Dear Organizers,I am working on putting together a callers' workshop in Lawrence, Kansas, for the third weekend in March. We are also looking for someone to facilitate an organizers' roundtable, for new and experienced dance organizers to learn and share information about putting on events, increase attendance, improve retention, etc.
Is there anyone here who has a lot of experience organizing events, who would be willing to lead/facilitate a session for folks in our region? I'd love to hear from you to see if we can make it work!
Margretta de Vries
Glad that the Shared Weight Organizers list is active again!
We produce a monthly contra dance series, whose callers are booked according to the collective priorities of our entire board. Those priorities may seem arbitrary or inconsistent, but we don't worry about that.
We also produce a monthly community dance series, whose callers are always the same. (Since inception that's been me, and in recent years another caller usually joins me - we plan and call the community dance together.)
When our group produces special dances, we have no standard criteria for who gets invited to call. We take into account the type of event (community vs. contra/ecd/square/other), and match the skills needed to the callers we might want to invite from the board's priority list. Sometimes we have a caller lead a special dance who has already done one of our monthly contras, including on the same weekend (making it a two gig trip for them if they're from away.)
And all of this applies to how we hire musicians as well. Board prioritizes the musicians who are invited to play the contras, community dance always has an open All Comers Band led by one person, special dances could feature open bands or other bands, and attention is given to the same things (type of dance, skills needed, etc) plus sometimes we arrange two gigs or more in a given 'tour' for folks from away.
I'm not sure what you mean by "dance community norms", but maybe I addressed it inadvertently.
Cheers,
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast Flying Shoes
Belfast, ME
** ** **
Dance Calling | Transcription | Belfast Flying Shoes
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(207) 338-0979
________________________________
From: Liz Burkhart via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Monday, January 13, 2020 10:39 PM
To: organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Organizers] Special Dance Caller Criteria
Howdy, I got an email from the creators/maintainers of this list which said in various places it was the musicians list, organizers list, and upon second reading, also contra callers list! Wow! I'm going by the actual name, which is organizers. So.... organizers:
If your group has a special, regularly occurring dance (for example a monthly dance on a weekend when most of your dances are weekly on a weekday), do you have specific criteria for which of your regular callers is eligible for calling a special night? If so, what is that criteria? If you reply, it would help if you also tell me which dance community norms you speak of. Our community (Cincinnati Contra Dance) is looking into this question.
Thank you!
Liz Burkhart
Hi fellow Shared Weight organizers :)
CDSS is hosting a web chat in two weeks focusing on how dance series can
diversify their income. Check out the details below. These are FREE
sessions and are EASY to join either by phone or through your computer. (I
prefer computer because you can watch the speakers present.)
Thanks :)
Emily Addison
Writing from Ottawa, Ontario
=========================
*Announcing CDSS Web Chat #7!*
*Diversifying Income: Thinking Outside the Money Basket*
*Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, 7:00-8:15 p.m. EST*
Is your dance series having trouble making ends meet? If so, don't miss
this valuable opportunity to hear about ways to create financially healthy
dance communities! Guest organizers of contra and English country dances in
Georgia, New York, and Ontario will share their experiences and success
stories on this important topic. Q&A included.
To register (by computer or phone), submit your online form
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001a-X6kTJD0B5K3qBXK2oW85Dh707oCYLmZXOfboRpGuoh…>
by *February 9*.
Online sign up form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdITFCzpM5tEKwoXVkhfC0obumA9BE6C31…
A few days before the web chat, you'll receive an email with instructions
on how to participate. Even if you can't join us on this time, you can
submit the form for news about future CDSS web chats.
Check out recordings of previous web chats here!
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001a-X6kTJD0B5K3qBXK2oW85Dh707oCYLmZXOfboRpGuoh…>
Questions?
Email resources(a)cdss.org.
*Please share this message with organizers who might be interested!*
Hi Margaret,
I've seen proposals like this at various times, and wrote about one a few
years ago. It has many good comments:
https://www.jefftk.com/p/group-recording-and-consent
The main problem I see is that people will still show up and take pictures
and video without seeing the policy. It's very hard for dance managers who
see someone they don't recognize taking pictures to tell whether the person
is following the policy, which means enforcement is not going to be very
good. It's very likely that pictures of people who don't want to be
photographed will still end up online, and this means that people who
cannot take that risk can still not attend the dance. So the actual
benefit from the policy is pretty low. In the other direction, people also
get a lot of enjoyment out of sharing pictures and videos, and being able
to see what dances/bands/callers are like is useful for convincing people
to come out to dances.
Jeff
On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 11:55 AM margaret_bye--- via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hello! This is my first post and I was unwilling to go through each month
> for the past five years to see if this has been previously addressed.
> (Please point me to a post/thread if it has been.) I am a new board member
> in Albany NY for the Capital District English Country Dancers. I had
> recently read about online video of people dancing used to deny someone's
> disability claim. I had also attended an event at a large venue where
> there where heart stickers available for people to put on if they did not
> want their photo used. I put together a policy and am looking for some
> feedback. The short and sweet version:
>
> Capital District Country Dancers Photo and Video policy
>
> Dear dancer,
>
> Because photos and video are now so easily disseminated and last forever
> on the world wide web, CEDC is promoting a privacy policy. If you do not
> wish to be photographed or videotaped at a dance please wear a heart
> sticker (provided). Dancers and others who wish to take photographs or
> video dances are asked to refrain from posting images of people with heart
> stickers.
