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.

5th Saturday

A disappointing turnout for my dance Saturday, just eight paying guests showed up, ten total.  We're going to go ahead with the New Year's Eve promotion to see how many people we can get signed up.  Around 30 came to the NYE dance two or three years ago, but a lot of those dancers have not been coming to any dances lately.

I lead a trivia team on an on-line trivia site that attracts top-notch players from all over the world, and I have led my team to the top of the bunch, either #1 or #2 in almost every game.  Why haven't I been able to do the same with my contra dance?

Pot Luck is going to play for New Year's, so I have a band lined up.  It's going to be $15 instead of the usual $10, but we're going to go five hours instead of three and a half, and we'll have two breaks instead of one.  Pat Czar is going to call.

Remiss

I've been somewhat remiss this month in posting concerning the contra dances, and I don't really have any excuse for it, I've just been absent-minded.  However, I want to assure anyone who hasn't been to the Boca dances to hear, YES, there is a dance this Saturday, the 29th, at the Davie Woman's Club, from 7:30-11:00 p.m.  Pot Luck will play, and we're going to have open mic night for calling.  So far, I've got two callers coming plus me, and I'm hoping to hear from a couple more before Saturday.  So come on out and enjoy the variety.

The Sunday Boca dance last week was lightly attended, and I understand there was more than one disagreement that took place that soured the atmosphere for more than two people.  There were not enough men for all the women who wanted to dance once again, too.  I trust the atmosphere will be more pleasant and more balanced on Saturday in Davie.

It was good to see and hear Anjie playing for a contra dance again.

There were a couple of young people at the dance, but without other young people there for them to dance with, the odds of them coming back are low.  This is the major problem with contra dancing in Florida, no young people.  This problem seems unique to Florida, too, dances in other parts of the country have substantial populations of 16-24 year olds as part of their dance communities.  From 25-55 or so, they disappear again since they're home with their kids, but then they come back when the kids go off to college.  With no kids coming in the 16-24 bracket now, there won't be any 55 year olds 30 years from now to come to the dances.

Three in a Row

Well, that's the third first Saturday dance in a row with a low turnout, and this time it wasn't raining, so I'm not sure what the story was.  Cornbread played and Brian called.  The music was quite good.  Dancers trickled in little by little during the evening, but then they were trickling out again, too, so it never did become a large crowd.

I do not yet know how many people will try their hand at calling a dance during the 5th Saturday dance on the 29th.  I believe William Eagan will be there, I will be there, Lou Dow may be there, depending on his travelling schedule, and I'm trying to get one or two more people who haven't called before to participate.  And if Sharon King is back from North Carolina by then, I'll try to get her to come.  So we could get as many as six people calling different dances.

Being hard right politically, I'm used to the idea of being exclusionary and strict, so it is an odd situation I find myself in, that I am now the inclusive and laid back leader.  So y'all come.  Boy howdy, we'll have ourselves a time.  I'm actually southern by birth, a Florida native, but doing a southern accent requires effort and feels contrived and artificial.

I am refraining from commenting on the demonstration dance on purpose, until I know more about the results.