I didn't note when this spot aired, but am glad contra has gotten some national attention. Atlanta, where I dance and call, has definitely seen a surge of youth in recent years, not due to the media coverage. I wanted to say a quick word about Jonathan's mention that young parents often leave the scene and come back later. He said it as if it were normal and acceptable. I myself dropped out of the scene as a young parent, then later came back. I do not find this normal or acceptable though. I look around me and see a huge demographic gap at dances, where there are many there with no kids, either in their pre kids years, or post kid years. What is missing is what I think ought to form the core of a community. That middle group, many of whom have kids, is largely absent. For some, the busy-ness of parenting, of getting kids to soccer and swim meets and concerns about getting them to bed on time, does naturally keep them away. But I believe for others, it is more due to lack of institutional infrastructure to support their being there with kids. No place for kids to hang out, no eyes to keep watch over them, and in some cases outright hostility to the juvenile element, whether on the dance floor or just on the scene. When I rejoined the scene, my kids were 3 and 6. No other parents were attending the dances with any regularity. Though we had to take turns sitting out, we paid full price to get in, we were that hungry to dance. But if we were newbies, or lest persistent, maybe we would have been discouraged. Instead we carried on coming every week till our kids knew the routine, and usually fell asleep amid their toys on the blanket where we were by then able to park them. Other people saw our success and told other parents about it. Now we have a whole gaggle of kids who come most weeks. They have grown up around dance and my youngest, now nearly 10, can dance as well or better than most adults. But it was only our sheer bullheadedness that opened this road. I would not have waited even that long (nearly a 7 year hiatus) had structures been in place to not only permit, but encourage us to keep dancing as young parents. I would not want to see the current crop of twenty something's all drop out for seven years at a stretch once they marry and have kids. I would love the hear a discussion of creative ways to encourage them to stay. Some ideas I have had include allowing them to pay less if they cannot stay to the end or have to take turns sitting out, making a space for kids available, having community members who know they will not dance all night sign up to keep an eye on the kid area, or an agreement that the kids will be where those sitting out usually congregate. I never had seen anyone dance with a babe in a sling till mine were already bigger than that, but I do think people are inspired by example, as our community was by our example, and might have brought my kids when they were even younger had the idea occurred to me. So maybe making explicit somehow that we welcome parents with infants in carriers? My talents do not lie in the area of organizing, but maybe some of you who are better at that than me can offer ideas that really would work. Next time you are at a dance, or even more at a dance weekend, notice whether that middle demographic is well represented, imagine what it might be like to be there with kids, and see whether disincentives to the attendance of families, even unintentional ones, exist. I don't accept that we must see these energetic and enthusiastic dancers leave the scene just because they have kids. How can we keep our youth once they enter middle adulthood? - Andrea Sent from my iPhone On Oct 20, 2012, at 1:30 PM, Jonathan Sivier <jsivier(a)illinois.edu> wrote:

Bob (and everyone) This is a great observation, I think from a visitor to your dance perspective, your dance has a fairly good number of younger dancers. Our dance for instance has not as much, although we've had an insurgance of "college age" people in the last couple of years. It's been really nice to see and dance with that energy! I like the idea of a child caregiver and might offer that to our board as an option but wanted to share here my childhood experience with dance. We always went to the local grange hall for the "dance". It truely was the sort of thing you see in movies and TV shows, everyone brought food, the band was on a small stage and the caller "sang out" the dances. Mostly squares but I remember some dances in lines. We kids played around the fringes, talking, running, eating and sometimes getting into a dance. The adults didn't worry about "entertaining" or containing us in an area or even making sure we had adequate water or food. We all survived, some of us still dance or play instruments. A return to the old ways may be the best idea, but having someone to care for the children may meet the needs of the modern parent better, AND it makes a great advertising opportunity. Where else can you go, have fun with other adults and not have to worry about what is happening at home, at an affordable price. Another thing to note here, get the kds in the dance, engage them. They may be better dancers than anyone else there! As long as they can follow direction I say get them on the floor! Mary On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 1:45 PM, Kalia Kliban <kalia(a)sbcglobal.net> wrote: