Organizers

organizers@lists.sharedweight.net

18 participants
499 discussions

teaching new dancers, age and music genre

by Heitzso

I acknowledge that there are many ways to teach and value the tradition of contra dancing. I'm pushing the edges a touch here, but felt, given the recent discussion re large % of beginners and how do you pull in and keep younger dancers, that these two data points may be helpful. Back in 2019 I was asked to run sound, provide canned music, and call contras at a wedding. The bride had gone to a nearby college and was part of a cohort of students who came to my dance for awhile. At the wedding reception I had an hour to teach and call contra dances to some 45-50 dancers, 85% of whom had never danced contra. I set the rule for myself of almost no "teaching" and lots of dancing to music. I came up with a 16 count dance, a 24 count dance, a 32 count dance on up to the full 64. The dances built on one another. They all progressed. I had a small rectangular space so two tight lines. I don't recall if I used improper or Beckett as the basic alignment. I had several "contemporary/hot" contra music tunes lined up, e.g. Perpetual eMotion's Flying Tent. So a few minutes to explain line and progression then a simple dance with music that progressed. (e.g. ??? if I used improper maybe circle left 4 places, balance, pass through for 16 count dance, add in do-si-do for a 24, ... this probably isn't what I did but you get the idea) It worked well. The *high energy music* was enjoyed by the wedding crowd and *they never stood still for more than a few minutes* before dancing to some juicy music. A local women's university had studied integration in the south and how simple dances, such as the Virginia Reel, were used to socialize the northern white folks into the Southern African American integration movement community leaders. I was asked to teach and call the Virginia Reel, outdoors, to some 800 college students. While the students were assembling, which took awhile, I played Perpetual eMotion over the sound system. That juiced the students. You could see it in how they walked with a bounce in their step, in how animated their faces were, etc. But when it came time for me to actually teach and call the Virginia Reel I was told to pull back to old time string band music. I did as I was told and the music shift from high energy to old time sucked the energy completely out of the students. I called, and they reluctantly danced, the Virginia Reel and then went back to their classes. ___ This Sunday the Neverland Ramblers are playing in my town with two out of town callers. The Neverland Ramblers are composed of a keyboard player, a classically trained violinist, and a been-playing-in-rock-bands-forever lead (and follow, but easily throws out riffs based on the chord structure) guitarist. The violinist plays in numerous symphonies, has about 50 students that she teaches, and, besides the contra dance band, is in two cover bands, one easy listening and the other raucous. I enjoy her and the guitarist launching into Psycho Killer. I just got permission to call a 12 bar blues contra (several are out there and I've adapted a few AABB contras over to 12 bar blues format). ... This will be good. CAUTION most contra bands can't play 12 bar blues without rocketing past 120 BPM because they're used to playing so many notes in a bar. So this paragraph is about pulling in pop/blues music but also I want to flag that a 12 bar contra is easier to remember than a 16 bar contra so easier to dance by a beginner. Related, I'm thinking of how top weekend bands often have fun pop/other-genre inserts. Perpetual eMotion's Eleanor Rigby Playing with Fyre's Sweet Dreams Giant Robot's Hall of the Mountain King or everything Emily Rush plays when calling RushFest. etc. Heitzso Gainesville, Georgia

1 year, 4 months

Some thoughts I hope will be useful.

by Lindsay Morris

I have to unsubscribe from this list because each post triggers painful memories of my story in Asheville. <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aSw4Ntjv_DrPJrhV4NvHyLdln7Pa7ilOpJGSKwL…> But I retain a strong affection for this scene. So, as I leave, I offer this perspective: Waves of woke social violence happen more and more often lately. But it is not the angry social-media-driven mob that ruins someone’s life. That’s just high-school, mean-girl behavior. What ruins someone’s life, and exacerbates conflict, is being formally banned by an organizing committee that does not have the ability to stand up to the mob and say, “No, this is wrong.“ You, as an organizer, will be in this situation. You too may find it difficult to stand up and say No. You might instead say, as your policy: “We only do three things here: - We book the hall. - We hire the talent. - We count the money. That’s it. If there’s conflict on the floor, we don’t care. We’re not your mommy. It is your job to be kind to each other. It’s not our job to enforce that. We’re not your mommy. “ So that’s my idea. Who knows if that would work. But a volunteer board that takes on the responsibility of managing the behavior of 300 people will probably do more harm than good. I will add that *you* will be the next target of this. *You*, the good hearted, enthusiastic, believer in dance community, whose years of work have given you high status. There’s no fun in cancelling a nobody. *You* will be targeted. You will watch with stunned amazement as your community evaporates around you. I know you’re all doing your best, and I wish you good luck in these increasingly difficult times. Feel free to reconnect with me off-list if you wish. Goodbye.

