To answer the question about dance timing, we have a weekday dance which used to be 8 to 11, but since it is a Wednesday dance we noticed that numbers near the end of the night were getting pretty anemic.  Lots of people left at the break and even more during the course of the 2nd half so that even on evenings with good attendance, the last few dances of the evening were very small. To get people to stay until the end, we then attempted a 7:30 to 10:30 dance.  And people were indeed more willing to stay to the end, BUT it's still the weekday and now the problem was at the beginning as 7:30 was challenging to get to.  We noticed that people didn't really start arriving until 8 or shortly after 8 for most dances, and it was hard to get the dance going.  Finally we settled for 8 to 10:30, cutting a half hour from the dance.  This has presented its own issues as we break at 9:30 as if it were a 3-hour dance, but then we have a 3-dance 2nd half and we do have the mass exodus at the break anyway, but it's still a decent attendance.  I toy with maybe having equal halves, thinking that dancers would stay on for the 2nd half because they did not get enough in the 1st half, but I've been advised against that. As for the connecting family dances with contra, we have done that at one of our local dances.  Pretty short family dance (about 90 minutes), potluck in between, and many families do leave before the evening contra dance, but a few stay on.  I think we try to make the dances easy at the start but even so they are challenges for kids who don't understand the structured dances.  You are right that we have lost the community aspect of our contra dances, but it's quite challenging integrating children in our dances.  Many kids can contra dance and do it well, but most prefer to run around and dance without structure. Perry From: Paul Rosenberg via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> To: Emily Addison <emilyladdison(a)gmail.com> Cc: organizers shared weight <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 10:34 AM Subject: Re: [Organizers] Ideas for connecting family dances with contra I remember thinking about this situation  many years ago.  I believe we linked the family dance with the contra a few times.  A small handful of children tried a few contras.  But back in those days, the contras were more community oriented. An evening would start with some easy dances, and include a circle mixer and maybe some squares.   At least in my area, Albany, NY (and other areas in the northeast US that I have visited) the shift in recent years of repertoire away from anything easy, into smooth, flowing, complex contras -- and no circles or squares — has made these evenings unwelcoming and inappropriate for most children But hopefully, dances in Ottawa, Syracuse, Belfast and some other places still value the community aspect of contra dance evenings. By the way, how do you keep attention of young people for two and a half hours?  When we started our monthly family dance in 1994, our dances were 2 hours, but included a 5 to 7 minute story and a 5 to 7 minute singalong .   For the last ten years, our family dances have been 90 minutes, without any “extras” For a double dance like this, don’t you think a shorter family dance would work better?  Although I suppose some people could show up later for the family dance and then stay for the contra, without making a huge time commitment.  On that note, after decades of organizing contras, community dances, and family dances, and watching changing preferences and patience levels of participants, I have come to the conclusion that in general, shorter is better.  So many dances keep their evening length as 3 hours, even with 80% of the dancers going home after two and a half hours.. For those dances that get so tiny for the last 30 - 45 minutes, would you consider thinking outside the box and leave the participants satisfied and shortening a dance evening? How many arts events are three hours long?  Most concerts and other shows I attend last no longer than two and a half hours at the most.  Yes, in the good old days, a contra evening would still have a healthy sized crowd right to the end, but times change.   Part of what keeps our events vibrant and exciting is watching the trends and reacting with appropriate response OK, I have 25 other emails to respond to so please forgive me for typos, etc Paul RosenbergAlbany, NYwww.homespun.biz On Oct 12, 2017, at 10:05 AM, Emily Addison via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: Hi All, Hope folks are having a good fall! I'm writing about a question regarding family dances and linking them more to contras. Here in Ottawa, we have four family dances a year... 3-530pm with a potluck after.  They're always on the same day as an evening contra which starts at 730pm with a beginner lesson, dance from 8-10pm.  There's not much overlap in audiences and we'd like to have some of the families with the younger and middle aged kids, naturally flow into the contra dances while maintaining our awesome contra dance vibe (not feel overly family dance). We're looking to learn from others on how they might have a better link between the two. I know Belfast does a great job and Syracuse also has Family dances rolling into Contras. If you do this, might you be willing to share some info?Things I'm wondering about include... 