{"items": [{"author": "Perry", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829308452092", "anchor": "fb-829308452092", "service": "fb", "text": "I'm glad that you posted about the bragging part, but I'm certain that is not your intent. As we have seen, attendance isn't what it used to be in many areas, and the question is why. Although I have never been there, it seems that the BIDA dance series seems to have a strong mission of community and they follow that mission to the letter, which keeps people coming and coming back. That's important, and I think that's lost on many dance series, which is why their attendance is lower than it used to be. Economic concerns have been a problem in lower attendance, as well as saturation of dances in a certain region and also the preponderance of dance weekends.", "timestamp": "1481056105"}, {"author": "Marie-Mich\u00e8le", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829308452092&reply_comment_id=829338985902", "anchor": "fb-829308452092_829338985902", "service": "fb", "text": "→ This \"strong mission of community\" does sound like something we should focus on more at my dance, but I'm not sure how to go about it in concrete ways. Does BIDA have stuff written about it that I can look at or could you share some examples of things to do?", "timestamp": "1481067565"}, {"author": "Sarah", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829308452092&reply_comment_id=829357803192", "anchor": "fb-829308452092_829357803192", "service": "fb", "text": "→ I'm not sure if this exactly answers your question, but bida puts a lot of energy towards new dancers, from publicity to lessons at the beginning of every dance, to announcements and signs with messages about the culture we wish to nurture, making explicit and visible what many longtime dancers may feel is our \"welcoming\" vibe. Being on public transit is also huge.", "timestamp": "1481075985"}, {"author": "Marie-Mich\u00e8le", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829308452092&reply_comment_id=829360931922", "anchor": "fb-829308452092_829360931922", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Thanks! We do some of that but there is certainly a lot of space for amelioration.", "timestamp": "1481076952"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829308452092&reply_comment_id=829361391002", "anchor": "fb-829308452092_829361391002", "service": "fb", "text": "→ While we have a strong mission of community, it's pretty hard to tell if that's what's helpful for us. To some extent everything filters through, \"do the people who come have enough fun (for the level of cost and hassle) that they keep coming back and sometimes bring their friends?\" But how much of that is the performers vs location vs cost vs dessert potlucks vs friendly signs vs fun lights vs good sound is very hard to tell.
Being on meetup has worked well for us, enough to be worth their relatively steep costs, in that we typically have ~5 people a night who say that's how they found us. But how well that works will depend a lot on whether people in your area look there.", "timestamp": "1481077141"}, {"author": "Marie-Mich\u00e8le", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829308452092&reply_comment_id=829361520742", "anchor": "fb-829308452092_829361520742", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Meetup worked extremely well for us the first 3-4 months and is pretty much useless now, bringing at best one new dancer per dance and rarely making these into regular dancers. The rest, as you say, is quite hard to pinpoint!", "timestamp": "1481077254"}, {"author": "Claire", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829308452092&reply_comment_id=829486879522", "anchor": "fb-829308452092_829486879522", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Sarah can you post or send me text of your signs? We have a gender-free Sunday afternoon dance with a kid-friendly dance at the break and though it grew when we took it over, has not continued to grow and not many new dancers come back.", "timestamp": "1481145960"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829308452092&reply_comment_id=829496829582", "anchor": "fb-829308452092_829496829582", "service": "fb", "text": "→ @Claire: http://blog.bidadance.org/2015/12/new-signs.html?m=1", "timestamp": "1481150908"}, {"author": "Claire", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829308452092&reply_comment_id=829527787542", "anchor": "fb-829308452092_829527787542", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Jeff Kaufman thank you!!", "timestamp": "1481164012"}, {"author": "John", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829311351282", "anchor": "fb-829311351282", "service": "fb", "text": "Just out of curiosity, what are the numbers for the vertical axis? The few dances I've played at have had a fairly large crowd for that (large) hall, but of course I've never counted the people.", "timestamp": "1481057390"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829311351282&reply_comment_id=829313467042", "anchor": "fb-829311351282_829313467042", "service": "fb", "text": "→ I'm confused; the vertical axis does include the numbers?", "timestamp": "1481058641"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829311351282&reply_comment_id=829313472032", "anchor": "fb-829311351282_829313472032", "service": "fb", "text": "→ (If you're looking at the fb preview