1 year, 5 months

Fwd: Community building floor

by Jim Thaxter

Hey Organizers, My home town, Columbia, MO, is building a welcome/community center for multiple uses. Our contra group has asked them to consider something other than smooth concrete for the floor. The City parks and rec people were initially resistant, but since a lot of the funding for the building will be coming directly from the community, they seem to be softening their stance, but not to the point of approving a hardwood floor. So the architect has done some research on alternative flooring options that might be comfortable and safe to dance on, but also have many of the conveniences of concrete floor for multiple uses and maintenance. Two products are listed in the attachments below. Unfortunately, the only known installations are 300-450 miles from us in Indiana and Kansas. Have any of you out there in dance land run across either of these kinds of floorings, or maybe know of other alternatives to hardwood that would meet low maintenance requirements of the City? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Jim Thaxter Columbia, MO ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Robbie Price Date: Tue, May 9, 2023 at 9:12 AM Subject: RE: Community building floor To: Jim Thaxter <jathaxter47(a)gmail.com> Dear Jim: With a pure dance floor out of the question (too much friction for your purposes and too expensive), I am looking for floor which gives you the cushion you need and the durability to resist table and chair scratches, dropped equipment, and food spills. My rep from Tarkett, one of the largest flooring companies in the U.S. have a sports/recreation flooring division, Zoche, which may work. He recommends their Omnisports system “Multi-use” or the Lumaflex without the wood subfloor. Please find the spec sheets on these two products attached. I am also interested in an industrial wood flooring product which may prove to be a possible solution – end grain wood blocks. It traditionally is used in industrial applications with 3” – 5” thick,creosote impregnated wood blocks which take all manner of abuse. Today they do away with the harmful chemicals and hazardous materials and use oils and some polyurethanes to finish them. It could be a beautiful floor and stand up to any abuse if only it is acceptable to the dance community. Here are websites for your review: Old Wood LLC. - End Grain Flooring <https://www.oldwood.us/endgrain> , END GRAIN | Kaswell Flooring Systems <https://www.kaswell.com/end-grain/> I need to do so more research on this. Please let me know what you think. Thank you for any input you can provide. Cordially, Robbie *Robbie Price AIA, LEED AP +* *573.443.1407* Architect / Associate *soa* *Architecture Interior Design Planning Sustainability* *P* Please consider the environment before printing this email. *From:* Jim Thaxter <jathaxter47(a)gmail.com> *Sent:* Saturday, May 6, 2023 4:02 PM *To:* Robbie Price <price(a)soa-inc.com> *Subject:* Community building floor Hi Robbie, Thanks for being willing to consider a floor of something other than smooth concrete. Keep us up to date on what you’re looking at. Jim Thaxter

1 year, 6 months

Contra dance events listing

by Jeff Kaufman

Hi organizers, You might be familiar with trycontra.com, which lets you find local contra dances? I've now added trycontra.com/events for weekends, festivals, camps, etc. Let me know if you see anything wrong or missing! It presents data from this spreadsheet <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fQq7pTtNVMYVRgOPbjNz2jnyw4RABGrQopl…> . Jeff

1 year, 6 months

noting some dances in SE are doing well

by Heitzso

Just want to flag that the following dances in GA, NC, SC are doing quite well: Sautee (hour and a half above Atlanta, not quite middle of nowhere) https://snca.org/contra/home.php seem to be averaging 130-140 dancers at their monthly dances last dance I attended the beginners' class completely encircled the large gym lots of family energy (very wide range of ages) Old Farmers Ball, OFB, at Warren Wilson outside of Asheville https://oldfarmersball.com/ at their peak they had over 200 dancers every Thursday evening I don't know if they've gotten back up to that peak but I've heard it's a strong, solid dance River Falls Lodge, SC https://www.facebook.com/groups/harvestmoonfolk/ this really is in the middle of nowhere I'm _guessing _150 dancers would be packed. I'm hearing that it's often packed now. Charlotte, NC https://www.charlottecontradance.org/ I first encountered this dance several years ago and loved that their peak demographic was the 30-40 year old crowd that often disappears to raise a family. They've had to move a couple of times over the past few years and their numbers had dipped (down to 80??). I was around for a few of their early post-covid dances with ok numbers (70??). I gather the dance has gathered steam and is now quite solid, though I don't know demographics/numbers ... just that it's doing great. A lot of the above is hear say and may have changed since the last hearsay! I apologize if I'm speaking out of turn. Organizers are welcome to correct me. Thought some positive numbers would be a nice thing ... Heitzso

