Hello everyone,
Once again, frigid New Hampshire was home to another warm and special
Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. It was great to see people from all
over the country who came to dance and learn. The SharedWeight lunch
gatherings were a couple of the high points for me. We had fascinating
discussions about style, teaching, stubborn minded dancers, stubborn
minded callers, psychology, choreography and so much more.
Both Beth Parkes and Nils Freidland's caller's workshops made us think
and philosophize this year. Beth's on what it means to be a
"professional" caller. And Nil's on why we dance, why we call and what
virtues we want and need to bring to the stage with us.
The retrospective video about Ralph Sweet by David Millstone was great!
Fun and funny and informative, David again shows his talent for
storytelling.
It would be great to hear from other people about their favorite parts.
It was great to see everyone who came!
Happy Dancing!
Chris Weiler
New to the list and adding our 2 cents from Belfast, ME.
PHILOSOPHY & BACKGROUND
Our committee would agree with Dave Cain's assertion that it's vital to invest in making our dance appealing to the masses. We strive to have high quality bands and callers in a nice hall, and have spent time and energy building our community. We also decided that we wanted to take in enough money each month to pay performers a guarantee plus a performer split of 80% of whatever is left of the gate after expenses. (Our policy is to keep 20% of that remaining gate to hedge against future losses.) We aren't making our performers rich, but we have a reasonable kitty built up, portions of which we have used to pay performers a little bit extra in lean months and to support special projects, including donations to the roof fund of our American Legion hall, minor hall improvements, professional website mgmt, subsidizing other community dances as outreach, and new caller development.
We have 3 threads to our monthly (1st Friday) series:
6:30-7:30 - Community Dance with open All-Comers Band
7:30- 8:00 - Tasty Treat potluck
8:00- 11:00 - Contradance
ADMISSION PRICES:
We started our series in Dec 05 with these rates:
Community Dance
$2 adults
$1 kids
free for musicians playing in the all-comers band
Contra Dance
$8 ($4 kids)
$6 for adults who came to the community dance (and either paid $2 or played in the band)
$3 for kids who came to the community dance
After a year, with many requests for teen rates, we changed to:
Community Dance Only:
$2 adults
$1 teens/kids
free for musicians playing in the all-comers band
Contras only -or- both Community and Contra Dances
$8 adults
$6 young people 21 and under / all-comers musicians
$4 kids 12 and under
a small group of dedicated volunteers and the dance committee don't pay
After 10pm it's half price and whenever the money gets counted, it's free.
ATTENDANCE:
We regularly get 20-25 musicians of all ages and instruments in the all-comers band, 25-60 dancers at the community dance, and 130-180 dancers at the contras, including a healthy number of teens and kids. (We've had numbers higher and lower than those ranges, but that's about what we expect now.) Our proportion of youth is quite large now, but that may not be related to our price change. I agree with Dan that the discount is a psychological welcome mat for those young people, who add a lot in terms of zestiness and 'life' to our dance.
MORE PHILOSOPHY:
We believe that up to a point, price isn't a consideration, but that people come because they will see friends, will enjoy great music (some of which is made by their friends, family and neighbors) and can participate in an excellent community activity (dancing). And if we were charging less, we would have less to pay out, we would less easily attract the same caliber of performers which in turn attracts the dancers. (The dance is very fun to perform for, with extremely appreciative dancers, so some folks would want to play and call anyhow, but we appreciate the variety that's possible by offering performers both adulation and cash.) With all the things that people could spend $8 on (including cheap plastic junk that they'll toss on the landfill) we think our dance is a bargain.
ACCOUNTING:
We don't separate the money for the community and contras. We don't track who pays what. (Too complicated for the door-sitters.) It all goes into the same pot, which basically pays the bills for the contras (performer pay, sound, hall, expenses.) We do have small stipends for active committee members, which we take out as part of the expenses for each dance. (All-comers anchors, Community Dance caller, publicity/marketing) This token is appreciated and helps us feel like we are in some way compensated for our time and effort, but it is small enough that we feel okay about it on principle. We don't track #s of dancers, but occasionally do head counts just to get a general sense of the #s. We also track #s of attendees via the door prize tickets. And just to get a consistent data point to track, we divide the total take by $8, which gives us a figure for the approx number of dancers. (All very non-scientific, but consistent in our methods.) We do track #s of All-Comers, as a byproduct of a sign-in book that lets us acknowledge each musician by name at the end of the Community Dance.
