Re: [Organizers] Organizers Digest, Vol 26, Issue 10

Given our shared interest in this topic, I'm wondering if anyone has attempted a survey asking their dance community questions related to attendance. I'm considering such a survey for our dance in the Mid-Hudson Valley of NY. I'd like to capture information about demographics, music preferences, qualities expected in callers, special dances, etc. I'd love to hear from others about any attempts to gather such information. Hopefully this would provide some strategic moves for increasing attendance. Eric G. for Hudson Valley Community Dances On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 5:14 AM, via Organizers <organizers@lists. sharedweight.net> wrote: > Send Organizers mailing list submissions to > organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-shared > weight.net > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > organizers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > organizers-owner(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Organizers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Lower attendance at dances (via Organizers) > 2. Re: Lower Attendance this year (via Organizers) > 3. Re: Lower Attendance this year (Jennifer Sordyl via Organizers) > 4. Re: Lower Attendance this year (Jeff Kaufman via Organizers) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2016 17:50:30 -0500 > From: via Organizers &lt;organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; > To: organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > Cc: gtwood(a)owrldpath.net > Subject: [Organizers] Lower attendance at dances > Message-ID: &lt;g4gQHTuy.1481151030.4148420.gtwood(a)worldpath.net&gt; > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > > I attend and (help) organize a few dances in Eastern NH. I also call > dances in NH. After a couple of years of strong support, I have been > noticing a decline in attendance since September. The small community > dance that I Organize/Call in Gilmanton NH, is holding it's own. I have > attributed the the fact that it is held on the 2nd Saturday (Columbus > Day, Veterans Day long Wknds) to seasonal decline that we go through.... > This year, dancers seem logi, leave at the break... by 10pm there is a > small quorum left. (break out the triplets) > December - June is our busy season... If current attendance trends don't > pick up... It could prove devastating for smaller dances, (funding is: > take of the door!) > Could it be the graying of the dancers?.... retirement travel?... > constant (vigorous) modern dances? > (Not so) welcoming to new dancers, I find that I have to present a > program that is accessible to newer dancers but, is not boring for the > experienced dancers.... > Anyway thanks for the forum. > Gale Wood > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2016 22:00:35 -0500 > From: via Organizers &lt;organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; > To: Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Lower Attendance this year > Message-ID: &lt;158dc6018e3-42d1-1049a(a)webprd-m29.mail.aol.com&gt; > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > > Weighing in from Rochester NY here. (Speaking for myself, not on behalf > of CDR) > > Awesome question, Marie-Mich?le Fournier! You can tell by the number of > responses that everyone is thinking of this. > > We have been tracking attendance for our weekly Thursday Night dance for > nearly a decade. Review it every month at the planning committee meeting. > The series is 40 years old this year. > About 4-5 years ago, we experienced our lowest chronic attendance for > several months, down to 25-30 from about 50 attendees when going back 5-7 > years. > We did a LOT of things to attract new folks: Posting flyers in coffee > shops and Colleges, putting announcements in the local papers, bring a > friend free campaigns. > We also initiated a "Second Dance Free" program, where every new dancer > gets to come back a second time for free. > This forum would be a great place to catalog all the ways we as > organizers have thought to promote our avocation (or vocation, as the case > may be.) > > To Mary Collins' point: > As the performer coordinator for the past 4 years, I did some trending > based on which bands and callers drew the most and fewest folks for the > past 10 years, from records the club kept. > (Dropping out extremes for weather and extenuating circumstances like > competing performances, which were sometimes recorded on the sign-in sheet.) > I started booking the bands and callers that drew the crowds, and cut way > back on the unpopular ones. With a weekly dance, there's lots of mixing of > callers and bands, so teasing out the trends is doable. > For us, it was callers who called squares and circles and triple minors, > or were pedantic and brusque on stage, who drew far less folks, > and the bands that play exclusively "Old Time Music" were the ones I had > to cut back on. > For the record, there is only one band that I had multiple request to NOT > have them back, from discerning dancers. > > I actively sought out newer younger bands, particularly from a local > String school. They tended to have LOTS of groupies who paid the young > people rate, > but the enthusiasm was contagious and frankly, the performers are > exceptionally talented musicians. > The biggest boost was a successful 40th Anniversary dance, with members > of the original band from 1976, and callers from the past 4 decades. > There were folks who came back for that dance we haven't seen in ages, > and a few of them have begun to come once a month or so. > > Our attendance at last count is now averaging up in the high 40's to 50's > fairly regularly. When big names come, we hit about 90. Used to be upwards > of 120 for the same bands. > > Another consideration is the tireless efforts of the coordinators of our > English Country Dance half of the organization. > They have truly grown about 3x-4x on a regular basis from humble starts. > They have an annual Jane Austen Ball that is sold out a few days after > announcing each year. > They have coordinated press releases for the Contra and English dance > events. We have been on local news. We have been on Radio. > They instigated the Meet-Up which has brought us several new folks. > We have started having occasional (1-2 per year) Combo dances, just to > get the people together...we needed to heal the schism in our group that > created animosity on each side, mostly about funding. > > A couple of our dancers also do MWSD, and have brought in one or two > regulars from that group to ours. > I would like that cross-pollenation to continue, to help with the > attendance on nights where squares are likely. > I won't prohibit them when booking, but suggest that they are not the > crowd pleaser. > > As for Weekends, yes, we have seen a decline over the last 7-8 years at > our Thanksgiving Festival. We had to raise the price and I am concerned > that we are almost out of the market space. > We are still tallying from last week's event. The hall raised the rates > by nearly 200% in one year a few years back...and that is when we had to > increase the price. > That dance used to be the money maker to fund the break-even or losing > weekly dance. Now the weekly dance is self supporting, and covers any > shortfall on the big dance weekend. > However, we did get a boost last year when I insisted that we try a > Techno for half of one of the evening dances. It drew well. And there were > the inevitable "too loud, too dark, too many flashing lights" > from some traditional contra dancers, but the majority of dancers voted > with their attendance. The performers who stayed with me this year were > talking about how so many weekends are > making it difficult for any one weekend to draw too many people, and > mentioned some areas of the US where there is a big weekend nearly Every > weekend (hyperbole? not sure) > > My own personal thought here: I wonder if the proliferation of the > "Social Contracts" that dance organizations are publishing are having a > negative effect on potential repeat dancers... > A few of the policies I have read make me thing "Why do I want to go > where there is a NEED for this type of rule to be published?" > I understand and agree that the behaviors being spelled out are > egregious, and outside the bounds of acceptable behavior, > and having a written policy helps enforcers do the undesirable task of > addressing the situation. > I just don't know the answer to the conundrum. If only we could be sure > people recognized how widespread the problem is, and that having a policy > is a good thing. > > My own fantasy is to fund a resurgence of Social dance through the high > schools, by coordinating the music departments and the phys ed departments > to replace the > recordings of scratchy records with unintelligible calls for the Dreaded > Square Dance Unit. There are SO MANY great sets by newer bands that could > be scored and charted for > the HS jazz band and Wind ensembles to record for their classmates to use > instead. It is my pipe dream, but like so may of those, I just don't have > the time or resources. > > yours in dance, > > Bob Fabinski > > > > > > bobfab(a)aol.com > > >