May 23, 2006, 6:45 p.m. (Message 45354)
Hi, Does anybody have estimates on RSCDS dancers. I am interested in any numbers, but if somebody has number for specific categories below it would be even better. The numbers can be very rough. 1) Active dancers (not retired and single visits) 2) Members 3) Teachers 4) Dancers who participate online (? = strathspey mailing list size) 5) Other interesting statistic I probably should have asked The results (if any) may be worked into an article, but they are also of interest for other reasons. Speed of response is more important then precision here. Regards, Alex.
May 23, 2006, 7:23 p.m. (Message 45355, in reply to message 45354)
Hi Alex I think the answer would be a resounding NO However, I think we would all like to know your result when you have finished your research. Pia
May 23, 2006, 8:02 p.m. (Message 45356, in reply to message 45354)
I suppose you could contact each of the Scottish dance groups VIA e-mail or letter and ask for estimates of people attending, etc. You may wish to start with the list located: http://www.strathspey.org/groups/index.html Note that this list is badly in need of updating with many of the links out of date or broken. Good luck! Tom Mungall Baton Rouge, La, USA
May 23, 2006, 8:13 p.m. (Message 45357, in reply to message 45356)
I am not THAT desperate. That's why I emphasized speed over precision. :-) Surely, there are some numbers. Even if we have to go down to choosing between 2,000 or 20,000 or 200,000 dancers. Regards, Alex.
May 23, 2006, 9:08 p.m. (Message 45358, in reply to message 45357)
Phone up RSCDS and talk to Elspeth, she may be able to help you. Or send her an e-mail. I suppose you could guestimate that all groups have at least 2 sets i.e. 16 people and multiply with the amount of groups. Pia
May 23, 2006, 9:40 p.m. (Message 45359, in reply to message 45358)
On 5/23/06, Pia <xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx> wrote: > > Phone up RSCDS and talk to Elspeth, she may be able to help you. > Or send her an e-mail. I suppose you could guestimate that all groups > have > at least 2 sets i.e. 16 people and multiply with the amount of groups. If you are a member, I imagine that you can find out how many bulletins they print and/or how much membership revenue HQ gets, and do some simple math. The RSCDS knows how many members it has (at least had last year)! There are quite a few non-member dancers, I'm sure, but that number would be the start of a reasonable estimate. They have also been putting together a directory of active teachers (and hopefully would know how many teaching certificates they've ever granted and perhaps have granted in the last 5 or 10 years). So I'd start with RSCDS HQ, and make educated guesses from there. Keith Graham Atlanta, Georgia, USA
May 24, 2006, 10:11 a.m. (Message 45362, in reply to message 45359)
When you say RSCDS dancers I presume you mean dancers using an approximation of the RSCDS style (i.e.most country dancers). Presumably the RSCDS can tell you exactly the number of members and members of affiliated societies thereafter you have a balancing trick to play as there must be a significant number of RSCDS style dancers who are not members of either groups - set against this there will be a number of dancers who are members of more than one group. (This probably only applies to Scotland). In message <xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxxxx.xxx>, S. K. Graham <xxx@xxxx.xxx> writes >On 5/23/06, Pia <xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx> wrote: >> >> Phone up RSCDS and talk to Elspeth, she may be able to help you. >> Or send her an e-mail. I suppose you could guestimate that all groups >> have >> at least 2 sets i.e. 16 people and multiply with the amount of groups. > > >If you are a member, I imagine that you can find out how many bulletins they >print and/or how much membership revenue HQ gets, and do some simple math. > >The RSCDS knows how many members it has (at least had last year)! > >There are quite a few non-member dancers, I'm sure, but that number would be >the start of a reasonable estimate. > >They have also been putting together a directory of active teachers (and >hopefully would know how many teaching certificates they've ever granted and >perhaps have granted in the last 5 or 10 years). > >So I'd start with RSCDS HQ, and make educated guesses from there. > >Keith Graham >Atlanta, Georgia, USA > -- Bryan McAlister
May 24, 2006, 11:21 a.m. (Message 45363, in reply to message 45362)
Bryan McAlister wrote: > > Presumably the RSCDS can tell you exactly the number of members and > members of affiliated societies I doubt they keep track of members of affiliated groups, since these are not automatically members of any branch. I never heard that the dancers I met in GB paid annual fees to the RSCDS, and I'm sure those that live abroad have little incentive to do so unless they attend Summer School. Although I have always encouraged my dancers to go to St Andrews (if they understand English), I don't think that any of them kept up their membership after going there. Finding out how many dancers therer are around the world would be as difficult as knowing how many gardeners weed their own gardens. One thing; the Strathspey list is unfoirtunately not a good representation either of members not of dancers (note that we occasionally read a message written by a non-member, non-dancer!). Martin, (member for the last 38 years, dancer a few more)
May 25, 2006, 9:30 a.m. (Message 45365, in reply to message 45362)
Which is why I said guestimate and 2 sets pr group - as this would average most of the anomalies out across the board and give you an approximation (I of course don't mean that an individual dancer is an anomaly :>) Pia
May 25, 2006, 11:15 a.m. (Message 45367, in reply to message 45365)
But then you have New Zealand. One Branch, 11 Regions, over 100 Groups, about 1000 members and around 2500 dancers. Have fun working that in around the world. Regards Murray
May 25, 2006, 12:13 p.m. (Message 45368, in reply to message 45367)
Hi Alex, Pia, Very rough numbers: RSCDS members: ~20,000 Gut feel 2-3 times as many non-members as members (more in Scotland & Germany, less in other parts of the world - probably balances out). So we're probably talking somewhere in the 50k-75k range. Cheers, Ian Brockbank Edinburgh, Scotland xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx http://www.scottishdance.net/
May 25, 2006, 3:50 p.m. (Message 45370, in reply to message 45368)
That's a really good number. What about the number of people online? Do we have any gueses about that? Regards, Alex