18 Dec
2007
18 Dec
'07
4:48 p.m.
In my experience, people are very good at self-segregating without any
help. Here are some examples from my experience:
In the Boston area, the Thursday night dance has a "young people" line.
The teens and twenty-somethings didn't like dancing with the old folks,
so they decided to all dance in the line furthest to the right when
looking at the stage. Now it's the most crowded line since a lot of
older (young at heart) folks like the energy and fun there.
We have all experienced the "center set" syndrome common at most dances
where the center set is populated by mostly experienced dancers who
quickly find partners and line up. This leaves the less experienced
dancers dancing in other sets, mostly with each other. The most extreme
case of this was a dance a couple of years ago when I called for a crowd
of about 30-40% beginners. There were two lines and one line had all of
the beginners with a very few experienced people and the other line had
all of the hotshots. One line was grumbling because I was calling dances
that were too easy while the other was always on the verge of breaking
down. Both would have been much happier if they hadn't segregated
themselves. (Yes, I tried to encourage the experienced dancers to dance
with beginners, but was ignored.)
While I have not heard of anyone designating a "child friendly" set, it
seems like it might work without being too exclusive.
Rickey, if you do organize an "experienced only" set, how would that
help your situation? Would you teach them a different dance than the
other set(s) and then call only the easy dance over the mic? It seems to
me that an "experienced only" set would turn new dancers off and
discourage them from returning.
The fourth Saturday dance in South Amherst, MA has an interesting
format. The dance starts with a kid-friendly family dance from 8-9:30.
Then they have a dessert potluck. After the break, the organizer
announces that the dances are going to be harder now and geared mainly
towards the experienced dancers. Most of the crowd sticks around for one
dance after the break, and then leaves. The people that are left are
hard-core dancers who are now rewarded with more difficult dances. They
have some trouble having enough people for a set sometimes and the dance
fizzles out a little early. The few times that I've called this dance,
I've ended up taking a partner and calling from the line. It's a lot of
fun and a good way to reward experienced dancers for helping with the
family dance portion of the evening. Of course, it would be better with
more people, but then that's a challenge that a lot of us face.
Just some thoughts. Hope they help.
Chris Weiler
Rickey wrote:
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-----
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:59:41 EST
From: Bobfab(a)aol.com
Subject: [Organizers] Children at Contradance Festivals
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