 decades. After starting folk dancing in

high school at Stony Brook University on Long Island, she started and led Fermilab international

folk dancing, a weekly international folkdance group, for over 30 years. She also specializes in

dances of the British Isles, and has taught Scottish, Welsh, and English dance not only in

Chicagoland, but in workshops across the country. She organizes dance weekends

including June Camp, the Midwest Scottish Weekend, and the Harvest Moon Dance Weekend, as

well as the Pourparler,a national community dance leaders’ and teachers’ retreat. She holds a

Ph.D. in linguistics and enjoys playing the accordion.

Leslie Scott first encountered folk dancing in a college gym class in Southern California around

1970 and promptly got hooked. Living and dancing in various places around the Midwest in the

1970s and ’80s, she built up a large repertoire of dances and began teaching in her local

international folkdance groups. Since 1989 her dance home has been Columbus, Ohio, where she

is a core member of the Columbus Folk Dancers and also does Scandinavian, English country

and vintage dancing. She regularly attends East Coast Balkan Camp, has gone on several

folkdance trips to Bulgaria, and has taught at SNOPA and Door County, among other places.

Besides dancing, she plays international folkdance music on kaval, accordion and recorder with

two Columbus bands and plays recorder for her local English country dance group.

Schedule (tentative - subject to some change)

FRIDAY(2/21)

      5:30 Registration opens

      6:00 Dinner and socializing

      7:30 Request dancing to recorded music

SATURDAY(2/22)

      8:00 Breakfast

      8:45 Warm-ups

      9:00-10:30 Session 1 - Catherine

      10:30-12:00 Session 2 - Mady

      12:00 Lunch

      12:45 Warmups

      1:00-2:30 Session 3 - Leslie

      2:30-4:00 Open time

      4:00-5:30 Social hour/Group singing/Instrument jam (Sheet music HERE)

      5:30 Dinner

      6:15 Rest up and prepare for party

      7:15 Parade to party

      7:30 Dance party with OBI

SUNDAY(2/23)

      8:00 Breakfast

      8:45 Warmups

      9:00-12:00 Review sessions

      12:00 Lunch

      1:00 Clean up and check out

Lodging

Sleeping accommodations are in bunk houses that generally hold 3-5 people per room.  We will try to assign a maximum of 2 per room if possible. Depending on attendance, we may need to make use of some upper bunks, so please note your preferences on the registration form.  Bunk houses have some inside bathrooms with additional bath houses nearby for the brave or impatient.  One of the dorms will possibly have some late-night gathering with attendant noise kept to a minimum. 

What to Bring

• There is no linen package option this year, so bring bedding, pillow, towels, blanket or sleeping bag sufficient for a twin sized bed in a heated cabin in the Upper Midwest in February. (Just sayin’.)

• Comfortable shoes for dancing

• Easy-on/off outdoor shoes

• Favorite mp3s for parties

• Snowshoes or skis if you and the weather are so inclined

• Flashlight

• Reading light (lighting is sufficient for finding your bed, but not for details)

• Snacks and beverages of choice for potluck social hour and breaks

• Your favorite musical instrument, if you are inclined to jam with others

Food

All of our main meals, including Friday night, will be supplied by the Camp St. Croix staff. If you have special food needs, please indicate them on the registration form.  (Please make sure to make your food requests ahead of time.  We want you to be comfortable and satisfied and can only do that if the staff knows your preferences before camp begins.) 

We will probably not have exclusive use of the camp, so mealtimes are non-negotiable and we cannot “hold” your food.  If you can’t make a meal for whatever reason, Camp St. Croix is quite close to downtown Hudson, WI, and its array of stores and restaurants.  Please note that any food you bring to camp must be stored in mouse-proof containers (not because there is a mouse problem, but to ensure that there is not). 

Maps and Location

See the maps and information on this website: About Camp 

Refund Policy

Please recognize that SNOPA is organized by a small group of volunteers and any cancellations may affect the event's viability. Our goal is to keep fees low, but still break even. If after registering you find that you are unable to attend, your reservation may be transferred to another individual. That option would be preferred - pay it forward, and share the love.  Please contact Terry McGibbon, hyebar@yahoo.com or 651-639-9346, about transfers or cancellations.

For cancellations:

• Cancellations within 24 hours of registering (but before February 4, 2025) will receive a full refund. 

• Cancellations prior to 5pm, January 21, 2025 will receive a full refund less a $15 processing fee.

• Cancellations after 5pm, January 21, 2025 are subject to cancellation fees amounting to:

  • $150 for full weekend reservations

  • $70 for Saturday-only reservations.

If you believe extenuating circumstances force you to cancel after those dates, the SNOPA finance committee will consider those requests on a case-by-case basis. 

Treka on, at SNOPA!