Argh - recently changed my default to reply directly rather than reply
all... so my earlier reply didn't go to the list...
===========================
Despite the potential frustration for your more experienced dancers, this
sounds like a terrific opportunity! Someone somewhere must be doing a great
job getting the word out about your events.
Has anyone attempted a sensing conversation with the newcomers? For my
series, this is something I try to do (though it might have to be just
sampling, given the numbers you report). I introduce myself as one of the
organizers, welcome them ("nice to see you, thanks for coming"), and ask
how they heard about our dance. As I can, I circle back to check in with
them - in some cases this might be upon observing them getting ready to
leave (early?), at the break, or later in the evening. "How has your
time been? Do you have any questions or concerns? We'll look forward to
having you back, do you think you might return?", etc. or, for an early
exit, "I notice you're leaving - is there something we should know or need
to address?"
What you hear back may surprise you, and help to guide you in ways to grow
your experienced dancer base and dance health overall.
Good luck!
ps: In my experience, a large proportion of the new-that-evening dancers
will leave upon the break. You could work with your community to openly
"ramp up" the dance challenge a notch after the break to keep your regulars
more happy. It's a fine line between that and scaring off the newcomers who
persist, of course.
On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 11:03 AM Sandy Seiler via Organizers <
organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> I haven't attended for the past 2 months so I'm not certain, but it seems
> a lot of brand new folks at each dance.
>
> On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 8:45 AM Jeff Kaufman <j...@alum.swarthmore.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> "at least 60-70% were inexperienced dancers"
>>
>> Has this been a mostly overlapping group of new dancers coming back each
>> month, or are they mostly people who come once or twice?
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 1:46 AM John Little via Organizers <
>> organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Following this thread.
>>>
>>> I'm in San Luis Obispo; similar situation. We've been thinking about
>>> this a lot lately, and I think we're starting to see some good improvement.
>>>
>>> It also sounds like at your dance, you might be having undercurrents of
>>> divisions between newer and returning dancers. This might be what's giving
>>> you trouble? The fact is that beginners learn best when they dance with as
>>> many different dancers as possible, so your goal is to make it so everyone
>>> *wants
>>> to* dance with everyone else.
>>>
>>> Both new dancers and returning dancers need to be motivated in different
>>> ways. New dancers should know that they'll learn the quickest and have the
>>> easiest time when dancing with an experienced dancer. Returning dancers
>>> should be reminded that while it's less exciting to dance with new dancers,
>>> the delayed reward of well-attended, intricate, energetic dances will be
>>> worth it. The juice is worth the squeeze!
>>>
>>> For organizers, the truth is that we can't do very much during a dance.
>>> The caller has the most direct impact on whether people like dancing and
>>> want to keep coming back. So as an organizer, our best things we can do
>>> involve chatting closely with the caller about the crowd we expect and the
>>> outcomes we're hoping for. It helps tremendously when the caller is close
>>> to the community and knows how they dance, so mentoring new callers from
>>> within your community sounds like it will help you with your goal. We are
>>> also mentoring two new callers (editor's note: I'm one of them), and
>>> because new callers need practice more than once a month, we've rustled up
>>> a few of our more experienced dancers and met up outside of our monthly
>>> dance to practice walkthroughs, demos, live calling, lessons, etc.
>>>
>>> In addition, here are some of the actionable things that we have tried.
>>> Not necessarily a magic bullet; try what you like and see what sticks.
>>>
>>> - Two smaller breaks instead of a big one in the middle. New dancers
>>> need more breaks. We did this for only 3-4 dances, and we've since gone
>>> back to one break, but it seemed to be what people wanted during that time.
>>>
>>> - Identifying some particularly *friendly, approachable* returners who
>>> are willing to be volunteered into dancing with newbies. Let beginners know
>>> that these people are ultra-available to dance with. ("*Maria* - you
>>> should dance with *Claude* for this dance, they're great at teaching
>>> beginners!"). Maybe make some pins or ribbons for them to wear.
>>>
>>> - Encourage callers to really put an emphasis on pairing new dancers
>>> with returning dancers - both explicitly and implicitly. If there's a group
>>> of new dancers who are only dancing with each other or throwing off a line,
>>> let the caller know that it's okay to break them up into new lines and
>>> encourage them to find new partners. And ask the caller to reiterate the
>>> statements above to motivate mingling.
>>>
>>> - Ask callers to focus on building up your group's technical skills by
>>> calling multiple dances with the same intermediate/advanced figure.
>>> Recently, we called three dances with hey figures just within the second
>>> half. We were able to build up to a full hey with a ricochet, our beginners
>>> mastered it well, and our returning dancers could satisfy their itch for
>>> complexity and see that the whole group is improving. This one needs a
>>> delicate touch, because focusing on one figure too much can become boring.
>>> But I can easily imagine beginners building up to more intricate moves -
>>> allemande & orbit, tricky wavy line moves, left diagonal chains, etc, if
>>> the dance program is carefully thought out to build up the basics first.
>>>
>>> - Encourage your returning dancers to help out in the ways listed above
>>> - ask them to become the approachable helpers and make pins for them. Ask
>>> them to show up to help callers practice and get pizza for them.
>>>
>>> John L
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jul 16, 2023 at 8:22 PM Sandy Seiler via Organizers <
>>> organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I am in Lawrence Kansas. Since Covid we have consistently had a larger
>>>> number of new dancers than experienced dancers at each dance. This evening
>>>> we had a very well attended dance with approx 70 people. I would estimate
>>>> that at least 60-70% were inexperienced dancers. We are also in the
>>>> process of grooming new callers and had a callers workshop in March so we
>>>> are trying to integrate those folks in and get them more experience. I've
>>>> seen on other posts that a dance can easily absorb about 25% beginners, but
>>>> we have that formula pretty much flipped. We dance monthly which is a
>>>> hindrance. Experienced dancers are fatigued of not getting to do more
>>>> complicated dances. This has been happening for a long time and we need to
>>>> make some changes so that we have a larger percentage of experienced
>>>> dancers. Suggestions?
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