Take lessons from Mary and you become part of her dance family. Go to Dance Camp and you realize just how extensive her dance family is. Enthusiastic and welcoming repeat campers come from every state in the union, Canada and Europe; to train with their instructor and reconnect with their dance family. Never intended as a money making vehicle, Dance Camp is truly a ‘dance family' reunion. The atmosphere at Dance Camp reflects Mary herself: relaxed, friendly and just plain fun.

Dance Camp started as a dream of a Dance Ranch; a place where dancers could come to train with Mary and other talented instructors while enjoying a ranch experience. The dream of a Dance ranch was Mary's way of bringing together the wonderful people she met while touring throughout the United States and Canada, personally teaching and coaching over 10,000 students, instructors and successful competitors. She figured that the people she liked and liked her would probably like each other (she was right).

One day, while walking through a park near her home in Nashville, Tennessee with some dance friends from New York, Mary shared her dance ranch dream. There must have been synchronicity in the air that day, because that very park had all the amenities Mary needed for a pilot of her Dance Ranch dream.

 Mary's dream - though not exactly a Dance Ranch - was a resounding success. For thirteen years (and twenty camps), Mary and her friends, Steve and  Suzan Sommers, hosted Mary Hoedeman's Dance Camp at the Cedars of Lebanon State Park just outside of Nashville. For many of those years Mary and her students capped off their dancing week by performing live for television at the world famous Wild Horse Saloon, the home of today's popular Nashville Star television show.

Mary Hoedeman's Dance Camp developed a heart and soul all it's own. As the dancers who've been there will readily attest to, Dance Camp is the people who come - year after year - together with the people who design and run it -Mary and her assistants, Steve and Suzan. The combination has a magic all its own.

Today Mary; now based way up in Fairmont, Minnesota and the mother of two growing boys; is revisiting her dream of a dance ranch. She's searching all over the nation for just the right nature based location for the next chapter in the life of Mary Hoedeman's Dance Camp. Stay tuned!