Nice to be part of this ongoing conversation. I love hearing the different stories from different places, and seeing how one idea in one dance community can be tweaked (a little or a lot) so that it better fits another dance community.
To quote Billy Bragg: "I went out drinking with Thomas Paine. He said that all revolutions (and dances) are not the same. They're as different as the cultures that gave them birth - no one idea can solve every problem on earth... For people are different and so are nations (and dances!) You can borrow ideas but you can't borrow situations."
~Chrissy Fowler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org
_________________________________________________________________
Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live.
http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_012008
Hello everyone,
Cynthia beat me to the punch. Yes, it's time for the Ralph Page Dance
Legacy Weekend again. Yes, we shall have a SharedWeight gathering during
lunch on Saturday in the dining area. For those who haven't been there
before, we push a bunch of tables together for an informal gathering. I
always look forward to seeing people from far away and meeting people
new to the lists.
I try to be there early with a little printed SharedWeight sign on the
table at the back of the dining hall. You'll recognize me on the dance
floor sporting a tie-dye bandanna. Or you can look at the picture on my
website: http://www.chrisweiler.ws/
Safe travels everyone!
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH
Hi Ricky
I'll echo what Chris has said:
Dances that I attend, with the possible exception
of Gilmanton NH, I find it's harder to get the
Experianced/Non-experianced dancers to mingle than
to seperate them. More to the point; folks with
children tend to gravitate to a common line because
it gives the kids a place to jump around
without the pressure of doing the dance 'correctly'
all the way through. That being said, I have had the
pleasure of watching very young dancers come up through
the beginner lines to become exceptional dancers and
well rounded young adults! A joy to dance with!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web.com What can On Demand Business Solutions do for you?
http://link.mail2web.com/Business/SharePoint
We've occasionally asked the caller to announce before the break that the
first contra after the break will be a "No Walk Through." We leave it up to
the caller's discretion, if he thinks there are enough "good" dancers and
few enough newbies.
It's never exactly a challenging dance, but it is a perk for the
experienced dancers to not have to teach that one to newbie partners
and neighbors.
We chose after the break because the newbies can still get a few more
of the goodies while watching, and even add it if they think they can do it
after watching. It was a long long board meeting to come up with something
that satisfied all the concerns.
Downside is that some newbies go home, but that happens anyway with
a Thursday dance from 8-11pm.
Bob
**************************************
See AOL's top rated recipes
(http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)
Another line question: I often have some experienced folks (and I would like
some more), mixed in with lots of very beginners. When these experienced
dancers come they are always very friendly to the others and very helpful.
I would like to thank them with some more complex dances, without asking
them to wait until the very end. Do you think that a beginner's line and an
"experienced line" could be organized without it seeming unfriendly? Has
anyone ever tried such a thing?
Rickey Holt, Fremont, NH
-----Original Message-----
From: organizers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net
[mailto:organizers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of
organizers-request(a)sharedweight.net
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 12:00 PM
To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net
Subject: Organizers Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1
Send Organizers mailing list submissions to
organizers(a)sharedweight.net
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
organizers-request(a)sharedweight.net
You can reach the person managing the list at
organizers-owner(a)sharedweight.net
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Organizers digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Children at Contradance Festivals (Bobfab(a)aol.com)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:59:41 EST
From: Bobfab(a)aol.com
Subject: [Organizers] Children at Contradance Festivals
To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net
Message-ID: <c5c.217669c3.349723fd(a)aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
The surveys from the recent Rochester Contra/Swing Thanksgiving weekend had
2
individual comments regarding children making the dancing less enjoyable.