image, click through to the post instead to get the full image.)", "timestamp": "1481058659"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829311351282&reply_comment_id=829313571832", "anchor": "fb-829311351282_829313571832", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Or see:", "timestamp": "1481058698"}, {"author": "John", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829311351282&reply_comment_id=829334669552", "anchor": "fb-829311351282_829334669552", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Jeff Kaufman Yeah, I discovered that a few minutes before you answered, and discovered your answer after dinner was over. Anyway, I did think it was a bit odd that the horizontal axis was labelled with the years, but the vertical axis was unlabelled. Usually people label both or neither. But it looks like in this case it might have been the the software's decision, though it's still something rather odd. I'd guessed that the unlabelled horizontal lines represented 50 or 100; apparently both guesses were off by the same amount. ;-)", "timestamp": "1481065407"}, {"author": "Ed", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829340343182", "anchor": "fb-829340343182", "service": "fb", "text": "Emily As you are our chief stats officer - what does our graph look like?", "timestamp": "1481068601"}, {"author": "Emily", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829340343182&reply_comment_id=829379973762", "anchor": "fb-829340343182_829379973762", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Oh yeahhhh.... totally up my alley!!! :) :) :)", "timestamp": "1481086410"}, {"author": "Emily", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829340343182&reply_comment_id=829380018672", "anchor": "fb-829340343182_829380018672", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Those numbers look pretty much like I think we want ours to look too! Although spikes of 200+ wouldn't be good!", "timestamp": "1481086444"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829340343182&reply_comment_id=829422528482", "anchor": "fb-829340343182_829422528482", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Spikes of 200+ are ok for us, but only in winter: we have a hall that's limited more by ventilation than size. In cold weather we can keep the hall comfortable with lots (max 250?) dancers but if we can't bring in freezing air then heat and humidity get unpleasant around 150. And if it's hot out then it's unpleasant from the start, so we don't dance in summer and our dances at the beginning and end of the season are risky.", "timestamp": "1481115236"}, {"author": "Peter", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829374360012", "anchor": "fb-829374360012", "service": "fb", "text": "Jeff, I know the \"I\" in BIDA stands for Intergenerational. Do you have any statistics on how that's panning out? e.g. do you have many 50+ attendees?", "timestamp": "1481083190"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829374360012&reply_comment_id=829422812912", "anchor": "fb-829374360012_829422812912", "service": "fb", "text": "→ We don't have statistics. Off the top of my head I remember eight (all male, actually) specific 50+ attendees last dance, and there are probably more I don't remember?", "timestamp": "1481115506"}, {"author": "Ruthan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829374360012&reply_comment_id=829438301872", "anchor": "fb-829374360012_829438301872", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Huh! I'd guess the median age at a Triangle-area dance is around 50.", "timestamp": "1481124998"}, {"author": "Robert", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829374360012&reply_comment_id=829449549332", "anchor": "fb-829374360012_829449549332", "service": "fb", "text": "→ If you can tell who's over 50 and who isn't by looking at them, you're doing better than I am.
I will say that, as a person well over 50, I go to BIDA whenever I can.", "timestamp": "1481129797"}, {"author": "Ruthan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829374360012&reply_comment_id=829450073282", "anchor": "fb-829374360012_829450073282", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Well, when they tell me about their grandchildren, or the chemistry lab they worked at in the 70s, I get to make a somewhat more informed judgment. \ud83d\ude04", "timestamp": "1481130289"}, {"author": "Nix", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829376740242", "anchor": "fb-829376740242", "service": "fb", "text": "I'm curious if anyone has any theories about why the first couple months of 2016 had much higher attendance than the rest of the year has.", "timestamp": "1481084685"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829376740242&reply_comment_id=829423082372", "anchor": "fb-829376740242_829423082372", "service": "fb", "text": "→ I think the peak is data errors, actually. I'll fix it.", "timestamp": "1481115806"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829376740242&reply_comment_id=829434205082", "anchor": "fb-829376740242_829434205082", "service": "fb", "text": "→ There were two errors, both related to us starting to have family dances. In one of them, someone had entered the pre-7pm attendance twice, giving us 271 instead of 199, and in the other someone had accidentally copied the pre-7pm attendance from a family dance onto a non family dance, giving us 207 instead of 139.
