A tough situation, and thank you to the previous comments talking about words and mindsets. 

I'd like to reiterate Amy's suggestion on volume. I fear upping the ante and escalating the noise level is an arms race nobody wins. I think your regulars are more likely to be turned off by loud volume than by you working to help new dancers. 

I call a fair number of weddings, occasionally with open bars. Regular dancers can and do have fun if they're moving to good music, without it being challenging dances. I wasn't in the room, but I think your regulars might appreciate 5 minutes of instruction and 25 minutes of simple dance (at which point the new folks may have decided they were done or gotten into it) over 20 minutes of getting the new folks up to speed and 10 minutes of dancing.

I applaud you for acknowledging it didn't go how you wanted, and asking for insights on what else to do. It's certainly easier to armchair-call it afterwards. It's a tough situation. I'd encourage you to talk to your regulars and club officers about it, and take it as an opportunity to build community with the folks that come regularly and/or come back.

On Sat, Jan 21, 2023 at 3:04 PM Roberta Kogut via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Just to be clear it was a literal bus of international students, about 20.  The question was has this ever happened to you and how did you handle it. It is a challenge and I thought the purpose of this group was to help each other be better equipped to handle such challenges graciously.  I value all people and welcome them all and encourage them all.  I feel like people are judging and being a little condescending.  Sorry, this is just getting too preachy.

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On Jan 21, 2023, at 2:48 PM, Amy Wimmer via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

To reiterate further I will elaborate on Meg's and Harris's points: "invasion" is not only a poor word choice, it's a dangerous mindset. Your attitude will be evident to _all_ the dancers, making the new folks feel uncomfortable, and encouraging some regulars to not be welcoming. Did you actually say the words "throw them out" if they kept being noisy? Both these scenarios make _me_ uncomfortable, even as a white woman. Words are very powerful. Word choice matters.

I've called dances where what I call a "bus load" of beginners showed up after the lesson. They arrive together, they probably bused or carpooled together, they know one another. They will want to dance with each other, not just as couples, but in clumps of foursomes, not and necessarily with people they don't know. It's a challenge. It would be way more of a challenge if their cultural practices didn't allow them to touch someone appearing to be a different gender. 

For the noise, after politely asking for their attention one thing to try is to get quiet yourself, and see if they notice and follow suit. Then ask for their help with the noise level so everyone can enjoy the evening. Your calm attitude will be noticed by the regulars, and it will gain their respect. Hollering will do the opposite.

I think a demonstration of contra dance on campus might be helpful. Do it in a public area, invite other clubs/groups to come watch. You wouldn't need to do a lesson, but could point out how the progression works, how contra is a very community-centered dance form, where you dance with everyone.

Side note: this sounds like a good time to plan ahead for a similar situation, and collect, or write, dances that might work for them.

I wish you good luck and growth for your community.

-Amy

On Sat, Jan 21, 2023, 8:36 AM Joe Harrington via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

[I don't know why, but the top paragraph and a half of my message somehow came through white on white in both my email readers, so I'm resending,]

We had an interesting and challenging situation come up at Contra Knights, the UCF student contra club, last night. I’m interested in your thoughts and advice, in case it has come up before, which it must have. I’m going to relate it as I perceived it, though someone more perceptive might have made some observations early on that would have alerted them to the nature of the situation. 

Last night was the second dance of the semester and officer elections were scheduled during the break. Just at the end of my newbie lesson, a group of nine women dribbled in as a group. They were really enthusiastic to learn, and they were about 30% of the people in the room at that point, so I rewound the lesson a bit to at least teach them the swing.

They had joined the teaching circle with their purses and backpacks.  I invited them to put their stuff on the chairs at the sides, including their jackets, as we dance to up-tempo pop music and it can get sweaty. That’s where it got interesting.  Some put their stuff down, but they couldn’t take off their jackets. That’s when I noticed some of them wearing headscarves. Ok, no worries, wear jackets, that’s fine. We love diversity here. 

I tried matching them with experienced dancers, which some accepted and some did not. Some said they just wanted to dance together and not with anybody else. O-kay. I explained that in this dance we all dance with each other in a sequence and we don’t control whom we’re dancing with. Well, that’s ok, as long as we don’t touch men.

This, of course, explained the refused partners; they were all men.  How are we going to manage that in a gender-neutral dance?  It’s not like I could put them in the men’s role. Someone suggested they turn all moves into do-si-dos. I was at a momentary loss, when our club president-to-be (elected later in the night) suggested putting them in a line of their own. That made them happy, though it was a very short line. 

Then the rest of what turned out to be the Lebanese Student Society came into the room. Their meeting in a neighboring room had just ended. There were more women, enough to make the small line danceable. There were a lot of men, and they had a really difficult time taking partners. I had minor sets with five or six dancers (yes, experienced dancers can do it). I told them it would not work that way, but they said they’d make it work, and nothing I could say got anywhere. I was conscious of the original dancers who had been there 30 minutes now, had done the workshop, and were eager to dance. 

So, the men also got their own line, but things in that line got a bit crazy during the first walk-through. Possibly because of the discomfort some may have felt dancing with other men, many there were more interested in goofing off or boasting to one another than in paying any attention to me, even after I cranked the mic volume way up and admonished them to be quiet and listen.  There was some genuine interest in that line, and one of the louder argument points I heard was someone shouting to quiet the line, as they were here to learn.

At this point there were around 30 Lebanese students in two lines of 3-4 minor sets each and 20 originals, who had joined through the newbie session, which was evenly split between newbies and experienced dancers. Their line was quiet, but getting quite impatient at this point. I was afraid to lose them. I was really afraid of what would happen in the election later on if the Lebanese club stayed, as they outnumbered the originals.

