https://www.statista.com/statistics/719685/american-adults-who-identify-as-homosexual-bisexual-transgender-by-generation/
Realize that in states that have passed laws making being trans
illegal in one or more ways, people are fleeing to the closet for
safety, as well.
In dance,
Julian Blechner
On Thu, Nov 9, 2023, 9:26 PM Joe Harrington via Organizers
<organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
You confirmed my suspicions. "Youth" isn't a monoculture that
follows a single set of values. There are certainly youth
communities that do strongly value gender-blind dancing, and they
are probably the norm in the US Northeast, up into Canada, and
perhaps many other regions. But, in some of the places where
youth-plus dancing is strongest, the culture is quite different. I
don't know if Hayley Smith is on this list, but there's some
quite-bold, religious-traditionalist, young people dancing in
large numbers, down South. I'm pretty sure I'd be having an easier
time building our dance above 20 weekly participants if I were
using traditional terms, including attracting and retaining more
young dancers.
--jh--
On Thu, Nov 9, 2023 at 12:58 PM Heitzso via Organizers
<organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Joe,
The young (under 30) Sautee Nacoochee contra dancers tend to
dance as gendered (not sure of my terminology)
Switching roles doesn't happen much there so it's something
that would tend to throw them.
I enjoy switching on every swing with partner and, at Sautee,
I tend to avoid that because
- my partner is likely not used to it (I ask first)
- high percentage of beginners come and I don't want to
confuse them (w/ vast majority dancing trad roles).
So, while I've done that at Sautee, it would be after the
break and
with a partner who was comfortable with switching up.
Probably more switching at Riverfalls Lodge (SC), but I
haven't danced there in awhile.
RFL used to be where all the hot college aged Asheville
dancers went to dance
and they would have been comfortable crossing up dance roles,
though not
anywhere near the extent of, say, the Contracopia dancers in
Philly.
Comfortable means not a big deal to switch up roles.
But, contrast w/ Philly Contracopia where maybe 20% cross role
dancing at any time.
I haven't danced at OFB (near Asheville, NC, so not rural
Georgia) since before covid.
College where OFB dances is liberal.
I don't know what the current pattern is. I assume a little
more comfortable/likely
to cross dance than RFL.
Joe, you know my wife, Jennifer Horrocks. Welcome to ask her or
have me reach out to SNCA or RFL organizers or friends we know who
regularly dance at OFB. This weekend is the Atlanta dance
weekend.
I could ask around if you'd like for a more nuanced reply.
-Heitzso
Marie-Michèle, Hietzo,
Marie-Michèle wrote:
> I haven't yet found a dance with a strong younger core
where male-presenting people almost all dance one role and
female-presenting people almost all dance the other, no
matter what role names they use.
Hietzo, do the rural Georgia dances with strong younger
participation fit this description?
Thanks,
--jh--
On Wed, Nov 8, 2023 at 11:15 AM Marie-Michèle Fournier via
Organizers <organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I took over as main organiser in Montreal when I was in
my late 30s and the people who decided to join the
organizing committee after that were all my age or
younger except one. Gradually after that, our age average
became younger and younger, however part of that is
unfortunately because we lost several older dancers. I
don't know exactly what it is we did that made older
dancers less likely to come back and younger dancers more
likely to, except for being very strongly non-gendered,
even before we switched to Larks and Robins after the
pandemic. But I can tell you that I haven't yet found a
dance with a strong younger core where male-presenting
people almost all dance one role and female-presenting
people almost all dance the other, no matter what role
names they use.
Marie-Michèle, Montréal, Québec, Canada
On Wed, Nov 8, 2023 at 9:58 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
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