Seth, thanks for the glowing review!
Hi everyone!
Of course, I'm my own best (or worst) critic, so I focused on all of the
things that I did wrong or forgot. I was running late and was frazzled,
plus we were having problems with the sound system, so I didn't run the
beginners session. When we lined up for the first dance, there were 6
couples, 4 of which were complete beginners. The first walk through
turned into a beginners workshop with me on the floor leading people
through figures, demonstrating when necessary and having the few
experienced dancers pull people through. When all was done, they did a
great job and experienced dancers joined in as they arrived.
Things got better from there on. After the first 1/2 to 3/4 hour, more
experienced dancers arrived and the dancing smoothed out and people got
into enjoying the music. We ended up with more than 40 dancers. There
was a A1 level Modern Western Square Dance going on in the secondary
hall and some of the attendees went over and danced there a couple of
times. Clark Baker grabbed one of the square dancers and pulled her
through one of our dances and she had a great time (even though she was
dizzy and out of breath at the end). 8^)
My program (made up on the fly for the most part, but at the break I did
put some planning into the 2nd half):
Broken Sixpence
The Baby Rose
Spring Fever
La Bastringue
You're Among Friends
Square Affair
Break
With Thanks to the Gene
Al's Safeway Produce
Forgotten Treasure
Chorus Jig
The Carousel
As Seth mentioned, I decided to put Chorus Jig into the program on the
spur of the moment and got a great murmur of approval when I told them
to "find a partner for Chorus Jig". As people were lining up, I saw a
lot of familiar faces, so I asked the question "How many of you know
Chorus Jig by heart?" All but two hands went up out of 20+ dancers, so
we did it no-walk-through. This is the second time that this has
happened to me in NH late in the evening.
By the last dance, I was comfortable enough to come off the stage and
dance the last one with Seth's wife, Bethany.
All in all it was a good evening and everyone had fun. People were great
in giving feedback about problems with finding the hall and with the
directions. People were great about volunteering to help and I gave out
a few passes for free admission to them. I have some ideas for helping
people find the dance and will add some things like water and lemonade
to the experience. A few of us went out afterwards to the local diner,
so I'll put a flyer on the table telling people about the place with
directions.
It's time to do it all again this Friday! I'm looking forward to it and
hope that we have a great crowd again!
Thanks for everyone's support!
Chris
Seth Seeger wrote:
I'd like to congratulate Chris on an excellent
first evening of his new
series Mill City Contra Dances! As usual, many of the experienced dancers
didn't arrive on time. Chris handled the beginners well and ended up with
a good mix of dancers by the end of the first half. In the second half,
many of the beginners had gone home, and Chris was able to do a
no-walk-through Chorus Jig. Fantastic music was provided by Apple Crisp.
It looks like a promising series.
It was a very fun evening. Nice job, Chris!
-Seth