from Luke Donev:
> The post on walk-throughs for new dancers got me thinking about
> recruiting new dancers.
(...)
> I feel like the venues for dances are usually such that folks don't
> randomly wander in. If folks show up for a first time, they've decided
> to come (or were brought).
Our dance hall is downtown, at street level, and adjacent to a private club
(American Legion). So, people do randomly wander in, even just to poke in
their head to see what the heck all that fiddle noise is about. And
occasionally they stay.
> should the focus be on that first
> experience, and making the barriers for entry as low as possible?
For our series, we do that by having two dances in the evening. The first
dance is low cost/low pressure. (1hr, giant open band, community-level dances
for all ages, $2 adults/$1 kids, very beginner-friendly) We have a snack break
and then contras, and often those folks stick around long enough to
figuratively "poke their heads in" at the contradance. (Over time, many of
folks set themselves a goal of getting ready to stay for what they often call
the "big dance."
> Do callers doing one night gigs announce local dance options if they
> know them? Or do you only talk about it with the folks who come up and
> ask?
Yes. When I call one-night-stands, I always point out over the mic that this
sort of fun stuff is out there in the world, even if it's an out-of-my-area
gig. Usually I reference websites of CDSS, NEFFA, DownEast Friends of the Folk
Arts, Dance Gypsy, etc as useful places to find out about local dances. If
someone is interested enough to ask, I give them my card and write down
specific local dances (and those same websites.) If it's a local
one-night-stand, I bring flyers for our local dance and set them out on a
table/chair near my caller "nest".
Great topic Luke (with so many interesting questions, and generating so many
interesting responses!)
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast, ME
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