Hello Dance Organizers,
Just
a reminder, in case you haven't yet offered it, that we'd love your
input as we plan a conference for dance organizers, November 11-13, 2011
in the Upper Valley region of NH/VT (Hanover/Norwich area.)
Here's the link to the anonymous-to-us online survey, to complete *before January 15*:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/52YKGFW
And,
to the many folks who've already responded with good questions,
interesting suggestions, valuable feedback, and more inspiration...
THANK YOU!
With appreciation,
Chrissy Fowler (Belfast ME)
Delia Clark (Taftsville VT)
Linda Henry (Amherst MA)
PS
We'll be in touch with some individuals soon re. your specific
suggestions. And we do realize that there are some unfortunate
conflicts for some of you that weekend, but at this point we aren't
planning to change the dates.
Hello all,
Once again, it's time for the annual Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend.
Once again, everyone from the SharedWeight lists is invited to join us
for lunch on Saturday and Sunday. We push a bunch of tables together and
talk about whatever we want. Calling, communities, music. There are
always people who bring food to share, so feel free to join the potluck.
The RPDL weekend is a special and unique weekend. There you can meet the
key movers and shakers of the contra dance revival. Network with and
learn from people who have made the dance community their passion for
decades. Plus have a lot of fun with some really excellent dancers.
More info:
http://www.nhcountrydance.com/music/rpdlw.html
Chris Weiler
SharedWeight.net
Hi fellow Shared Weight organizer folks,
I just sent out an email to the SW Organizers list, excitedly announcing a conference for organizers in the Northeast. If you are from that region, and didn't already get a personal email from me, please click on that email's link to complete our planning survey, and also please let me (us) know if you are into the concept.
Thanks!
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast, ME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
website www.chrissyfowler.com
dance series www.belfastflyingshoes.org
telephone 207-338-0979
Dear dance organizers,
Announcing!! A conference especially for dance organizers
in the Northeast! Mark your calendars for November 11-13, 2011 --- in the Norwich
VT/ Hanover
NH area.
We hope you share our excitement about this rare opportunity. Seldom is there such support for dance
administrators, and yet, the people out there putting on the dances are sustaining
our social dance traditions. (Thanks to organizers,
the rest of us have a venue to call/play/dance!)
That's why, with support from the Country Dance & Song
Society (www.cdss.org),
we are planning this
weekend --- for organizers of contra/square, community/family and other
traditional
English and American dances to meet one another, share ideas and
experiences, learn new skills and strategies for successful dances, and
more. We’ll also dance, eat,
and have
fun with our organizer peers!
In these early stages, YOUR input is essential. (We want to design a meaningful conference,
with relevance & utility for as many dance groups as possible. Any feedback you have time to send will be
appreciated!)
Please click on the following link by January 15, 2011
to respond to a brief* survey. (It could take as few as 3 minutes to complete!)
(http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/52YKGFW)
And... if you know other dance organizers who might be
interested in this conference, please forward this message to them and/or
provide us w their names and contact info. Thanks!
Happy New Year to all, and we look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Chrissy Fowler, Belfast, ME (Belfast Flying Shoes Dance Series)
Delia Clark, Taftsville, VT (Woodstock Community Contra Dance)
Linda Henry, Amherst, MA (Amherst Community Contra Dance)
Hi, I have a weekend dance event coming up at a venue we don't use
regularly. Last week I went to check it out, and the owner in an act of
kindness and in preparation for the event, put down several coats of wax.
Now, the floor is VERY sticky which is further compounded by seasonal high
humidity. Does anyone have any thoughts for me as to how I might remedy the
situation? I can get in early, before the event and mop the floor a few
times. I don't think the venue will be used between now and our event, so
there's no chance of normal traffic wearing it down...
--
Deb Comly
Flagstaff, AZ
928-774-5936 (home)
928-853-7985 (cell)
--
Deb Comly
Flagstaff, AZ
928-774-5936 (home)
928-853-7985 (cell)
Washing the floor ahead of time would be time wasted. In this case, dirt is your friend, as the dirt provides a layer of lubricant between the shoes and the floor. Think of the floor as a strip of adhesive tape. Sprinkling dust on the tape reduces the tackiness to other objects.
So that is what you should not do. What should you do?
I would recommend that you tell people to spread the word that the floor is tacky and to select appropriate footwear. In this case, I would go with worn leather/suede or a bowling shoe. In a pinch, people can just use socks.
