15th Annual Cascade Zydeco Dance Camp
September 11 - 13, 2009
Cascade Zydeco Dance Camp will be held at the Mt Hood Kiwanis Camp for the second year in a row in the beautiful Mt Hood National Forest, just 55 miles east of Portland, Oregon. The Little Zig Zag River flows through the camp with great hiking trials right outside your cabin door. Click on the picture below to see photos of Mt Hood Kiwanis Camp. And visit the photo album from 2008 camp, too! (If it asks you for an account login, just press cancel.)
We're excited to welcome back Leon Chavis and the Zydeco Flames from Lawtell, Louisiana, for three days of smooth vocals, hot rhythms, and plenty of dancing. This will be the second visit for Leon and the Flames to the CZ Dance Camp. They were absolutely wonderful in 2007 and we know they'll be even better in 2009.
Our CZ Dance Camp 2009 Fundraising Committee is working hard to build up our coffers in order to make camp affordable for everyone who wants to come. The cost this year is $225. Please sign up early. Dawn Madrid (now retired), our fearless 2009 Camp Chairman, is busy rounding up wonderful instructors and hatching plans for all manner of dance, music, and social activities.
All meals, beginning with a late night snack at Friday night's dance through Sunday lunch, are included in the cost, as well as great live music and professional dance instruction. And, just like last year, Mt Hood Kiwanis Camp includes cleaning in our cost. Just pack your bag on Sunday and take your tired feet home!
Mt Hood Kiwanis Camp features...
- Heated lodges with rooms that sleep from four to ten people
- Women’s, Men’s, Co-ed, or Couple’s rooms
- Full bathrooms inside every lodge (no walking down dark paths to use the facilities!)
- Large community areas in each lodge
- Large fire pit for gathering at night
- Lodges and camping are located adjacent to Dining/Dance Hall
- Well kept camping spaces for your own tent or use of Kiwanis group tents
- A great big pool!
- Ample parking space with room for RV's
- Great hiking right out of the camp
- No camp clean-up required!
LEON CHAVIS and the ZYDECO FLAMES
Leon's website says it best, "Leon Chavis has bold ambitions: He wants to change the way you listen, understand and dance to Zydeco music. For Leon Chavis and the Zydeco Flames, this push forward means looking back and re-examining, mastering, understanding the roots of Zydeco Music and Creole culture. For Leon, he wants to unleash the accordion's full potential as a musical instrument that can further convey a story of a living tradition in a wide range of emotions."
More about Leon or stay right here and listen to songs from his album The Heat is On. Advance to the next song with the arrow buttons in the sound clip box below. Pop-up blockers might need to be turned off. If the player does not work go to Reverbnation.
Instructors
Instructor, Marla Meyer from Lafayette, Louisiana teaches
Zydeco, Whiskey River Jitterbug and Cajun dance. Her friendly approach
to teaching and her ability to teach in a variety of ways and to
problem solve makes her popular with students. She has been an
instructor at the Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week, Gator by
the Bay, the Gulf Coast Zydeco Music & Crawfish Festival, dance
workshops in Washington and Louisiana, and the Zydeco Cruise.
Instructor, Willie Bushnell, originally from Ville Platte,
Louisiana, now calls Houston his home. He has won numerous awards for
his dancing style including the Texas Zydeco Championship and the
original Southwest Zydeco Festival dance contest. He has taught
workshops and camps from the Pacific Northwest to southern Mexico and
is regarded as one of the finest instructors in the field.