Oct. 20, 2001, 6:43 p.m. (Message 27943)
A few months ago we had some discussion about attracting new dancers and keeping dancers. I would like to recount my recent experience and hope it sheds some light on the difficulty of attracting/keeping dancers. I have just finished teaching a 5 week community education course of "Scottish Ceilidh Dancing". About a dozen folks signed up and I usually had 8 or 10 at each session. Two dancers had had SCD experience, one had done International. I alternated the menu between easy set dances and couple dances; ieFlying Scotsman, Gay Gordans, Cumberland Reel, Eva 3-step, Strip the Willow, St Barnard's Waltz, Foula Reel, Canadian Barn Dance, Dashing White Sergeant. Each week I reviewed at least a third of the previously taught dances. The dancers were enthusiastic, by the end of the 5th week they were listening to the tunes, dancing to the music, and most had mastered a 2-step. At least half wore sneakers although I mentioned several times that smooth soled shoes might be easier for dancing. The 2 that had had SCD experience said they had been put off by the drill and found the many figures confusing. One said, "I should have brought my husband here, he would enjoy This." They all want to sign up for another session in the spring (I will have to enlarge my repertoire.) I don't think any of them would enjoy the technical aspect of SCD, they just were not good enough with their feet. Fortunately I had a wonderful musician who could play at any tempo and sometimes added 3 measures at the end of the round to allow folk to catch up. I think that what I am saying is that SCD is very technically demanding and not a lot of people will make the transition from the easy ceilidh dances to the SCD. Also, the number of SCDances has grown enormously so one cannot expect to get a lot of repetition in classes. Just an interesting comparision of dancing. Cheers, Sylvia Miskoe, Concord, NH USA