strathspey Archive: losing dancers before dance is over

Why not schedule the dances earlier? We had one last August which we
scheduled at 7pm beginning promptly, ending 10-ish. Everyone seemed to
have a wonderful time. I truly believe everyone came more rested, less
in a state of having eaten too much at dinner. We had copious amounts
of wonderful food available from the get-go, so people could nibble as
they needed. We still partied into the night with a spontaneous ceilidh
at a welcoming local pub. People dropped off as their schedules/energy
dictated. Outstanding dancers are still paying us high compliments.
Modesty requires that I conclude: "Sometimes you get lucky & please the
crowd."

I also would like to try a Breakfast Dance sometime: from 8am until....
With food immediately available. I understand Australian groups may
have this pattern, on a Sunday???

Here at the San Francisco Branch we start at 7:30 at most dances. The
breakfast dance sounds intresting. I know that here we might have to do
that on a Saturday as alot of our memebers go to church. We have three
sets of dances in our programs which allows our band members a break to
rest up before playing more wonderful music to sweep us off our feet.
I go to PEERS dances also which does have a snack bar on the side and it
is nice to snack during the night but in some places that we dance there
is not enough room to have this type of set up.

George Gates <dancingfool56@home.com>

Marilynn Knight wrote:
>
> Why not schedule the dances earlier? We had one last August which we
> scheduled at 7pm beginning promptly, ending 10-ish. Everyone seemed to
> have a wonderful time. I truly believe everyone came more rested, less
> in a state of having eaten too much at dinner. We had copious amounts
> of wonderful food available from the get-go, so people could nibble as
> they needed. We still partied into the night with a spontaneous ceilidh
> at a welcoming local pub. People dropped off as their schedules/energy
> dictated. Outstanding dancers are still paying us high compliments.
> Modesty requires that I conclude: "Sometimes you get lucky & please the
> crowd."
>
> I also would like to try a Breakfast Dance sometime: from 8am until....
> With food immediately available. I understand Australian groups may
> have this pattern, on a Sunday???
>
> --
> Marilynn Knight <MarilynnK@sccc.org>

In article <BA0DD855149AD011A06700A024CE1B2E7061CB@SCCC-EX1>, Marilynn
Knight <MarilynnK@sccc.org> writes
>Why not schedule the dances earlier?
Please no - I still have fond memories from student days of boogying the
night away into the small hours. Why do we have to restrict ourselves to
the realms of tea dances just because its country dancing.
remember our ancestors would have danced late and then walked home in
country areas, often dancing at each bridge and crossroad.
Lets back to the small hours.

In my wardrobe I have a splendid old T-shirt from the California
Traditional Music Society which says..
..Since the beginning of man, the hours between the coming of night and
the coming of sleep have belonged to the tellers of tales and the makers
of music..
Who ever came up with that one was definitely a poet. Surely we should
be claiming some of that intensity of spirit for dancing.

--
Bryan McAlister