Miami Dance

An unusual evening in Miami where new people showed up all evening long, making things a little difficult.  It's still the case, though, that the Barnacle dance attracts the youngest crowd of any of the dances.  I don't know that the Barnacle dancers actually translate into many (or any) regulars, but if we could figure out how the Barnacle dance attracts younger people and do the same at the other dances, we might start to create a new generation of contra dancers.

It was a pretty low turn-out for Miami.  I expected a lot more considering it was relatively cool and close to the snowbird season.  Too close to Thanksgiving, perhaps, but that's always true of November.

I will soon have a website where you can purchase tickets for the New Year's Eve dance.  I talked to the scheduler for the Woman's Club and no one else has asked about renting it, so I'm going ahead with the dance.  Please sign up!

November 20th Dance

I was disappointed that I didn't get a chance to announce the New Year's Eve dance, so I haven't posted anything this week about last Sunday's dance.  But now I have something new to post about.  If you haven't heard of him, go check out Cecil Sharp, the founder of the English Folk Dance and Song Society in the UK.  (Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Sharp)  Not only was Cecil Sharp instrumental in saving and reviving folk dances and songs in England, including Morris dancing, he toured Appalachia and wrote down and preserved many folk tunes here in the US.  It may not be stretching things too much to say that there would not be a Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) in the US if Cecil Sharp hadn't existed.

I can't recall the caller's name now, but different is always good.  The dance in Valparaiso tried hard to have TEN different callers a year, a different one every month in the season.

The Twelfth of November

Cornbread played and Anita and Brian called, dividing the calling duties between them.  Turnout was low but better than usual.  Lots of new people were there, with the usual confusion that results.  But at least the balance of male and female was pretty close, and even right on the money at one point.

I did get to announce the New Year's Eve dance, and three people were interested in it, but no ticket sales yet.

For anyone too young to remember, my post title is a reference to The Twelfth of Never, a song back in the 50s by Johnny Mathis.  I'm too young to remember, too, but I like old 50s songs.

November Now

A decent turnout last night at the 1st Saturday dance, although it didn't look like it would be at 7:45 p.m.  Chuck Abell called and Stepping Stones played.  Both did a very nice job.  I think there was only one new person there, and none of the young ones from the previous dance.  A lot of our regulars were missing, too.

I announced about the New Year's Eve dance, and got a round of applause, which was a bit of a surprise, but no tickets sold yet.  If you'd like to buy tickets ($15 each), please get in touch with me.  Pat Czar will call and Pot Luck will play.

It will be interesting to see if we end up on the FAU campus whether or not any/many students come out to try contra dancing, or if they do, how many keep at it.  I know in Goshen, Indiana, the students at the college did NOT go to the dance when it was on campus, but DID start going after it moved off campus.