CAMMAC SCD Retreat
CAMMAC Scottish Country Dance Retreat
Join us for CAMMAC 2026!
June 12-14, 2026
Watch this space for additional details and registration information.
Questions? Contact us at: cammacSCD@gmail.com
Facilities
The CAMMAC Music Centre is situated on the picturesque shores of Lake MacDonald. The multipurpose concert hall serves as the primary space and provides an ideal setting, featuring a high ceiling, exceptional acoustics, and a top-quality dance floor. Classes will also take place in the boathouse and other studio spaces. When not in class, enjoy the great tennis court, swim, canoe, or go for a hike.
Guests can enjoy the expansive cafeteria, complete with a veranda that overlooks the serene lake, where hearty and health-conscious meals are served. Vegetarian options are readily available upon request.
Accommodations
Rooms are available in the Main Lodge and Lake House. The Main Lodge is the main building where meals, the evening dance, and some classes will take place. Several rooms boast ensuite facilities, while all rooms are equipped with a washbasin. Access to all floors is facilitated by an elevator. Adjacent to the Main Lodge, the Lake House provides additional rooms offering a slightly more rustic accommodation experience. All rooms in the Lake House are also equipped with a washbasin.
For dancers, the all-inclusive price per person in 2025 ranged from $395-470 in the Main Lodge and $380-430 in the Lake House, depending on room type. For non-dancers, the rate ranged from $280-320. Details about 2026 pricing will be made available soon.
The CAMMAC Music Centre is located northwest of Montreal, about 1h40min from both Ottawa and Montreal.
Address: 85 Chemin CAMMAC, Harrington, QC, J8G 2T2
The Instructors
Arthur McNair
Pittsburgh, PA
Arthur McNair began Scottish Country Dancing after seeing demonstrations at the local Pittsburgh highland games in the late 90's. To Arthur, SCD is a wonderful social activity that happens to be a fun challenge both physically and mentally. Having performed in music and theatrical groups since a very early age, Arthur thrills in the joy of a fine group performance combining SCD dancers and musicians. Since beginning SCD, Arthur has attended as many workshops as possible in the U.S., Canada, and Scotland, and has been fortunate to learn from some of the best SCD teachers. Arthur has always loved sharing his enthusiasm and knowledge with others, so working towards obtaining the RSCDS teaching certificate as soon as possible was a natural path. Arthur received his RSCDS teaching certificate in 2004 at TAC Summer School, teaches weekly classes in Pittsburgh, and has taught workshops throughout North America. Arthur's first emphasis in his teaching is for all dancers to enjoy dancing to whatever level they are able, with a secondary emphasis on the beauty that comes from dancing well with others. Arthur also is a musician who plays piano accordion with the Scottish dance band, Highland Square. A recent highlight in Arthur’s dancing career was competing with the North American team at the 2025 Newcastle Festival! To support his music and dance habits, Arthur works for Zoll Medical as a systems engineer. Arthur was born and raised in Arizona.
Faye McNeil
Edinburgh, U.K.
Faye began dancing at the age of six and hasn’t looked back since! Starting with classes on the Wirral, England, she quickly became hooked and later moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, for university—where dancing was always part of the plan. Today, Faye shares her passion for Scottish Country Dancing through teaching, whether in Edinburgh, at workshops elsewhere or more recently at the RSCDS Summer School, the RSCDS Autumn Gathering and Spring Fling. Meeting dancers from around the world and helping them improve at all levels is something she truly values. Faye is looking forward to teaching at CAMMAC, bringing together technique, teamwork, and a mix of dances with something different that she hopes everyone will enjoy.
Jen Schoonover
Boston, MA
Jen Schoonover is a dancer and choreographer. She teaches movement principles, improvisation, and dance pedagogy at Bridgewater State University, and specializes in Scottish dance modalities including Cape Breton Step, Cèilidh, Highland, and Scottish Country dancing. A book she cowrote with Mats Melin, Dance Legacies of Scotland: The True Glen Orchy Kick, detailing the history of Scottish percussive dancing, was recently published by Routledge. Another publication of collaborative research into Frederick Hill’s 1841 dance manuscript with Mats and the late Colin Robertson is in the works. Over the past few years, Jen has enjoyed being part of the North American Team attending the Newcastle Festival of Scottish Country Dancing, where a choreography she created won the Display category for the team in 2025.
