Howdy folks,
Our dance formerly at Freeport then at North Yarmouth Maine and now in Topsham is the longest contiguous family into contradance in Maine.
It grew from a pre-dance jam session and potluck supper when the dance was in Freeport and when we were in NO Yarmouth we added a 1 1/2 family dance followed by a potluck then by the contra.
This boosted the potluck and few came stayed for the 8:30 contra.
When we moved to Topsham the dance was shortened to one hour followed by a dessert snack potluck leaving time for s beginner session before an 8 PM dance.
Some kids join the adult dance for a while. Some of these kids are really good dancers.
There are some young couples bringing thier kids to the dance who started dancing at the family dance.
Random thoughts:
We run the dance from Sept to June, the school year.
It took some time to get the dance rolling.
People have out so you gotta keep the publicity active.
Target homeschooling groups if sduch things exist in your area.
We've had in community birthday groups come, they know that they need to dance with everyone and it's encouraged they bring enough cake for everyone.
Non dancing kids may need to be reigned in if they run around too much.
Initial pricing was something like $2/$5or $6 max per family now it's $3/$12.
The music is provided by an open band led by a fiddler and a rhythm player with a fairly limited tune list keeping it accessible. Some of the players have played for over a decade. I've missed like two in over 20 years, one when my child was born.
There are some perennial favorite dances, one is Nine Pin, the other is known to many as the push off dance 'cause rump to rump you count and to the call "pousser"... well it's fun to watch!
To emphasise one point it takes perseverance to establish and keep vital any dance and the family dance more so because there's so little continuity.
I'm sure I've forgotten something, like how rewarding it casn be, but you'll get it right if you keep at it.
Be well, Jeff Raymond