[Organizers] University contra clubs

Mon Jun 20 23:28:51 PDT 2016

Hello all-
While I do not currently work with a student organization at a university,
my profession is working with student orgs at universities.
Every school really is different in their bylaws and what is and is not ok.
I've seen a lot of different things to be successful.

At one school in the south, the christian based organizations partnered
with the swing club and had a large swing dance which included a lesson.
They did this 4x per year and got a few hundred people each time (between
local swing dancers, students who were in the swing club, and then
christian students looking to learn or try something new).

I think it is U of Chicago (or maybe it is UIC) that has a beautiful dance
hall, they use a student club to 'rent' the hall for occasional contra &
english dances.

Most schools will require that your club have a faculty or staff advisor-
typically this person just signs paperwork.  They may or may not be an
active member in the organization.  Have your students go to their favorite
professor to ask them if they want to sign on.
As for what does the club do? It's really up to you- they can co-sponsor a
dance on the college campus, or just be an 'enthusiast' group (like ski
club) that meets every so often but the real purpose is to help coordinate
rides to the local dance.  It all really depends on the momentum and what
resources the campus offers.  Some campuses will allow you to apply for
funds (think the same as a federal or state government- so, this is a once
a year type process most often - requires pre-planning, not a last moment
thing).

Most schools will require your club to have a constitution- they should
have a template for you to follow. The club will also need X officers and Y
members to be a 'real' club.  The school should have some sort of
administrator (person in my type of job) who can help guide you with this
stuff.  If you message me (off the list) the name of the university, I
could do some looking around to see if I know the person or can find their
name on a website for you.

Feel free to contact me off-list if you need more help & good luck!
Sometimes the 'college club' is a great thing & sometimes it is... not
really worth all of the effort.  Usually it all rides on how much effort (&
time) the individual student is willing to put into the project- with
balancing it with their classes, part time job, sweeties...etc.

Brian

On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 11:42 PM Mary Anne Eason via Organizers <
organizers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> The University of Maine in Orono has a Traditional Music and Dance Club
> dance which promotes contra as well as other kinds of dance (though
> essentially now I don't think it does anything but contra). In the past
> they hosted a few small contras on campus (in dorms, the dining hall or a
> large hallway somewhere where there was exposure to other students).
> Recently they have gotten funds from the student government which covers
> the entrance fee for students to the local dance each month in Orono plus
> free pizza! The contact person is Anthony Viselli,
> anthony.viselli at maine.edu, who also heads up the band that plays at that
> contra.
>
> Mary Anne
>
> On 6/20/2016 1:56 PM, Erik Erhardt via Organizers wrote:
>
> Hi Marie,
>
> A little history for our group, then a suggestion that we plan to follow
> this coming year:
>
> At the University of New Mexico (unmcontra.org) FolkMADS (our local folk
> dance org, folkmads.org) put on 8 dances in year Aug 2014 - May 2015,
> then we formed a student organization and put on 8 dances, the last 4 with
> a student band Aug 2015 - May 2016.  We've had low attendance (10-30
> dancers, about half students), but with returning regular dancers.  We've
> put in a lot of energy without much growth, though the student band (
> http://www.clarabyom.com/rusty-tap.html) was a very positive outcome.
>
> This coming year we plan to *partner with other large student
> organizations and put on joint events*.  This will help guarantee larger
> dances, will help with advertising, and will get people who already know
> each other to dance together.  I think this will increase the appeal of the
> dance.
> We can also do more if we leverage ways to use student organization funds.
>
> Good luck!
> Erik Erhardt
> (505)480-4462  StatAcumen.com
>
> On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 11:34 AM, Marie-Michèle Fournier <
> organizers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>> Hello everyone!
>>      I have recruited some of our younger dancers to start a contra club
>> at their university to help us bring in more people to our dances in an
>> effort to be sustainable. However, none of us are quite certain what's the
>> best way to proceed with this and what exactly to do with this club. Any of
>> you out there have associated university or college clubs? Could you put me
>> in contact with the people in charge so we can use their ideas and
>> experience with this?
>> Thanks!
>> Marie
>> ContraMontreal
>>
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>
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