Here is an FAQ on dance floors, but I don't recommend putting any substance on the floor: http://www.eijkhout.net/rad/dance_offnet/floor3.html
Good luck!
Jeff,
I think including a word for dancing w/ new people in the contra lexicon
is a grand idea even if 'I'm dancing w/ newbies for a bit, care to join
me?' is a great way to accomplish both including beginners/new folks to
the community and setting an example of welcoming for other dancers. If
you are looking for a simple marketing word, try "welcoming" or
"welcoming newbies" or "teaching". Might not be as funny as "herding"
(which is also true and I use sparingly), but it is simple and neutral
in response. I'd stick w/ asking others to join you though. Tis
volunteerism to give your time to new dancers, but tis community
leadership to encourage others to do the same.
Noah Grunzweig
-----Original Message-----
From: organizers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net
[mailto:organizers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of
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Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 12:00 PM
To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net
Subject: Organizers Digest, Vol 21, Issue 1
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Today's Topics:
1. Getting left-out people into a contra dance (Jeff Kaufman)
2. Re: Getting left-out people into a contra dance (Stephen Moore)
3. Re: Getting left-out people into a contra dance (P W Marsh)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 15:54:59 -0400
From: Jeff Kaufman <jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu>
To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net
Subject: [Organizers] Getting left-out people into a contra dance
Message-ID: <20100524195459.GA9405(a)melfpelt.swarpa.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
At dances I'll sometimes skip out on the initial partnering to see if
there's someone who didn't end up with a partner but would like one.
I've done this the most at dances where I have some sort of
responsibility in the group (bida, the contra dances at swarthmore),
but I try to do it whenever I notice people getting left out. This
works pretty well at getting people in, especially new people. The
main way it doesn't work is if I get asked to dance by an experienced
dancer when I intend to be doing this. I can avoid that somewhat by
making myself scarce refilling water pitchers or whatever, but
sometimes people who are fun to dance with and will not be having any
trouble finding a partner ask me right away. I can say "I'm sorry;
I'm looking for a left out newcomer to dance with" but that's kind of
strange and a bit of a mouthful. I think what I need is a name for
this activity. Is there one already in use somewhere else? I'd like
to be able to say "sorry, not this dance, I'm [name-of-this]ing".
Another advantage of a name is that even if the person I'm talking to
doesn't understand me at the time beyond "jeff won't dance, need to
find a different partner", if they come talk to me later I can give
more detail and it will have a name attached.
Jeff
At dances I'll sometimes skip out on the initial partnering to see if
there's someone who didn't end up with a partner but would like one.
I've done this the most at dances where I have some sort of
responsibility in the group (bida, the contra dances at swarthmore),
but I try to do it whenever I notice people getting left out. This
works pretty well at getting people in, especially new people. The
main way it doesn't work is if I get asked to dance by an experienced
dancer when I intend to be doing this. I can avoid that somewhat by
making myself scarce refilling water pitchers or whatever, but
sometimes people who are fun to dance with and will not be having any
trouble finding a partner ask me right away. I can say "I'm sorry;
I'm looking for a left out newcomer to dance with" but that's kind of
strange and a bit of a mouthful. I think what I need is a name for
this activity. Is there one already in use somewhere else? I'd like
to be able to say "sorry, not this dance, I'm [name-of-this]ing".
Another advantage of a name is that even if the person I'm talking to
doesn't understand me at the time beyond "jeff won't dance, need to
find a different partner", if they come talk to me later I can give
more detail and it will have a name attached.
Jeff
Hello organizers,
Someone posted the following to the Shared Weight Callers list, and I thought it was actually more relevant to the organizers. So here it is.
I, for one, cannot imagine doing such a gig as a performer - at least not more than once - and am shocked that an organizer could be so utterly thoughtless.
Perhaps this will start a conversation about what we, as dance organizers, ought to have as "best practices," especially for the sakes of our performers (without whom we would have no dance.)
Chrissy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
website www.chrissyfowler.com
dance series www.belfastflyingshoes.org
>
> Here is a minor episode for the "gigs from hell "annals. Imagine someone asks you to dinner. They ask you to bring the food. However, they won?t tell you where they live or what time dinner starts or what sort of food the guests might enjoy. When you try to contact them, they are out of town.
> ?
