I do know one instance of the rotten US economy making it impossible for a good dancer to replace his ancient broken down truck, hence he is not attending any dances at all..
Very sad...
-Elizabeth Szekeres
Toronto
Sent from my iPhone
> On Dec 6, 2016, at 10:53 AM, via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. Lower attendance at dances (Allison Bell via Organizers)
> 2. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Chrissy Fowler via Organizers)
> 3. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Chris Page via Organizers)
> 4. Re: Organizers Digest, Vol 26, Issue 4
> (Emily Addison via Organizers)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2016 15:35:08 +0000
> From: Allison Bell via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: "organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net"
> <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Organizers] Lower attendance at dances
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> My observations in Greenfield are much of what's been said. We also have many new dancers, with the old group either aging out, finding other hobbies, nursing injuries, etc.
>
> One question: how politicized have dances becomes around issues like what a move is called, what a position is called? On the floor, there is a steady hum of resentment amongst long time dancers about these matters and some of this is also appearing to sour people on wanting to attend.
>
> Allison
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2016 15:46:55 +0000
> From: Chrissy Fowler via Organizers
> <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: organizers shared weight <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Lower attendance this year?
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> Interesting data so far! Are there dances out there that have seen an INCREASE in average attendance in the last year?
>
> Besides asking for help from the "converted", perhaps we need to increase our reach to the non-dancer community to boost the pool of potential attendees for a given dance. (Meaning, somehow become more visible to the majority of people in our geographic area - the non-dancers - so that we get our message out to those non-dancers who would want to come to our dance if they only knew about it.)
>
> In Belfast, we've got a major component for outreach to youth (schools, youth programming) but we could do more to raise the visibility of both our series and our organization.
>
> Any brainstorms for potential efforts to support sustainability?
>
> Cheers,
> Chrissy Fowler
> Belfast, ME
>
>
>
Please trim your post replies to quote just the directly applicable bits.
Otherwise it may be hard to find what you're saying amidst the massive
amount of (frequently garbled, at least on my end) embedded digest text.
Thanks for your consideration.
-Don
Hey, Committee—
If you’re not on the Shared Weight listserve, you might want to sign up—see email list above—and check out the latest conversational thread. Reduced attendance seems to be trend nationwide.
I don’t have the numbers at hand—Brian? Sophia?—but the stories—with a few exceptions—are remarkably familiar.
As ever—
Don
P.S. Anybody talking to the Housing Trust about St. Joseph’s?
I too worry about the impact of weekends and the 'super dance' experience
impacting local's perceptions of attending 'regular' dances.
Separate from that one point, this is starting to sound like a topic to
raise with CDSS if many of us are noticing a trend.
Thoughts?
I'm wondering if we do some more sharing about best-practices on getting
new people, converting, and keeping the regulars.
Emily
On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 10:34 AM, via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
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> 1. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Paul Pindris via Organizers)
> 2. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Perry Shafran via Organizers)
> 3. Re: Organizers Digest, Vol 26, Issue 2
> (Elizabeth Szekeres via Organizers)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2016 10:18:49 -0500
> From: Paul Pindris via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: Mary Collins <nativedae(a)gmail.com>
> Cc: Shared Weight Organizers <Organizers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Lower attendance this year?
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> There has been a new dance in Portland, Maine that started up earlier this
> year, which to its credit has been highly successful. It is a weekly
> mid-week dance that is not in direct competition with most NH dances, which
> are typically held monthly on weekends. However, I have had more than one
> person tell me that they are so enthused about this new dance (and
> apparently they are able to fulfill their dancing needs by its every-week
> scheduling) that they are no longer keen to get out to the smaller, more
> local dances. I liken this to the effect of a Super Walmart shutting out
> local businesses. Not sure if anything can be done about that.
>
> On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 10:02 AM, Mary Collins <nativedae(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Buffalo attendance has been down as well, however the last dance was up a
> > bit. Many of our long-time good dancers are not coming. A suggestion
> has
> > been made that the board contact them individually to discuss their MIA
> > status, we have not made a decision as how to approach this as yet.
> >
> > I do know that in some cases there are "opposing" great events on our
> > dance nights and we loose our out-of-towners (those that travel to our
> > dance) to those. There have been some family illnesses, travel etc. that
> > have effected us as well.
