CDSS has a pdf at their website of the article written by Brian
Gallagher and Julia Nickles. The article is a summary of a workshop
that these two dancers presented two different years at the New
England Folk Festival. Julia is the creator of the "Ants? Pants?
Contra Dance!" poster. The link to the article follows.
Linda Leslie
http://www.cdss.org/newsletter-archives/news_author/Gallagher,%20Brian%20and%20Julia%20Nickles.html
On Sep 21, 2011, at 10:34 PM, Richard Hart wrote:
Greg's reverse psychology idea was used at Brown a few years ago,
with those "ants - pants - contra dance" flyers that have been
copied many times now. The flyers simply said "ants - pants -
contra dance" with line drawings of the first two, followed by the
details of time, location, clean shoes, and a price. (Might have
been free for students). No details, so you had to go to find out
what it was all about. And it was posted everywhere so no one could
miss it. That was one case where a flyer seemed to have worked well.
Perhaps people involved in that effort are on this list now, and
they might be able to provide a more complete (and correct!)
description of what happened.
Laur remarked on 9/22/2011 12:54 AM:
So what's the best way or ways to recruit younger dancers. We have
a college community, or more than one, here. I have tried to think
how to attract them but it all seems lame. The best I can come up
with is a flash dance on common ground. The colleges aren't geared
to our types of music or dance so it's hard to approach it from
that aspect.
Ideas???
~
When I dance, I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate
myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole, that is why I
dance. ~Hans Bos~
~
________________________________
From: Greg McKenzie<[email protected]>
To: Caller's discussion list<[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Callers] Recruiting new dancers
Thank You Richard for this topic.
You did a great job of describing the situation. Word of mouth is
key. All
of the other methods of "getting the word out" are ancillary at
best and
should be regarded as serving to support the word of mouth
effort. Flyers,
for example, are there to remind folks of what they heard from
someone else
and substantiate the reference they have heard. This is one
reason I think
flyers should be limited to only the vital information needed to
participate. Flyers work better when they do *not *attempt to
persuade
anyone or tell them *why *they should attend. In a similar vein
flyers
should also not attempt to describe or define the dance. Assume
that the
reader has already heard about the dance from a friend or an
acquaintance.
Using some reverse psychology is important. If the reader thinks
the flyer
is "begging" for new participants it can be a turn off. In this
respect
small dances might consider setting an exclusive tone in the sense
that it
is a "best kept secret" rather than a poorly attended dance. I
have seen
this work for small dances in our area. When dancers "discover" a
small
dance and view it as a private secret other dancers become very
interested.
Some dancers will keep the secret for fear that lots of new people
will
destroy the "charm" of the small dance. This also works for
newcomers.
You are absolutely correct about the role of young people. Here
in Santa
Cruz, CA the area dance society has welcomed young people to
become key
players in the dance community. Several are on the Board of
Directors,
several are musicians at dances, and at least one is a caller.
I don't, by the way, view this process as one of "recruiting" new
dancers.
I view it as a way of opening the dance events to the wider
community. That
is a different perspective. If we view the dance as a community
social
event the goal shifts from one of attempting to convert newcomers
into dance
enthusiasts to one of simply opening the dance to a more diverse and
interesting community of participants. An effort to "convert"
people or
"get them hooked" requires too much energy and is not consistent
with the
explicit message that "all are welcome" and "no experience is
needed."
- Greg McKenzie
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
