I don't want to steal Will's spotlight, so I'll keep this short, re: Downtown Amherst Contra Dance:
- we did have people in early 30s, but point still stands; he directly chose to recruit young organizers - it's hard to keep college-age organizers more than 2 or 3 years, because they usually need to move for a job after college. But they're so, so worth it. - The real secret sauce of Will's founding of DACD was actually putting the values first: "I want to make our dance the friendliest and most welcoming anywhere." He said this over and over, and the committee's decisions always came back to this. And this is why I am a consummate advocate for social groups to have a written statement of values as the centerpiece of its policies. Any policy decision can be compared to the statement of values, and then evaluated. There's no ambiguity with committee members - when you join, you know what the group is about. By contrast, most group conflicts I have seen typically arise when there's unstated underlying values that different members may have. And because they're unstated, the debate often goes round and round. Julian Blechner He/Him DACD committee member On Wed, Nov 8, 2023, 9:56 AM Joe Harrington via Organizers < organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Is Will Loving in the house? Or anyone from the Amherst, MA, Wednesday > night contra? He was the ONLY person on the board over 30 in the years > after he founded it, and it was largely a college/post-college crowd, the > few times I was privileged to attend. He told me that was his formula. > Maybe he can give details. This was in the mid-2010s, I think. > > To me, there is a big difference between events run by and for younger > dancers and broad community events with a predominantly older crowd trying > to make up for our lame recruiting/retention efforts a few decades back, so > we can keep our dances from dying as we age out, or to bring some energy > into them, or out of some principle of inclusion. Or whatever our real > reasons are for focusing so heavily on recruiting younger dancers (which, > guilty, I do for their energy). > > --jh-- > > > > > On Wed, Nov 8, 2023 at 9:27 AM Chrissy Fowler via Organizers < > organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > >> Thanks Dana, for this reframing of the conversation! Shakes things up a >> bit in my mind. Love it. >> >> In Belfast ME, where our demographics have skewed toward a majority of >> dancers in teens-early 30s, we recruited board members in that age range >> because they already were the majority. (See >> https://www.belfastflyingshoes.org/board-of-directors) >> >> I’m curious what other organizers have experienced when they recruited >> people in teens/20s in order to increase that demographic among their >> dancers. >> >> Cheers, >> Chrissy Fowler >> Belfast ME >> >> >> <><><><><><> >> chrissyfowler.com <http://www.chrissyfowler.com> dance leadership >> westbranchwords.com <http://www.westbranchwords.com> academic >> transcription >> belfastflyingshoes.org <http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org> participatory >> dance & music >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Dana Dwinell-Yardley via Organizers < >> organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> >> *Sent:* Monday, November 6, 2023 11:13:16 AM >> *To:* A list for dance organizers <organiz...@sharedweight.net> >> *Subject:* [Organizers] Re: Attracting young dancers >> >> 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 >> _______________________________________________ >> 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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