>
> The longer version:
>
> Capital District Country Dancers Photo and Video policy
>
> Dear dancer,
>
> Because photos and video are now so easily disseminated and last forever
> on the world wide web, CEDC is promoting a privacy policy. If you do not
> wish to be photographed or videotaped at a dance please wear a heart
> sticker (provided). Dancers and others who wish to take photographs or
> video dances are asked to refrain from posting images of people with heart
> stickers. This policy should not be construed as CEDC assuming liability
> for any image of anyone at a dance appearing in any publication or online.
> _______________________________________________
> Organizers mailing list -- organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
>
Hello! This is my first post and I was unwilling to go through each month for the past five years to see if this has been previously addressed. (Please point me to a post/thread if it has been.) I am a new board member in Albany NY for the Capital District English Country Dancers. I had recently read about online video of people dancing used to deny someone's disability claim. I had also attended an event at a large venue where there where heart stickers available for people to put on if they did not want their photo used. I put together a policy and am looking for some feedback. The short and sweet version:
Capital District Country Dancers Photo and Video policy
Dear dancer,
Because photos and video are now so easily disseminated and last forever on the world wide web, CEDC is promoting a privacy policy. If you do not wish to be photographed or videotaped at a dance please wear a heart sticker (provided). Dancers and others who wish to take photographs or video dances are asked to refrain from posting images of people with heart stickers.
The longer version:
Capital District Country Dancers Photo and Video policy
Dear dancer,
Because photos and video are now so easily disseminated and last forever on the world wide web, CEDC is promoting a privacy policy. If you do not wish to be photographed or videotaped at a dance please wear a heart sticker (provided). Dancers and others who wish to take photographs or video dances are asked to refrain from posting images of people with heart stickers. This policy should not be construed as CEDC assuming liability for any image of anyone at a dance appearing in any publication or online.
Hi fellow Shared Weight dance organizers,
I'm very excited to announce a greatly expanded CDSS Resource Portal!
You may remember that CDSS launched a Resource Portal for organizers back
in Fall 2018. The organizer section has since been updated and there are new
sections for dance musicians, callers, song leaders, educators ritual
dancers, and others!
The goal of the CDSS Resource Portal it to support you and others who take
on valuable leadership roles in traditional dance, music and song
communities. The Portal does this by linking to many of the very best
resources available for callers, educators, organizers, singers, ritual
dancers, educators, dance musicians, and more. There are hundreds of
resources organized by topic as well as links on how to connect with others
online or at in-person gatherings.
Check out the Portal here: https://www.cdss.org/resources/resource-portal
The Portal is only a great as the resources that are shared by the
community. We are looking to add even more resources and we really
appreciate resources created by members of our network (including you!).
If you know of resources that should be added, please suggest them here:
https://www.cdss.org/share-your-resource
If you have follow-up questions for me regarding the portal, please email
portal(a)cdss.org rather than the listserv. Note that I likely won't be able
to respond for a few weeks but do look forward to touching base.
Also - If you haven't already, you may want to join CDSS's free quarterly
e-blast for organizers.
-> Check out the latest issue sent out today: https://conta.cc/2uRunBM.
->If you would like to receive future Shop Talks, you can sign up here:
https://www.cdss.org/programs/cdss-news-publications/shop-talk
AND - if you are excited about either the Portal or Shop Talk, please share
the news with your friends!
Thanks,
Emily Addison
writing from Ottawa, Ontario
Hi Liz and fellow organizers :)
Here in Ottawa, we have two situations that happen which might be similar
to what you are describing.
To set the scene:
-We have a monthly Wednesday night 'local talent' contra dance were any of
our local callers are welcome to call. (Cheaper event to attend; no talent
gets paid)
-We have contra dances two Saturdays a month which are a mix of local and
away callers (Cost to attend; much bigger dance; talent gets paid)
-We have 5-6 double events a year where there is a special afternoon dance
in addition to evening contra dance. (Poster attached for that)
Only on very rare occasion have we hired local callers for our double
dances. This is because we use those events to bring in expertise from
elsewhere AND the fact that the talent gets paid for two events rather than
one makes it possible for us to bring in talent from away, which we like to
have on occasion. The only time we've had local callers for these events
is when we did a beginner waltz lesson, beginner hambo, and also a split
event with the Ottawa ECD and contra communities. In those cases, we chose
people who had expertise in these areas.
Approximately half of our local callers call at our Saturday dances.
Mostly this is when we feel that they have enough experience and we'll
start them with a half evening. We haven't had any issues with people who
aren't ready wanting to call on a Saturday night. However, we have had the
experience of having local callers with a bit of Saturday experience not
necessarily being ready for more. What we've done to deal with these
issues is that we've made an open policy of 'we want feedback on our
organizing and we want to be able to share calling feedback with you'.
Then the main program chair will check with our committee for feedback
after the local callers call on a Saturday and share feedback from the
committee.
Not sure if this helps...
Thanks,
Emily in Ottawa
Howdy, I got an email from the creators/maintainers of this list which said
in various places it was the musicians list, organizers list, and upon
second reading, also contra callers list! Wow! I'm going by the actual
name, which is organizers. So.... organizers:
If your group has a special, regularly occurring dance (for example a
monthly dance on a weekend when most of your dances are weekly on a
weekday), do you have specific criteria for which of your regular callers
is eligible for calling a special night? If so, what is that criteria? If
you reply, it would help if you also tell me which dance community norms
you speak of. Our community (Cincinnati Contra Dance) is looking into this
question.
Thank you!
Liz Burkhart
