[Callers] Recruiting new dancers

from Luke Donev: (...) Our dance hall is downtown, at street level, and adjacent to a private club (American Legion). So, people do randomly wander in, even just to poke in their head to see what the heck all that fiddle noise is about. And occasionally they stay. For our series, we do that by having two dances in the evening. The first dance is low cost/low pressure. (1hr, giant open band, community-level dances for all ages, $2 adults/$1 kids, very beginner-friendly) We have a snack break and then contras, and often those folks stick around long enough to figuratively "poke their heads in" at the contradance. (Over time, many of folks set themselves a goal of getting ready to stay for what they often call the "big dance." Yes. When I call one-night-stands, I always point out over the mic that this sort of fun stuff is out there in the world, even if it's an out-of-my-area gig. Usually I reference websites of CDSS, NEFFA, DownEast Friends of the Folk Arts, Dance Gypsy, etc as useful places to find out about local dances. If someone is interested enough to ask, I give them my card and write down specific local dances (and those same websites.) If it's a local one-night-stand, I bring flyers for our local dance and set them out on a table/chair near my caller "nest". Great topic Luke (with so many interesting questions, and generating so many interesting responses!) Chrissy Fowler Belfast, ME _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:…