1 year, 7 months

Twitter hashtags

by Mary Collins

How many use twitter to promote your dance? Do you feel it is effective? What hashtags do you use? Thanks from Queen City Contra in Buffalo NY Mary Collins

1 year, 7 months

SW Organizers - Quick update on our contact list :)

by Emily Addison

Hi Folks, Since our organizers contact list was launched last week, we've had about 25 people add themselves to the list! It's so awesome to see folks' faces and find out what you're organizing. :) I won't post about the contact list regularly but every six months or so, I'll remind you that it exists and that you can update your information if you want. If you haven't yet added yourself but would like to, you can do so at any time. brief google form <https://forms.gle/kpdaDNkscU6cFVZs7> Details on the why of the list are below. Thanks! Emily in Ottawa ============================================================ The contact list is meant to support our online community in a few different ways: 1. Help us put a face to a name —> That way we can have a stronger connection, and even recognize each other at events when we travel. 2. Have a bit of context for the type of events folks organize. 3. Know where each other are located. 4. Be able to contact each other directly.

1 year, 7 months

Organizers contact list coming along well! + follow up re a few questions

by Emily Addison

Hi fellow organizers, Thanks to those who have added their information to the content collector! It's only been up for one day and we already have info for 15 organizers. :) :) :) I've just sent the google doc to those who have participated already. It will be interesting to know what others think but it actually brought me a lot of joy to see your faces and get a feel for where folks are and what they are organizing. *Re the question about folks from other countries participating:* Totally - we'd love to have folks from other places. I thought about adding 'country' as I know a few people are not in Canada or the US. However, I didn't want the Canadian and Americans to be putting their countries as that would be too much info. Short answer - yes, please participate! :) *Re question about keeping the doc updated:* My plan is to make the google document editable (suggestions/comments) by all those who contribute their info. I'll send out a reminder once every 6 months or so in case people forget it exists & that they can update their info. (This is no more work than approving new members to a listserv which I already do for two other SW lists). My hope is that through this process, the list will stay fairly updated. Thanks :) Emily in Ottawa On Fri, Apr 21, 2023 at 9:48 AM John Sweeney via Organizers < organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Hi Emily, > > I assume from the “State/Province” in the form that this is > only for North Americans. > > > > Keeping it up-to-date may be a challenge. > > > > Maybe it would be better for people to sign their posts. My > e-mails all have the signature below. People can provide a link to their > Web page or Facebook page to show their faces and what they organise. > Hopefully those pages will be up-to-date. > > > > Happy dancing, > > John > > > > John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 > 940 574 > > http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list -- organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net >

1 year, 8 months

Shared Weight organizers - want to participate in a wee tool to help us connect further???

by Emily Addison

Hi Shared Weight organizers, I've been talking with Seth (our organizers list moderator) about the following idea and I wanted to bring it to you all. I think it would be super awesome for us to have a contact list with our photo, email, where we're located + what we organize. *Why a SW organizers contact list??* I've always wanted to put a face to your name if I haven't met you before. We've been chatting for so many years and yet, many of us don't know what each other look like. If we showed up at a dance, we could actually miss connecting! Also, knowing what we each organize and where we're located helps put things into context. Finally, having a list will help us reach out to each other directly if there's a specific question we want to ask someone. *Are you interested in participating?* If so, please fill out this very brief google form <https://forms.gle/kpdaDNkscU6cFVZs7>, ideally by April 30th. Then I'll move your information into a google document in early May. All those who share their information will get a link to that google document. We won't be sharing the google doc link directly onto the list as our list archives are public and so can be searched by google and our personal information would be public. The document will say right at the top that it's not to be shared. :) I'm hoping this can strengthen our sense of community & our interest in further conversations if we 'know' each other just a little bit more. Thoughts? :) Emily in Ottawa PS: This is the first time we're trying something like this on a SW list. We'll see how it works here and then maybe it can be used on other lists.

1 year, 8 months

Dance series without vaccination requirements

by Stephen Moore

The Lenox contra dance series is interested in knowing other dance series/events around the country that do not have a vaccination requirement. If you feel comfortable letting us know of your existence, please email us directly at info(a)lenoxcontradance.org <mailto:info@lenoxcontradance.org>. Stephen Moore

1 year, 8 months

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Organizers