Good point Jeff. At our last dance we had at least 25 new dancers at the beginning of the lesson, but it varies.
On Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 7:47 PM Jeff Kaufman <j...@alum.swarthmore.edu> wrote: > Do your new dancers reliably show up at 7? In my experience at our dance > (Cambridge MA) probably a quarter are there by the posted workshop time, > and half are there by the end of the workshop. If new dancers are > mostly not making the workshop then pushing hard on your experienced > dancers to show up early and help out is unlikely to help much. > > Jeff > > On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 6:59 PM Sandy Seiler via Organizers < > organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > >> The idea I have been cogitating on for a while is to somehow change >> people's perception of the starting time causing a bit of a cultural >> shift. Our dance lesson is at 7:00, dance at 7:30. I would really love it >> if we could get the majority of folks to embrace the idea that everyone >> come at 7:00. At our last dance we had about 2-3 experienced dancers >> participating in the beginners lesson. That's a challenge with about 30 >> new students. I imagine new folks could easily feel like "a tribe apart" >> with beginners at 7 and everyone else come at 7:30. If we could get the >> majority of our experienced dancers to come at 7:00 and help teach the >> lesson that would be so grand. >> >> Have any of you been successful in making that shift? Changing the >> attitude to.... "dance starts at 7:00 and we spend the first 30 minutes >> welcoming and teaching the beginning dancers because we all know the dance >> will be much more fun that way". If we could make that leap, I think >> newbies would feel more welcome and likely to return. It's unrealistic to >> expect everyone to show up at 7, but I am planning to reach out to several >> experienced dancers to see if we can get more of them on the floor for the >> lesson. >> >> Also considering "doors open at 6:30" to give folks time to socialize >> before beginning the lesson/dance at 7:00. >> >> On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 4:11 PM Don Veino via Organizers < >> organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: >> >>> A thought on the topic of dance angels... >>> >>> Would it be helpful to try matching age groups of the beginners and >>> angels? Having a shared social reference frame (for lack of a better >>> phrase) could help incorporate those dancers more comfortably? I mention >>> this as we had a slug of incoming students from an area private school >>> arrive at our dance as newcomers and our friendly and helpful older crew >>> did the community thing - which was great but slightly put them off. The >>> lack of folks in their age group came up in my later conversation with them >>> - they had a great time but were looking to mix more with folks of their >>> own age. Of course that's a chicken/egg thing (I encouraged them to bring >>> more of their friends next time), but... >>> >>> On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 5:00 PM Heitzso via Organizers < >>> organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: >>> >>>> Seconding a lot of what's been said. >>>> >>>> My wife, Jennifer Horrocks, and I hosted 2 regional organizers retreats >>>> back in '17 & '18 and have our next this upcoming weekend. This came up in >>>> the two pre-covid retreats with some form of dance angels the most common >>>> mechanism used to integrate the new dancers. (informal ambassadors or >>>> formal special name tags varied). I agree that 60% new dancers is >>>> difficult; that's a higher % of beginners than what most dances deal with. >>>> >>>> My reason to chime in is to flag the *variation in demographics* for >>>> both your experienced and inexperienced dancers affects the dance. >>>> >>>> This upcoming Saturday ContraForce will play at Sautee's dance in N >>>> Georgia (in the middle of nowhere) in a very old gym. Many of our retreat >>>> folks will take that evening off to attend. It is a dance at which it's not >>>> uncommon for 20+% to be new dancers. The most successful callers (in my >>>> opinion) have, after the lesson, started off with easy but not trivial >>>> contras and steadily built up from there which takes advantage of the >>>> experienced dancers knowledge and doesn't bore the experienced dancers to >>>> death.. 20% is not 60%. Mentioning because there are always beginners at >>>> that dance and not all callers handle them well. >>>> >>>> I believe it's important to know the age and hence physical and mental >>>> capability of the new dancers. Sautee's dance tends to be family oriented >>>> so the new (& experienced) dancers range in age from teens to seniors. I >>>> went to a ContraForce dance at Clemson University several years ago. The % >>>> of new dancers was around your 60%, but the new dancers were entirely >>>> college students. The caller was a student and not a solid caller. The new >>>> dancers took incredibly quickly to the dance. *60% beginners? No >>>> problem!* >>>> >>>> I was at a River Falls Lodge pre-covid dance packed with so many lines >>>> of dancers that it was easy to get confused with what's up and down and >>>> sideways. Dancers were mostly students (under 25?) and, I'd guess, 40% >>>> beginners. Caller came late so no beginners' lesson. The caller just >>>> started everyone off with a simple contra and built up from there. No muss. >>>> No fuss. Worked quite well. I believe the caller's calmness and just doing >>>> it worked ... never any question that it wouldn't. >>>> >>>> Another data point is Lake Eden Arts Festival which, pre-covid, had >>>> 5,000 people attending. Their gym, "Brookside", had contra dances with (at >>>> peak) some 400 dancers. Many (??%) dancers are drunk/high beginners who >>>> drop in since they're already there enjoying the weekend. They have fun for >>>> awhile then leave. Don't know what to say about it. It is what it is. >>>> >>>> Another data point that I've heard about is a tourist oriented Virginia >>>> city in which the contra dance location was, for awhile, downtown in the >>>> tourist district. They struggled with older non-contra tourists >>>> overwhelming their small dance. I believe their solution was to move the >>>> dance out of the tourist center. >>>> >>>> Wishing everyone well as we keep the dance going, >>>> -Heitzso >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Organizers mailing list -- organizers@lists.sharedweight.net >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Organizers mailing list -- organizers@lists.sharedweight.net >>> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Organizers mailing list -- organizers@lists.sharedweight.net >> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net >> >
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