May 2020
July 11-July 18
73rd Year Virtual Camp and Teachers/Musicians Fundraiser

FIRST THE BAD NEWS
The Stockton Board met in late April and made the inevitable but still very painful decision to cancel Stockton Folk Dance Camp for this year.  Even if the University were to allow summer conferences to take place, travel restrictions, general fears on the part of our aging demographic, and requirements for social distancing would have made camp impossible. But don’t despair – read on!  There is good news!

GOOD NEWS, AT LEAST FOR OUR FACULTY AND MUSICIANS
Because of past and continuing donations, as well as investments, Stockton Folk Dance Camp has the financial ability to pay the teaching faculty and musicians in full this year and will do so as soon as possible. Some of our staff rely on events such as ours for their livelihood and we want to mitigate any impact this cancellation might have.

In addition, we will be speaking with each of them and extending an invitation to be part of our 2021 camp. Much depends on their calendars and prior commitments. We cannot guarantee that next year’s camp will have the same staff as this year, but that will be our goal.

REGISTRATION AND REFUNDS
Of course, everyone who registered for this year’s Camp is entitled to a full refund. We will be offering four options.

  • 100% refund.
  • Full refund, less $100 as a deposit for next year’s camp.
  • No refund. All funds will be rolled over to next year’s camp.
  • $100 as a deposit for next year and any remaining funds to be donated.

Please contact Stockton Camp’s Registrar Julie East. If she does not hear from you, she will be in touch. No camper will be left behind!
Email: stocktonfolkdancecamp@gmail.com    
Phone: 650-422-0595

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE . . . Virtual Camp and Fundraiser for teachers/musicians
We are holding a virtual week of Stockton from July 11-July 18, free to all. We’re already working on a schedule, and some of the ideas we’re thinking about are:

  • Live and recorded teaching sessions with this year’s teachers. If some teachers can’t do sessions due to space or other considerations, we’ll ask other master teachers to participate.
  • In addition to, or instead of, presenting dances, a teacher’s contribution could involve a lecture along the lines of our traditional afternoon assembly/culture corner, or a presentation planned for the usual Saturday Talent Show.
  • Any live performances would be timed so some will be live in the Americas, some will be live in Europe/Middle East/Africa, and some will be live in Asia, so no one has to get up in the middle of the night. In addition, we’ll be showing recorded repeats of the live performances at other times.
  • Uploading and sharing of selected dances taught at Camp in past years, along with video clips from past Talent Shows, memorable evening parties, lawn parties, etc.
  • The Dances For All Ages staff could share particularly successful presentations of dances from their archives.
  • A few virtual dance parties similar to the very successful ones currently being hosted by the Peninsula Folk Dance Council.
  • If we are allowed to dance in person by then, we will host zoom sessions involving in-person dance parties from around the world with a Stockton theme.
  • Whatever we do will be free for everybody. While we’d love to get our teachers some additional income from tips, and a little to keep Stockton on an even keel, it’s important to us to make sure that this can be viewed by everyone. There will be requests for donations to help our teachers, musicians, and Camp, including the ability to ‘tip’ during individual sessions.
  • A Stockton Folk Dance Camp webpage set up like a shopping cart that will allow those interested to designate donations to teachers, musicians, the Scholarship Fund, the General Fund, etc.
  • A way to get all of the material presented as links as a thank you for your donation.
  • We are considering offering a t-shirt commemorating the “COVID-19 Camp That Didn’t Happen.” Several design concepts and messages are already being considered. Should you wish to contribute your idea of a graphic or wording, please contact Loui Tucker (loui@louitucker.com). Loui will compile the suggestions and share them with Susan Gregory (who is saving this year’s design for next year). Because Camp will not happen physically, the plan is to use a website such as www.customink.com. Perhaps we can come up with a commemorative facemask as well!

There's more to come, and we’d also love to hear from YOU! We've prepared a survey so you can give us your input on what you’d like to see in the Virtual 2020 Stockton Folk Dance Camp.

Download the Survey in Microsoft Word           Download the Survey in PDF

None of the above points is set in concrete and some may be not be possible at all, but we remain hopeful that we will be able to offer some of them in July. We will be sending out updates as soon as we have more news to share.

One final word: "I can't go out because of the virus," sounds rather weak, whiny, and apologetic. Let's change that to: "I have sworn an oath of solitude until the pestilence is purged from the lands." This sounds more valiant and heroic. People might even think you are carrying a sword.