The remaining peak is real data, but kind of confusing for the same family dance issue: we have ~4 dances a year where we add a family dance and potluck before the regular 7:30 dance. This means extra attendance for that night, but it's hard to separate because many people who come at 5:30 stay for the evening dance and would have come to just the evening dance otherwise. Here's what a graph would look like that excluded family dance dates:
(I've updated the post to include it as well.)", "timestamp": "1481123560"}, {"author": "Nix", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829376740242&reply_comment_id=829453371672", "anchor": "fb-829376740242_829453371672", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Thanks, that looks a lot more like expected variation! There also seems to be somewhat of a seasonal pattern (higher attendance in the winters, lower in the summer).", "timestamp": "1481131945"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829376740242&reply_comment_id=829471585172", "anchor": "fb-829376740242_829471585172", "service": "fb", "text": "→ @Nix: our hall is definitely more pleasant in winter", "timestamp": "1481139325"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829430647212", "anchor": "fb-829430647212", "service": "fb", "text": "I've danced at the BIDA dances since their beginning, and I enjoy them. I think they are the best contra dances in the Boston metro area. I appreciate the \"welcoming\" vibe, and the general lack of an exclusive \"center set.\" There are some dancers who run away from people not in their circle of friends, but it's not a burdensome part of the whole group.
I agree with those who said that a big part of building a community is that when new dancers come, they come to a place where others are having fun and they see that they can do it too. Part of that is an abstract welcoming attitude (don't be socially rude to strangers). Part of it is that the BIDA dance programs are not designed for \"hot-shots\" - the choreography tends to be accessible, the tempos tend to be danceable. People don't go home thinking, \"I can't do this.\"
I certainly tip my hat to the BIDA board/committee for making it happen. But besides these social aspects, there are some other reasons that the BIDA dance is working.
After the demise of the Cambridge VFW dance, there was a void in the Boston/Cambridge in-town contra dance scene. There are other contra dances (like MIT and the Friends school dance), but they have characteristics that make them less popular - for example, the dance halls might not be pleasant, the existing crowds might not be welcoming, they might have hidebound customs, etc.
Regular BIDA dances are at the Masonic Temple in Porter Square on Sundays. It's a hall with quite a good floor, it's handy on public transportation, the dance is on Sundays, so even parking is easy. It's not far, not hard to reach. These are all important factors for the popularity of the dance.
Most of the Boston area contra dances are run by folks who have become older, though they were young when they started the dances decades ago. Having young people owning the dance makes it more attractive to most newcomers, even if the board might be doing the same thing that older folks might do. Having younger people organizing means that they are more adept with modern communications (web, facebook, meetup, etc) so they can do a better job with publicity.
Another great part of BIDA is that they take advantage of local talent, especially musicians. Local bands, open bands. Nice that Boston has lots of schools and music schools, and we have a wealth of folk musicians.
Again, I appreciate the BIDA dance and the work that the board does and the attention that they pay to the dance. I appreciate the emphasis on community and on attracting newcomers. I see the new dancers, and I'm happy that they come. There are lessons to be learned from the way the BIDA leaders organize their dance, but I think it's more complicated than \"welcoming and community.\"", "timestamp": "1481121345"}, {"author": "Robert", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829430647212&reply_comment_id=829449798832", "anchor": "fb-829430647212_829449798832", "service": "fb", "text": "→ I think (although no doubt there's some bias on my part) that everything you say in the second paragraph applies to the gender-free JP dance as well, but we've been struggling with attendance lately. Of course BIDA has a big advantage in being much easier to reach by public transportation.", "timestamp": "1481130016"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829430647212&reply_comment_id=829451904612", "anchor": "fb-829430647212_829451904612", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Robert, yes, you know I enjoy the JP gender free contra dance, and it is a welcoming dance, and I like some of the same attributes that I mentioned for BIDA - like not (usually) catering to hot-shots, except for occasional \"advanced\" sessions, which I tend to avoid - I prefer dances that aren't exclusive.
The mission of the gender free dance is implicitly restrictive (I'm entirely fine with that, it's not exclusive) - if you like that kind of thing, then it's the kind of thing you'll like. I find that the JP dance is welcoming to all, but I accept that it appeals to the taste of some and not others, so you are drawing from a smaller population, and I suppose that makes it harder for the JP dance to flourish.", "timestamp": "1481131151"}, {"author": "Phillip", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829475382562", "anchor": "fb-829475382562", "service": "fb", "text": "I think Andrew has it right. I really enjoy that any line is just any line. I think it also worthy to note that the access to public transportation works well for a younger audience, which is when most people start (I think college years or just after will be the most common). This tendency further reinforces when as a young person you see lots of young people and tend to see this a a living form of dance as opposed to a museum piece being done by reenactor types, or some form of otherness. That was certainly my reaction in the early 80s when I started (not that I was introspective about it at the time).", "timestamp": "1481140819"}, {"author": "Morna", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/829307523952?comment_id=829528066982", "anchor": "fb-829528066982", "service": "fb", "text": "John Anderson, Greg Miller, This may be something we want to discuss at the Outreach Committee meeting next Tuesday.", "timestamp": "1481164175"}]}