Davie in January

Not too many surprises in Davie.  Cornbread played and Brian called.  It was my first visit in six months or so.  It was a nice change to have a relatively even balance of men and women at the dance.  Davie often has more men than women, and I think it's primarily a function of location; not that it's a sketchy neighborhood, but that it's so far out west away from I-95 and hard to find in the dark if you haven't been there more than a couple of times.

Only a couple of people have read this blog this year, so I'm not sure whether I should continue it.  Obviously no one is getting his/her news from here.  I suppose I could liven it up a bit by being more snarky and naming names.  I have a LOT I could say about certain individuals associated with the dance.

On a more positive note, I'd like to encourage anyone who reads this and is a good dancer to come out to the south Florida dances.  And if you know people who are good dancers who have not been coming, encourage them to come to the dances.  We have a bunch of good dancers in the area who think the south Florida dances are not very good, so they don't come, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, it's NOT a very good dance, mainly BECAUSE many of our best dancers don't come.

I have the hall and the band lined up for the April 30th dance, so go ahead and mark it on your calendar.

First Dance of 2016

Well, it was an interesting evening.  Most of those reading this will already know that I ended up calling the beginners' lesson and the first dance because Brian had to go back home for his cards.  It didn't go very well because I didn't have a microphone and no one could hear me.  My voice ended up being pretty sore pretty quickly, too.  Sharon called the next dance, but Brian showed up in time to get her a microphone.  Southern Atlantic Muse played.  Enough people showed up that we had two lines for most of the evening, so that was nice.

I could comment at length about the goings-on with the board, but I won't.  What I will say is that if the point of having a board was to make the dance better, it's a resounding failure.  That, of course, is NOT what the point of having a board was, but I won't go into that, either.

I think I already mentioned that there will not be a 5th Saturday dance in January (and Brian mentioned it at the dance as well) because there is a 5th Sunday dance at the Barnacle.  I thought about having a 4th Saturday dance but that's the weekend of Snow Ball, so I decided against it.  I would like to go to Snow Ball at least once.  There WILL be a 5th Saturday dance in April.  I haven't gotten a lot of interest in the dance continuing, but the band is willing and those who have expressed interest were enthusiastic, so what the hey.

Boca Sunday

Sorry I didn't get this done sooner.  I should post more often so I remember to post.

Sunday we had Brian calling with Sharon King doing a few guest spots.  She did quite well for a newbie.  Cornbread, still in its truncated form, played.  We started off with very few dancers but it built up quite nicely.  I applaud Brian for allowing Sharon to get some practice in.

Because of the Orange Blossom and Snow Balls in January, there will not be a 3rd Sunday dance, plus the 4th Sunday dance at the Barnacle has been moved to the 5th Sunday, so I will NOT be putting on a 5th Saturday dance in January.  The next 5th Saturday after that is in April.  I may or may not put on a dance then, I haven't decided.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Chuck It, Let's Dance

Chuck Abell was our caller Saturday and did a very nice job.  Even the dances which were relatively untried were smooth and interesting.  If I continue the 5th Saturday dances, I will try to get Chuck to call one of them.

Pat & Anita Mason played with a new fiddler.  I understand that Lew Pollack has moved away and Anjie is taking a break from playing for the dances; they were both missed.

The third weekend in January is the Orange Blossom Ball weekend, the fourth weekend is Snowball, and the January Barnacle dance has been moved to the 5th Sunday, so I think I will hold off on trying to hold a dance in January.  That doesn't resolve the issue of whether or not to continue the 5th Saturday dances, but it does postpone the necessity of deciding.  Only four people raised their hands at the dance Saturday expressing interest in the dance continuing, so that was not encouraging.

Belated Post

Oops, sorry about this, folks.  I had a very bad weekend and things didn't get settled down until yesterday, so I forgot all about updating this.

There was a pretty good turnout Saturday.  Joe Bone played, Brian called.  There were no fatal breakdowns in the dances, so that was good.  It was like old home week, with several people showing up for the dance who had not been in quite some time.

I will probably skip both dances this weekend.  If anyone is interested in going up to the Melbourne dance next Friday, I'd be interested in getting a ride up.  I can help with gas if you stop by a Chevron station.  I've driven the whole way from here, up and back, but that was exhausting.

I'd still like to hear from the dancers about whether or not it's worthwhile continuing the 5th Saturday dance in 2016.  There are FIVE 5th Saturdays in 2016, and the first one is in January, so I need to decide soon.

Halloween

Thanks again to John Burnette for promoting the Halloween dance heavily.  Unfortunately, the turnout was about the same as the previous two attempts, just seventeen people.  But we had a good dance with SIX musicians playing and William Eagan calling.  The band called itself Stringulation.  Thanks, too, to the two new musicians who played for us, and to the two ladies for helping decorate the hall.

There is a fifth Saturday in January 2016, but I have not decided whether or not I want to continue with the dance.  We're getting enough dancers to pay for the hall but not much for the band, and not quite enough in my opinion for a really good dance.

We have a couple of younger people coming to Boca Saturday (younger than most of us, anyway), so if you know some younger people who haven't been to the dance before, Saturday is a good time to bring them.  The key to getting younger people coming regularly is to have other younger people attending regularly so they have someone to dance with.  I know that sounds rather circular, but that's the way it works.

Shameless Plug

Six visitors yesterday and 83 in the last month!  So on the off-chance that someone looks at this between now and Saturday, let me encourage, exhort, and entice you to come to the dance at the Davie Woman's Club on Halloween night.  We're going to decorate, William Eagan is putting together a special program of Halloween-themed dances, and John Burnett has been promoting the dance all over south Florida and the web, so it should be a good turnout.  See you there!