And I forgot to note that my dance is Montpelier, VT! On Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 10:56 AM Dana Dwinell-Yardley <danad...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm coming in late to this discussion with a thought from the Form the > Ocean dance weekend in 2019. They held a community discussion at that > weekend structured around the idea of starting at "Point D." As in, with > big conversations in our communities, we so often churn round and round on > points A, B, C: "how do we get more diversity?? we're so [white/old/middle > class/etc]! but we need diversity!" > > What if, instead, we started at point D and bypassed those first few > questions that we always start with? > > I would suggest that Point D for this conversation about young dancers > might be: > *"Our dance *already has* age diversity. How shall we be with the people > already in the room?"* > rather than scrambling to say "we need morrrrrrrrre young dancers!" > > I'm 36, an in-between sort of age in the contra dance world. I started > dancing 19 years ago, when I was 17. I absolutely started dancing because > it was a place to hang out with my friends. And, I could tell which adults > would talk to me like I was a fellow dancer, and which ones talked to me > like I was a Young Person. I still have friendships with the ones who > treated me like a person to this day. > > Get to know your young dancers like you would get to know anyone else you > don't know yet! Don't be overbearing! Be friendly, ask them to dance, learn > about their lives, but also leave them alone to do their own thing and hang > with their friends. Treat them like humans and not A Class of People We > Need for Diversity. People can tell when they're being tokenized. > > (My friend group and I had an experience about 4-5 years ago at our local > English dance where the dance organizers/regulars practically *pounced* on > us as we walked in the door and were like "wow! young people! so nice to > have young people! can we give you a discount? will you come back again? > will you bring your friends?" and we were like "...um we're just here to > English dance?" It was very off-putting and made us LESS likely to come > back again!) > > I also have lots of thoughts about fostering a culture of consent, > non-gendered role terms, young people on your organizing committee, etc, > but I'll save them for another day! > > Thanks, > Dana > > > On Sun, Oct 29, 2023 at 10:55 AM Sandy Seiler via Organizers < > organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > >> Our community, like many others, has fewer young dancers than we would >> like. I am wondering how different factors influence that and what we can >> do. >> >> Does the night of the week matter? We dance on a Saturday night. Would >> Friday be better? >> >> Does frequency matter? We dance once a month? >> >> Does location matter? We have a college (University of Kansas KU) Would >> a dance location closer to or on campus matter? >> >> Are outreach strategies effective and what has your community found >> successful? >> >> Thanks, >> Sandy Seiler >> Lawrence, Kansas >> _______________________________________________ >> Organizers mailing list -- organizers@lists.sharedweight.net >> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net >> > > > -- > Dana Dwinell-Yardley > pronouns: she/her/hers > 802-505-6639 > Montpelier, Vermont > -- Dana Dwinell-Yardley pronouns: she/her/hers 802-505-6639 Montpelier, Vermont
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