Challenge
Dances and Inclusiveness
adapted
from a post to the trad-dance-callers group, November 2004
From
time to time on discussion groups, someone inevitably will argue that
the solution to declining attendance is for the organizers to arrange
for more challenging dances. The best way to keep dancers interested,
so goes this train of thought, is to offer ever-increasing levels of
challenge to provide fresh stimulation.
Jim
Mayo is a seasoned caller who has been involved with the modern
western square dance movement for some 60 years. MWSD definitely went
that route, so that dancers’ introductory lessons in that form went
from a few nights to now a standardized 36 weeks of instruction
before one is deemed a Mainstream dancers. And beyond that, there are
programs at Plus, Advanced, and Challenge levels, each with a
correspondingly smaller set of dancers. In response to one such post,
Jim wrote:
“I believe that the experienced
dancers are willing to help if the leaders keep them aware that the
future depends on their support of entry opportunities…. If they
(the eagers) could also be persuaded to continue support for those
less demanding programs to assure a supply of eager associates into
the future, that would be a wonderful circumstance.”
[Insert
sound of wild applause from this corner]
We’re
fortunate at our local dance that we have a large core of
experienced, skillful, and sympathetic dancers who understand this
and who make a point of asking newcomers to dance.
• Some
of this is just the personality of these helpful individuals.
• Some
I’ve reinforced, by making a point of catching them during the break
(or at the end of the dance, or by follow-up e-mail or telephone
conversations) and telling them that I noted their efforts and
appreciate what they’re doing.
• Some
is developed during my brief, before-the-dance-starts meeting with
newcomers and others present, in which I tell the newcomers that
we’re fortunate to have at this dance many helpful experienced
dancers [and at this point my voice rises to reach the ears of those
very folks] WHO WILL SEEK YOU OUT AS PARTNERS DURING THE EVENING!
• Some
is supported by my reminders (perhaps every two or three months) from
the microphone that there are three people you should be sure to
dance with in the course of each evening:
1) someone whose name you don’t know,
2) someone whose skill level is significantly different from your
own,
3) and someone you really want to dance with. And no, when you ask a
person to dance, you don’t have to tell them which category they fall
into!
• Finally,
I think that we’re helped by being a reasonably isolated dance
community, with just two local dance series each month. Yes, folks
who want to dance a lot will travel an hour or more on the weekends
or nights without a local dance, but for many people, one or two
nights a month is plenty of dancing. Once every few years, depending
on the calendar, I hold an evening for experienced dancers, with
fewer walkthroughs and a more challenging program, and explicitly
advertised as such. At these “hot dances,” I always make a
short speech, thanking the dancers present for supporting the regular
monthly dances, reminding them that our form of community dance can
only thrive by continually welcoming new dancers into the fold.
(Periodically,
folks will request that I do more such events but I refuse… I think
that if there are too many such opportunities, then many experienced
dancers will just go to these events and will skip the regular
dances, where their expertise and their example is needed.)
I
know of larger urban centers that hold regular challenging series,
and maybe it works there, where there are accessible community dances
that welcome newcomers and teach them the basics. For the most part,
though, I think of dance weekends, special workshops, and camps as
places where the hard-core dance enthusiasts can enjoy more
challenging programs in company with other enthusiasts. Our primary
emphasis needs to be less on challenge and more on keeping the dances
accessible and welcoming to a steady stream of new dancers. That’s
the approach that made this form of social dance so appealing to
generations.