The
circumstances were regarding a child (5 years old) who was *forced* to dance
by his parent, in the *evening* contra and afternoon English dance. The
child
is capable with modest dances, but the evening dances are more complicated,
and the English dance is all about timing and style.
The board decided that our community wants to encourage young dancers, so
excluding them from the floor was not an option. We also wanted to respect
the
expectations of the folks who come to a festival for higher quality dancing
than
is had a regular weekly dances. We decided to create a "child friendly" line
at the side of the hall, have the caller announce it occasionally, and put a
big sign on the wall at the head of that line.
Does anyone else out there have thoughts about this? Has the
"child-friendly"
line been tried? Did it meet with success? Does it wind up being empty? Are
there other dances where children are excluded?
Thanks in advance.
Bob
**************************************
See AOL's top rated recipes
(http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)
------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Organizers mailing list
Organizers(a)sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers
End of Organizers Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1
****************************************
The surveys from the recent Rochester Contra/Swing Thanksgiving weekend had 2
individual comments regarding children making the dancing less enjoyable. The
circumstances were regarding a child (5 years old) who was *forced* to dance
by his parent, in the *evening* contra and afternoon English dance. The child
is capable with modest dances, but the evening dances are more complicated,
and the English dance is all about timing and style.
The board decided that our community wants to encourage young dancers, so
excluding them from the floor was not an option. We also wanted to respect the
expectations of the folks who come to a festival for higher quality dancing than
is had a regular weekly dances. We decided to create a "child friendly" line
at the side of the hall, have the caller announce it occasionally, and put a
big sign on the wall at the head of that line.
Does anyone else out there have thoughts about this? Has the "child-friendly"
line been tried? Did it meet with success? Does it wind up being empty? Are
there other dances where children are excluded?
Thanks in advance.
Bob
**************************************
See AOL's top rated recipes
(http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)
Some of you may recognize this question from the PVCD (Pioneer Valley
Contra Dance) list on Yahoo Groups.
How do you balance the price you charge for the evening of dancing with
attendance? Charge too much and you loose people. Charge too little and
you have trouble paying the performers and the hall. Do you charge a
sliding scale based on ability to pay? Or student/senior status?
On the PVCD list, a student sent a message complaining about the rising
prices at some dances and the lack of a student rate at others. She
complained that she and her friends could not dance as much as they
wanted to. The response ranged from "right on!" to "think about the
musicians!" to "grow up and decide how to spend your money". (I'm
paraphrasing.)
Last month (after much deliberation) I raised the price of my Mill City
dance from $7 to $8, but added a "young person" price of $5. It's too
soon to know if it's had any affect or not. Last month I had a couple
less people than usual, but due to the price increase, the amount that I
had to pay the band was the same. The other dance in town is still
charging $7 as well. When I took a survey in the sign-in book earlier in
the summer, I asked if people were willing to pay the new price
structure. I got about 10 yeas and 2 nays. I should also mention that I
do not have a gate person and payment is on the honor system. However,
the tally pretty closely matches my quick count from the microphone
during the evening.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH
Random Thoughts on Price:
In the long run your dance will do OK with the price increase.
I weighed in on the subject back in July so I won't rehash
One thing that did happen, was that, I was accused of putting that extra
dollar
into my own pocket. Of course that did not happen.
(Later, the accuser came to the dance on a sporadic basis, which was
just as well)
Many times I added money from my pocket to make sure
The performers took home enough.
On the other hand family and friends, could not believe that I was
doing all this work and not getting any monetary gain from it.
(I did not tell them that I would sometimes subsidize the dance)
I did it for the dance!
Running a contra dance is not (nor should it be a money making venture)
Many smaller dances operate on a 'take of the door basis'
(No guaranteed sum to performers) It's more of an exercise in
community
building. I enjoy the smaller 'non-professional' dances
Compared to other forms of entertainment; $8.00 bucks is a cheap night
out
And the interactions with the community are well worth it.
I wonder if other factors may be influencing dancers' decisions not to
attend the Mill City dance?
If attendance continues to decline I would suggest placing
questionnaires on the
tables a the dance, and gauge responses.
Thanks
Gale