The Musicians
Elizabeth Anderson Howe
Fiddle - Boston, MA
Elizabeth Anderson plays the fiddle and teaches music around the greater Boston area. Since attending her first fiddle camp as a teenager, Elizabeth has been immersed in Scottish music and the community of musicians and dancers she has met through it. Through performing, she seeks to connect more deeply with Scottish traditional music, and through teaching, to share that connection with others. Elizabeth is the 2020 U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion and the winner of the 2016 Perth All-Scotland Fiddle Championship. Elizabeth’s early training came through a combination of Classical violin lessons and learning at fiddle workshops and camps. A formative moment came in the fall of 2016, when she spent a semester in Glasgow to study under fiddler Douglas Lawrence and experience the music culture of Scotland firsthand. She holds music education degrees from Berklee College of Music (B.M. 2017) and Ithaca College (M.M. 2022). An active performer, Elizabeth plays with her brother as Scottish fiddle/cello duo “Elizabeth and Ben Anderson.” The duo has sold out performances at iconic Boston venues such as The Burren and Club Passim and has been met with acclaim in concerts as far away as Scotland and France. The duo released their first album Over the Isles in 2018. In the Scottish music and dance community, Elizabeth is a well known presence. Monday nights will find her at Scottish dance class and Tuesday nights, at the local Scottish session. She is the director of Chauncy Fiddle Camp, a summer day camp for young fiddlers, which has been in operation since 2014. She is also a frequent staff member at camps and workshops such as Maine Fiddle Camp, Pinewoods Dance Camp, and the Boston Scottish Fiddle Club. Elizabeth teaches orchestra full time in Walpole, MA, where she directs seven grade-level orchestras and teaches small group lessons. She also founded the extracurricular Walpole Pops Orchestra with the mission of bringing string music into the Walpole community. She has presented workshops on teaching fiddle music in the public school orchestra at the NAfME All Eastern Conference and in sessions throughout Massachusetts.
Katie McNally
Fiddle - Portland,ME
Katie McNally grew up playing Scottish and Cape Breton music near Boston, Massachusetts and currently tours as a solo artist and with Pine Tree Flyers. A longtime member of the cross-genre fiddle supergroup, Childsplay, Katie has also toured with Karan Casey, John Whelan, and Galician bagpiper Carlos Núñez. Strad Magazine writes that McNally’s “fine precise fiddling…is a joy to listen to: smooth, fluid, and with an unfussy agility to it, though never lacking in character.” Equally at home on the concert stage or in the dance hall, she has appeared at Celtic Colours, Celtic Connections, Newport Folk Festival, and The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, as well as countless folk venues throughout North America and Europe. In addition to her busy touring schedule, she is the artistic director of the Boston States Fiddle Camp at Potash Hill in Marlboro, Vermont and is a devoted educator who teaches regularly at fiddle camps across the country and gives private lessons at her home in Portland, Maine.
Dave Wiesler
Piano - Newark, DE
Pianist Dave Wiesler (Newark, DE) began playing traditional Scottish music for dances and concerts in 1993 and started dancing it two years later. Since then he has become highly regarded for his strong rhythm, his technical skill, and his deep knowledge of the genre, as well as for his versatility in other styles careening through classical music, classic rock, jazz, song parody, and many other dance forms. He plays most often with his band Thistle House, but he regularly joins other musicians. Dave has recorded SCD dance albums with Thistle House, Hanneke Cassel, Mara Shea, and the Delaware Valley Band. He is a capable guitarist; a prolific composer of tunes, songs, and more complex musical pieces; and a proud father of two boys, one of whom has recently gotten hooked by SCD.
Dancing Classes
Each level will have a minimum of three level-specific classes (one with each teacher), plus additional combined and optional classes.
Levels:
Essential Skills
This class focuses on core skills like timing, rhythm, footwork, and partner coordination, providing a welcoming environment for those looking to develop and refine their skills. Participants will practise essential movements and learn basic formations commonly used in SCD.
Consolidating Skills
This class is designed for dancers with a good understanding of core techniques who are ready to deepen their proficiency by reinforcing essential footwork, refining phrasing and teamwork, and building confidence with more intricate formations and sequences. Dancers will revisit foundational steps while learning to execute them with increased precision and fluidity, working toward a more polished performance.
Advanced Technique
This class is for dancers who can perform at the highest level of dance, with excellent footwork, handing, and technique and who wish to be challenged further. It emphasizes the nuances of advanced footwork, posture, phrasing, and coordination and will explore challenging formations and complex transitions, honing dancers' precision and responsiveness within a set. This is a high impact and physically demanding class which requires a good level of physical fitness.
Optional Classes
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Teachers' class - open to candidates, trainees, instructors, teachers, and experienced dancers interested in teaching
2025 Schedule
Details for the 2026 schedule will be available soon.
See the fun we had in previous years!
2024
2025
Link to bio doc