> >
> > One question that has come up among organizers and I wonder if others
> have
> > had similar thoughts...is a particular band or caller keeping folks away?
> > thoughts?
> >
> > Mary Collins, QCCD.org
> >
> > ?Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass ... it's about learning
> > to dance in the rain!? ~ Unknown
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 8:25 AM, Paul Pindris via Organizers <
> > organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> >
> >> This is astonishing information, as attendance at my dance in Deerfield,
> >> NH is down as much as 50% from its peak last season. The reason or
> reasons
> >> are unclear. If the poor attendance continues it potentially jeopardizes
> >> the long-term viability of this decades-old event.
> >>
> >> Paul Pindris
> >> Deerfield, NH
> >>
> >> On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Marie-Mich?le Fournier via Organizers <
> >> organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi all,
> >>> Both Montreal and Ottawa have seen lower attendance this fall and
> we
> >>> got word that it's similar in Brooklyn. Are any other local dances
> seeing
> >>> this too? Any idea what might be causing this? Since it happens to both
> >>> Canadian and American cities I doubt it's the political climate.
> >>> Thanks,
> >>> Marie
> >>> ContraMontreal
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>> Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> >>> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
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> >>>
> >>
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> >>
> >
>
Hi, All...
Toronto attendance was significantly down during the 15/16 year, and it looks rather the same for 16/17.
I'm wondering if the "good" dancers are preferring to dance at weekend events where the quality of the dancing is considerably better because of the skilled population that attend.
Just putting that thought out there...
I suppose the only way to know for sure is to poll people....
-Elizabeth Szekeres
Talent Coordinator
Toronto Contra Dance
Sent from my iPhone
> On Dec 6, 2016, at 10:02 AM, via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
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> 1. Lower attendance this year?
> (Marie-Mich?le Fournier via Organizers)
> 2. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Paul Pindris via Organizers)
> 3. Re: Lower attendance this year? (David Kirchner via Organizers)
> 4. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Dan Pearl via Organizers)
> 5. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Mary Collins via Organizers)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2016 08:17:34 -0500
> From: Marie-Mich?le Fournier via Organizers
> <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: Shared Weight Organizers <Organizers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Organizers] Lower attendance this year?
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>
> Hi all,
> Both Montreal and Ottawa have seen lower attendance this fall and we
> got word that it's similar in Brooklyn. Are any other local dances seeing
> this too? Any idea what might be causing this? Since it happens to both
> Canadian and American cities I doubt it's the political climate.
> Thanks,
> Marie
> ContraMontreal
>
Chiming in briefly from Ottawa.
We usually have about 110 paid attendees and our first four dancers were
all in the 80s. A big hit for us. Our last dance was better but 'tis
worrying. Especially if a bigger trend.
We don't think it's related to the talent as we have a diverse lineup that
isn't unlike other years.
And while the political situation is on the mind of many up here, my doubt
is that is having an effect.
We too are thinking of writing a carefully worded email to our community
encouraging them to come out more often + bring friends (+ tips on how to
do that effectively as we already encourage bringing firiends but doing
that is an art). We were thinking of sending the email (if we do) over the
holidays along with some youtube clips of the dances.
We're also starting to push other outreach strategies we haven't used in a
while.
Glad you brought this up Marie-Michele and looking forward to more voices
on this subject as it's such an important one!
Emily
On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 10:02 AM, via Organizers <
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Lower attendance this year?
> (Marie-Mich?le Fournier via Organizers)
> 2. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Paul Pindris via Organizers)
> 3. Re: Lower attendance this year? (David Kirchner via Organizers)
> 4. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Dan Pearl via Organizers)
> 5. Re: Lower attendance this year? (Mary Collins via Organizers)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2016 08:17:34 -0500
> From: Marie-Mich?le Fournier via Organizers
> <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: Shared Weight Organizers <Organizers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Organizers] Lower attendance this year?
> Message-ID:
> <CADbbneZQ_QVp+xTzcg=NZP8jztPhvBX8koL+=WpCrrPtL=0xj
> w(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hi all,
> Both Montreal and Ottawa have seen lower attendance this fall and we
> got word that it's similar in Brooklyn. Are any other local dances seeing
> this too? Any idea what might be causing this? Since it happens to both
> Canadian and American cities I doubt it's the political climate.
> Thanks,
> Marie
> ContraMontreal
>