I haven't attended for the past 2 months so I'm not certain, but it seems a lot of brand new folks at each dance.
On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 8:45 AM Jeff Kaufman <[email protected]> wrote: > "at least 60-70% were inexperienced dancers" > > Has this been a mostly overlapping group of new dancers coming back each > month, or are they mostly people who come once or twice? > > Jeff > > On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 1:46 AM John Little via Organizers < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Following this thread. >> >> I'm in San Luis Obispo; similar situation. We've been thinking about this >> a lot lately, and I think we're starting to see some good improvement. >> >> It also sounds like at your dance, you might be having undercurrents of >> divisions between newer and returning dancers. This might be what's giving >> you trouble? The fact is that beginners learn best when they dance with as >> many different dancers as possible, so your goal is to make it so everyone >> *wants >> to* dance with everyone else. >> >> Both new dancers and returning dancers need to be motivated in different >> ways. New dancers should know that they'll learn the quickest and have the >> easiest time when dancing with an experienced dancer. Returning dancers >> should be reminded that while it's less exciting to dance with new dancers, >> the delayed reward of well-attended, intricate, energetic dances will be >> worth it. The juice is worth the squeeze! >> >> For organizers, the truth is that we can't do very much during a dance. >> The caller has the most direct impact on whether people like dancing and >> want to keep coming back. So as an organizer, our best things we can do >> involve chatting closely with the caller about the crowd we expect and the >> outcomes we're hoping for. It helps tremendously when the caller is close >> to the community and knows how they dance, so mentoring new callers from >> within your community sounds like it will help you with your goal. We are >> also mentoring two new callers (editor's note: I'm one of them), and >> because new callers need practice more than once a month, we've rustled up >> a few of our more experienced dancers and met up outside of our monthly >> dance to practice walkthroughs, demos, live calling, lessons, etc. >> >> In addition, here are some of the actionable things that we have tried. >> Not necessarily a magic bullet; try what you like and see what sticks. >> >> - Two smaller breaks instead of a big one in the middle. New dancers need >> more breaks. We did this for only 3-4 dances, and we've since gone back to >> one break, but it seemed to be what people wanted during that time. >> >> - Identifying some particularly *friendly, approachable* returners who >> are willing to be volunteered into dancing with newbies. Let beginners know >> that these people are ultra-available to dance with. ("*Maria* - you >> should dance with *Claude* for this dance, they're great at teaching >> beginners!"). Maybe make some pins or ribbons for them to wear. >> >> - Encourage callers to really put an emphasis on pairing new dancers with >> returning dancers - both explicitly and implicitly. If there's a group of >> new dancers who are only dancing with each other or throwing off a line, >> let the caller know that it's okay to break them up into new lines and >> encourage them to find new partners. And ask the caller to reiterate the >> statements above to motivate mingling. >> >> - Ask callers to focus on building up your group's technical skills by >> calling multiple dances with the same intermediate/advanced figure. >> Recently, we called three dances with hey figures just within the second >> half. We were able to build up to a full hey with a ricochet, our beginners >> mastered it well, and our returning dancers could satisfy their itch for >> complexity and see that the whole group is improving. This one needs a >> delicate touch, because focusing on one figure too much can become boring. >> But I can easily imagine beginners building up to more intricate moves - >> allemande & orbit, tricky wavy line moves, left diagonal chains, etc, if >> the dance program is carefully thought out to build up the basics first. >> >> - Encourage your returning dancers to help out in the ways listed above - >> ask them to become the approachable helpers and make pins for them. Ask >> them to show up to help callers practice and get pizza for them. >> >> John L >> >> On Sun, Jul 16, 2023 at 8:22 PM Sandy Seiler via Organizers < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> I am in Lawrence Kansas. Since Covid we have consistently had a larger >>> number of new dancers than experienced dancers at each dance. This evening >>> we had a very well attended dance with approx 70 people. I would estimate >>> that at least 60-70% were inexperienced dancers. We are also in the >>> process of grooming new callers and had a callers workshop in March so we >>> are trying to integrate those folks in and get them more experience. I've >>> seen on other posts that a dance can easily absorb about 25% beginners, but >>> we have that formula pretty much flipped. We dance monthly which is a >>> hindrance. Experienced dancers are fatigued of not getting to do more >>> complicated dances. This has been happening for a long time and we need to >>> make some changes so that we have a larger percentage of experienced >>> dancers. Suggestions? >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Organizers mailing list -- [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Organizers mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> >
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