22 Jun
2011
22 Jun
'11
4:11 p.m.
Good point!
Many years ago I read that mailing lists (remember them? Not e-mail
distribution lists, but actual mail mailing lists.) shrink about 15% a year.
I've noticed about the same effect in dance communities. So the group I
dance in has less than a half dozen of the dancers I danced with when I
started dancing about 15 years ago which is almost exactly 15% loss each
year!
In any case, it's a nicer thought than "The ingrates started treating us
like dirt as soon as we started paying them more."
M
E
On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 2:09 PM, Jeff Kaufman <jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu>wrote;wrote:
Martha Edwards wrote:
--
For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
I just looked at our list of bands, and
there's only
one person - okay, two - listed in our local contra dance bands that
regularly dance with us any more. Is that normal in your
communities?
The model in my head is a turnover based one. There's relatively high
turnover for dancers. If I go to the scout house now, maybe 1/3 were
dancing when I used to go there regularly in 2006. So lots of people
come for a while, then stop. Some of the people who stay around are
just people who really like dancing. Many others, though, are ones
who have broadened into other community roles: calling, playing,
organizing, running sound.
Maybe some musicians lose interest in dancing, like other people who
lose interest in dancing, but instead of disappearing they remain
somewhat connected, playing for dances?
Jeff
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