Hi Dana (Monteplier) and fellow organizers!

I'm digging back into my inbox for interesting things I had read but couldn't get to.

Anyway, I think your dance series sounds really innovative and quite neat. :)

I love the idea of the little skits. We did just one back in the fall on how to hold your partner... just before the break in the dance. This because lots of our regulars pull on shoulders etc.... even though many go to the beginner lesson to help out, we wanted to get the message clearly but in a fun way out to everyone.

I'm curious - do you have a running list of what you've done for skits? How you've covered those subjects?

It would be neat to do a group sharing of ideas if others are also interested!

Emily

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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2017 17:09:02 -0500
From: Dana Dwinell-Yardley via Organizers
<organizers@lists.sharedweight.net>
To: organizers@lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Organizers] Organizers meeting at Flurry.
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Hi friends,

I missed this session at Flurry, but my co-organizer, Alice Smolinsky, was
telling me about it! We run the Montpelier Contra Exchange dance (
www.contraexchange.org) together, along with four other folks.

We are the series that does half contra, half featured dance. We do contra
for the first half, and it's a long half: 8?9:45. Then we have a short
workshop on the featured dance from 9:45 to 10. Then we take a break, and
come back for 45 minutes of the featured dance (swing, Cajun, waltz, etc)
from 10:15 to 11.

We also do the organizer-led skits on various aspects of being a better
dancer: asking your partner if they prefer twirls, listening to the caller
and not chatting, being a "dance ambassador" and looking out for the
benefit of the whole hall, etc. We believe that it's powerful when teaching
moments come from the "laypeople" ? dancers/organizers ? not just the
caller.

Let us know if you have more questions about our unusual but super friendly
little dance!

Dan