Hi Jeff.
In Kalamazoo MI {http://people.albion.edu/ram/cdk/ } we (CDK)offer a once a
month (1st Sunday afternoon) "Just for Fun" dance. That is an anything goes
day. We have a 2nd Saturday regular contra/square series and an every 3rd Wed
English dance series, and our 4th Saturday will be typically standard contra
and square but it may include an Open Mic, an Advanced dance, a special
afternoon dance attached with the evening dance with a special out of town band
or caller. It might be a mixed event with an English afternoon and a
contra/square dance in the evening. You might note on the calendar that based
on the availability of the caller/ band we may make use the 2nd Saturday for a
special dance, maybe with a potluck.
It has never caused confusion because of the way it has been advertised. None
of it has ever caused confusion. I think because we do an excellent job of
promoting our calendar, and website, sending out calendars for all members,
making announcements and paper schedules available at all dances and schooling
our attendees and members to know they'll get the best of whatever is available
if in fact they don't look at what's coming up...
This is how our "Just for Fun" is advertised in our calendar:
An afternoon of variety in couple dances & set dances, for example waltz,
contra, English, squares, etc. Singles & couples welcome. Learn style & skill
in a relaxed atmosphere. It’s a workshop and a party!
If there is a "specialty" that will take prominence we might make special note
that, for example, in honor of St. Patty's day this month will be Irish Ceilidh
and set dancing. So if it were going to be a Techno dance then I'd clearly
advertise and define it so someone doesn't show up for something they will
grouse about and those that come for the uniqueness will bring others.
Laurie Pietravalle
West MI
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:46:42 -0400
> From: Jeff Kaufman <[email protected]>
> To: A list for dance organizers <[email protected]>
> Subject: [Organizers] Variety
> Back in March, BIDA [1] went to twice a month, adding 1st
> Sundays in
> addition to 3rds. These are pretty much all contras, but we
> also do
> occasional special events in different styles. I've heard
> from various
> dancers, though, who want more special events. We'd like to
> do more,
> too. Practically, with the way we currently organize them,
> we're just
> not going to be able to have them more frequently because
> the overhead
> of a stand-alone event is too much.
>
> So, we're considering keeping our 3rd Sundays as a monthly
> contra
> dance series and making 1st Sundays be a "special events
> series". This
> would be things like techno-contra (Spark in the Dark),
> english,
> ceilidh, old time squares, scottish, swing, unusual
> formation
> contraish dances, family dance, international, kerry/irish,
> lots of
> different styles.
>
> Many of these would probably have some contras mixed in, and
> we had an
> english-contra dance we had a while ago that went well, but
> the more
> forms you want to mix in an evening the fewer bands and
> callers are up
> for it. We also might do these in partnership with other
> organizations, looking for a larger audience and trying to
> help
> dancers of both groups find other dance styles they might
> enjoy.
>
> Have other groups tried things like this? Would a
> pattern like "3rd
> Sundays are contras, 1st Sundays anything goes" be too much
> for people
> to remember? [2] Would it hurt our community, because people
> who have
> come to expect one thing from BIDA (contras) would come to
> 1st Sundays
> expecting that and be disappointed?
>
> Jeff Kaufman
> Boston MA
>