1. What is the timing of the different parts of the dance(s)2. Is there food/potluck/? involved?3. How does the transition happen between family and contra? 4. Do younger kids stick around and not dance when contra starts? If so where are they and what are they doing?5. Anyone have a play space for younger kids in the evenings?6. What do you do in terms of callers/bands for the family and contra portions?7. Other things you feel are important details/considerations? Maybe you have a totally different model... Thoughts? With much thanks!EmilyOttawa Contra _______________________________________________ Organizers mailing list Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net _______________________________________________ Organizers mailing list Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net

Weighing in from Belfast Flying Shoes (www.belfastflyingshoes.org<http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org>) in Maine. 1. What is the timing of the different parts of the dance(s) first Fridays 6:30-7:30 Community dance, with open All-Comers Band (For Community Dance only it's $2 adults, $1 kids) 7:30-8:00 Social break 8:00-11ish Contra dance ($10 adults, $8 ages 13-20, $5 kids---price for just contras is same price as for attending both community dance and contra dance) 2. Is there food/potluck/? involved? No, except at our annual "birthday" celebration of the series inception. The last few years, our birthday treats have been a potluck cupcake tower and a clementine tower. Early on in the series we had a "tasty treat potluck", with savory or sweet finger foods. This happened between the two dances, as a social break. We eliminated it for a few reasons, including these: very few folks brought things to share and the series was subsidizing the food, parents of young children told us they didn't love the sweets before bedtime, it made a big mess to clean up before the contras. 3. How does the transition happen between family and contra? It's fast. (Too fast, one might say.) Usually it's about 20 minutes by the time we introduce the All-Comers Band and do community dance door prize drawing. During the transition, contra performers are sound checking, people are milling about. The All-Comers Band sets up in the "back" of the hall, which happens to be nearest the entrance and is opposite the stage where the contra performers set up. This works well for us because the sound provider can set up for contras during community dance, contra performers can take their time to set up and plug in and tune. Then when the community dance ends, the All-Comers Band can similarly take their time cleaning up, so that there's less stress on either end. 4. Do younger kids stick around and not dance when contra starts? If so where are they and what are they doing? Yes, sometimes with their families (parents, older siblings). They sit down and watch from the sides. Occasionally younger kids fall asleep at edges of hall. When there are children who run wild, I appoint myself "chief grumpykins" and unequivocally remind them that this is a dance and they can dance or they can enjoy watching the dancers. (Grumpykins comes out during the break too. I have very low tolerance of running around.) 4b. Do younger kids stick around and dance for contras? Yes. A handful of very young kids (under 10), varies from month to month. A strong contingent of under 18 dance at the contras, some of whom come early for the community dance, especially when bringing friends who are new dancers. Most of the very young kids only stay for 1-2 of the dances in the contra portion of the evening. 5. Anyone have a play space for younger kids in the evenings? Not us. 6. What do you do in terms of callers/bands for the family and contra portions? Community dance - All-Comers Band, with stipend for band leadership; House caller, with stipend for calling. All-Comers Band is open to all ages, instruments, skill levels; typically 25+ musicians each dance. Last month age range was 5 - 75, including more than one parent/child/grandparent combo. All-Comers Band musicians get a $2 discount on the contras plus chocolate, but otherwise get no remuneration. Contra dance - Varied bands from Maine and beyond; Varied callers from Maine and beyond, with house caller leading about half the contras in a year. All performers paid a per person guarantee, plus potential profit-sharing if there is money left after expenses. 7. Other things you feel are important details/considerations? We roll all the admission money into one pile; admission income from both dances supports the entire two-dance event. A side-effect of our schedule (very little lag time) is this: when folks who aren't part of the community dance start arriving for the contras, the hall is already full of people. It feels like a happening thing from the get-go, even if most of those people end up leaving by the time folks are inviting partners for the second dance in the contra portion. This is buoying for all concerned.