> I was invited to call in a neighboring state with a fine band from my state. The drive would take the better part of a day and we knew that we wouldn?t come anywhere near making gas money. However, many callers and bands are willing to do ?charity? work for new contra communities. Generally when callers/musicians travel, they like to maximize what they offer and will do afternoon music/dance workshops, often for free. When we were first booked, we offered a variety of free workshops. After a month of receiving no response, we brought this offer up again with the caller/organizer who invited us. After three more months, another prompting email query brought a response that the caller/organizer basically didn?t have time to bother.
> ?
> Twenty four hours before the dance, we had still not been informed of where the dance was or what time it started. The last email (2 months previous) from the "host" said they were looking for a new hall. Lack of information on where we might stay and the fact there was a potluck before the dance had us spending money on a pricey meal and motel in the tourist town. The caller/organizer would not be around due to another gig.
> ?
> An enterprising band member finally called a local musician and got a rough idea of where the dance was to be held. What fun?.5 generous and experienced folks, willing to lose money, driving a 2 day round trip to help a new caller/series. Nothing about the word "host" applies in this case.
> ?
> So, in order to turn a rant into something constructive, I have composed a bare bones "invitee" form to be sent to guest bands/callers shortly after the invitation is accepted so that new callers/organizers who care about their dance communities might meet the basic requirements of a host:
> ?
> Dear _________(caller,band)
> Thank you for agreeing to be part of our contra experience.
> ?
> Our dance starts at __, with the pre-teaching starting at ____.
> ?
> The hall is located at___(map link) and will be open by_____.
> ?
> Your sound person will be_____.
> ?
> Usually we have about _____(number of dancers), with about ___% being experienced; of course we may have an influx of newcomers.
> ?
> ?Our dancers are generally (comfortable/not comfortable) with a hey/contra corners in the first half.
> ?
> Generally, we dance until____PM, then have a break and resume dancing until____PM.
> ?
> Our dancers enjoy a (waltz, polka, hambo, swing) (before, after) break and at the end of the dance.
> ?
> We have arranged for you to stay with ______. Their phone/email/address is_______
> Or
> Below is the contact information for reasonably priced motels near the dance hall
> ?
> We will be able to pay you_$_______.
> ?
> For more information about dance logistics, you may contact me (or ___) at _____.
> ?
> Please let us know in advance what you will need in terms of microphones, etc.
> ?
> Thank you for bringing your expertise to our dancers.
> ?
> For additional goodwill, we suggest that the "host" get the following things right in communication/publicity: Spelling of the caller?s name and the band?s name, where they are from, the date for the gig (these things slipped by in our case). A thank you email would be frosting on the cake.
> ?
> Hope this helps!
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
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Hi SW organizers & callers,
This came to our Belfast Flying Shoes email address. I've heard about Burning Man, and imagine this would be a wild undertaking. Thought I'd spread the word, to cast the net wide for Mr Stowe.
Cheers,
Chrissy Fowler
PS The Yahoo group seems to lay the vision all out (having given it a fast skim...).
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Stowe <mkstowegnv(a)gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 10:54 AM
Subject: first contradance camp in the 20+ years of Burning Man
To: belfastflyingshoes(a)gmail.com
Dear local dance/music contact person,
I am contacting a very large number of dance and music groups in the hopes of finding the rare souls who can make a contradance camp happen at Burning Man. I would be enormously grateful if you would post the email below to your local email list/ Facebook page, and write back to me to confirm that you have posted it. (I am trying to avoid subscribing to countless lists.) Please feel free to modify it or offer me your advice. Thanks so much, and thanks for all your volunteer work.
Hi, I am organizing what will apparently be the first contradance camp in the 20+ years of Burning Man (a week of extreme art in an extreme environment - http://burningman.com). Even though there are a large number of 'burners' who are contradancers, we need to get this message out to as many people as possible in particular to be able to line up callers and musicians.
In the discussion group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/burningmancontradance/
I lay out the logistical challenges and a preliminary plan for funding and otherwise making such a camp a reality (it will be easiest if you choose 'view all' and click the arrow that will reverse the default reverse chronological order).
I would be very grateful if you could pass this email on to anyone you know who might be interested. I am sending this out to as many contradance discussion groups as I can, but I won't get 'all of them' without help. Please post to the groups you know and send me a note telling me what group(s) you have posted to.
Thanks and best wishes, Mark Stowe mkstowegnv(a)gmail.com
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
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