It became clear that the Lebanese men were not going to get far, but they didn’t realize it yet. I really didn’t want to throw them out, since some really did want to learn and we are an inclusive club with too few members. I did say I would kick them out if they didn’t quiet down, which worked momentarily. 

I decided to forge ahead and call to the group of 20. Either the guys were going to get it or they’d maybe leave. If their noise disrupted the line of originals, then I would ask them to leave. I put on a tune and called an easy dance, cranking the volume above the din. The originals danced it fine and seemed to have a good time. The guy line dispersed and said they’d come in time for the workshop next time. The ladies left with them. 

The originals nearly all stayed. We had a fun rest of our night and held our officer election. While last night was a unique event, 50% newbies is common and we think it’s why we get so few dancers to stay in the club more than three nights. So, one of the changes is a new, occasional, no-newbies night, so the experienced dancers can dance something more complex than Airpants. 

Are there ways to calm an unruly crowd? I have a fairly decent one-night stand routine, but I worried I’d lose my originals if we went over to that. I felt I could have taught them something if only I could just have gotten their attention. Throwing them out would have been uncomfortable, at best.

So, could I have done this any better? Has your dance ever been invaded, and how did you handle it?

Thanks,

—jh—
Joe Harrington 
Faculty advisor and caller to Contra Knights, the UCF contra club
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights 
contradancerjoe@gmail.com

On Sat, Jan 21, 2023 at 10:24 AM Joe Harrington <contradancerjoe@gmail.com> wrote:

We had an interesting and challenging situation come up at Contra Knights, the UCF student contra club, last night. I’m interested in your thoughts and advice, in case it has come up before, which it must have. I’m going to relate it as I perceived it, though someone more perceptive might have made some observations early on that would have alerted them to the nature of the situation. 

Last night was the second dance of the semester and officer elections were scheduled during the break. Just at the end of my newbie lesson, a group of nine women dribbled in as a group. They were really enthusiastic to learn, and they were about 30% of the people in the room at that point, so I rewound the lesson a bit to at least teach them the swing.

They had joined the teaching circle with their purses and backpacks.  I invited them to put their stuff on the chairs at the sides, including their jackets, as we dance to up-tempo pop music and it can get sweaty. That’s where it got interesting.  Some put their stuff down, but they couldn’t take off their jackets. That’s when I noticed some of them wearing headscarves. Ok, no worries, wear jackets, that’s fine. We love diversity here. 

I tried matching them with experienced dancers, which some accepted and some did not. Some said they just wanted to dance together and not with anybody else. O-kay. I explained that in this dance we all dance with each other in a sequence and we don’t control whom we’re dancing with. Well, that’s ok, as long as we don’t touch men.

This, of course, explained the refused partners; they were all men.  How are we going to manage that in a gender-neutral dance?  It’s not like I could put them in the men’s role. Someone suggested they turn all moves into do-si-dos. I was at a momentary loss, when our club president-to-be (elected later in the night) suggested putting them in a line of their own. That made them happy, though it was a very short line. 

Then the rest of what turned out to be the Lebanese Student Society came into the room. Their meeting in a neighboring room had just ended. There were more women, enough to make the small line danceable. There were a lot of men, and they had a really difficult time taking partners. I had minor sets with five or six dancers (yes, experienced dancers can do it). I told them it would not work that way, but they said they’d make it work, and nothing I could say got anywhere. I was conscious of the original dancers who had been there 30 minutes now, had done the workshop, and were eager to dance. 

So, the men also got their own line, but things in that line got a bit crazy during the first walk-through. Possibly because of the discomfort some may have felt dancing with other men, many there were more interested in goofing off or boasting to one another than in paying any attention to me, even after I cranked the mic volume way up and admonished them to be quiet and listen.  There was some genuine interest in that line, and one of the louder argument points I heard was someone shouting to quiet the line, as they were here to learn.

At this point there were around 30 Lebanese students in two lines of 3-4 minor sets each and 20 originals, who had joined through the newbie session, which was evenly split between newbies and experienced dancers. Their line was quiet, but getting quite impatient at this point. I was afraid to lose them. I was really afraid of what would happen in the election later on if the Lebanese club stayed, as they outnumbered the originals.

It became clear that the Lebanese men were not going to get far, but they didn’t realize it yet. I really didn’t want to throw them out, since some really did want to learn and we are an inclusive club with too few members. I did say I would kick them out if they didn’t quiet down, which worked momentarily. 

I decided to forge ahead and call to the group of 20. Either the guys were going to get it or they’d maybe leave. If their noise disrupted the line of originals, then I would ask them to leave. I put on a tune and called an easy dance, cranking the volume above the din. The originals danced it fine and seemed to have a good time. The guy line dispersed and said they’d come in time for the workshop next time. The ladies left with them. 

The originals nearly all stayed. We had a fun rest of our night and held our officer election. While last night was a unique event, 50% newbies is common and we think it’s why we get so few dancers to stay in the club more than three nights. So, one of the changes is a new, occasional, no-newbies night, so the experienced dancers can dance something more complex than Airpants. 

Are there ways to calm an unruly crowd? I have a fairly decent one-night stand routine, but I worried I’d lose my originals if we went over to that. I felt I could have taught them something if only I could just have gotten their attention. Throwing them out would have been uncomfortable, at best.

So, could I have done this any better? Has your dance ever been invaded, and how did you handle it?

Thanks,

—jh—

Joe Harrington 

Faculty advisor and caller to Contra Knights, the UCF contra club

Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance

Contraknights.org

FB, Ig: Contra Knights 

contradancerjoe@gmail.com

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