We have three 5 dances in our area (about 1.5 hour radius):
Two are "one man shows" -- dances run mostly by one person, both of
which also play with the band. They are both once a month dances,
one of which (http://www.csda-dance.org/) has been going for 15-20
years, and the other one which started about 2 years ago
(http://daviddg.com/pages/contra.html). Our other dances are both
run by "organized" groups with non profit status, boards and all the
other bells and whistles that go with that (tax reporting, etc). One
group (www.tcdancers.org) runs 2-3 dances a month (2nd, 4th and 5th
Fridays) in the Durham/Chapel Hill area of NC at two different halls,
the other runs a weekly tuesday dance, and a 2x/month Saturday dance
(www.feetretreat.com). More recently David D's dance and TCD are
getting together later this month to put together a joint event --
TCD has a 5th Friday dance and David does a 1st Saturday dance, and
those are coming on the same weekend this month. We're having Becky
Hill come down and will have three dances plus a callers
workshop. If it comes off without killing anyone, it'll probably
happen again. ;-) -- more info at www.winterwhirlwind.com.
So, that's the quick and dirty summary of dance organizations in our
area. If folks want more detail, I can give it.
Jack Mitchell
(not actually doing any official organizational stuff) in Durham, NC
At 12:54 PM 2/7/2008, you wrote:
In the past, a common way of organizing dances in Maine was
around a "house band", who really were the committee, the hosts,
the go-fers, what-have-you. In short, you were throuwing a public
dance party. Our monthly dance in Blue Hill (ME) still functions
this way (after 32 years - the longest-running dance in the state).
We are a band of 4 members, and with some help from various
volunteers (mostly spouses and friends), we book the hall, collect
the gate, do the publicity, open, set up, pick up,
what-have-you. We book a rotating collection of callers, and an
occasional visiting band when we have other commitments, but
essentially we are the house band doubling as committee.
The model is perhaps less common now than in years past, but
still occurs with several venues in this state. On the plus side:
continuity from month to month, regular sharing of ideas (usually
at rehearsals), long experience working with each other, comfort in
the routine. A few drawbacks: more work for some members if others
are absent, a certain staid comfort with the status quo that could
become (but hasn't so far) a bit of stagnation, a certain amount of
exhaustion from time to time. But ...... "if it ain't broke; don't fix it"
Best to all,
George Fowler
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