[Anst-dancers] Coronation and Suggestion

[Craig Shupee']

>So how did dance at Coronation go? I imagine it went well, seeing who was
>running dance, but I would still like to know the details.

Here are my observations... but realize that I didn't get to do any dancing.

The hall was really not good for dancing.  It was dark and hot.  The 
darkness made it difficult to see the teachers feet and movements, 
especially in the cramped space.  It was also hard to hear with the amount 
of ambient noise - so calling was difficult and a voice out of practice or 
not projected correctly would loose strength and become horse.  This has 
happened enough to me in this atmosphere, so I know it can happen.

The dancing was also close to one of the doors, so there was allot of 
non-dance traffic.  The dance banners were up on stands, so this helped stop 
some of the pedestrian traffic, and helped delineate the dance floor.  Still 
the physical atmosphere wasn't good.

I don't know how successful Guillaume and Isabeau were getting dancers by 
the end of the activity.  But it wasn't heralded well - mostly because the 
hall was so difficult to get information out.  Also, because they were not 
part of the local group, I think they missed some people who would have 
danced.  On my way out I saw a goodly number of people who like to dance in 
South Texas there, but not aware dance was going on on the other side of the 
hall.  (See my comments about bad hall - dance was 20 yards away and you 
couldn't tell).  There were also local to stargate dancers who were not 
dancing - but when I let them know it was going on, and that Guillaume and 
Isabeau were teaching they headed over and joined which was good.  Some of 
this would have been combated better from local dance leaders to help them 
get more people, but most of them were heavily involved with running the 
event, and basically could not campaign among the people.  It helps that 
Guillaume and Isabeau could teach at Stargate Sunday practice because they 
will now know more of the people on a more personal level.  I think it shows 
that the teacher program will be a big success.

The only real disappointment was that dance happened so late in the day - 
which his something we are trying to compete against.  It might have been 
better to plan dance before the first court.  Having been to many 
Coronations, I thought it was just extremely unlikely that dance could be 
formally organized between courts.  And that's what happened - dance was 
bumped back after the second court when people were leaving or getting ready 
for feast.  I would have like it better if dance had been before court, 
because then I could have danced. Unfortunatly - my ride had to leave after 
second court so I was off.

Had dancing been in the morning, then we would have had live musicians, 
which would have pulled even more people over.  Unfortunalty, all the 
musicians left before court, and a cd player had to be used.  We just did 
this at Midsummers, but it was successful because the hall was set up for it 
and small enough to here the music.  But at a Coronation, you can drag even 
more people over by having them here the music.  But in this hall - the 
sound just disappeared.

As to how well Guillaume and Isabeau did competing against these factors I 
cant say for personal experience.  I do know that there are people who could 
give them general advice on how to improve the ball that danced.  Their 
enthusiasm was deffinatly a good thing, and without it dance may not have 
even happened at the event.

It was good to see them leading dance again and their continued re-interest 
in the dance community.  They certainly have a strong drive to help out.  
And I know allot of people in dance and outside of dance appreciate it.

Here's a suggestion...

It was good to see Guillaume and Isabeau leading dance at Coronation.  But 
this would have been a perfect opportunity for someone from Stargate to lead 
dance who would not usually have opportunity.  Especially since it was a 
small number of dancers and not a main focus of the event.   One of the 
ideas of our charter os to get more people leading dance and running balls.  
We need to support these people rather than taking their opportunities.

This Pennsic I volunteered to help mentor people in running dance in the 
barn.  Having run dance locally and having led dance in the barn gives me 
the experience to mentor others and have them gain more experience and 
confidence.  I think we should see more of that here in Ansteorra.  There 
are certainly other people who can mentor and have the experience.  Lets see 
more people helping others to teach. :-)

~Philip

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