[Anst-dancers] Ansteorra-dancers - levels

[Russell Kinder]

As one of the big proponents of levels, let me concur that the levels 
don't seem to be doing anything.

Their only purpose seems to be as a source of hard-feelings and 
ill-will between members. I was wrong, and everyone who was against 
levels was right.

I think biographies and a "go-to" list would effectively serve better. 
Then we don't need judgement calls.

Guillaume


On Wednesday, October 29, 2003, at 04:09  PM, Kelly Erickson wrote:
>> Guild levels, it seems to me, serve two purposes.  One is to identify 
>> skill
>> levels.  This may also be assessed, however, through biographies and
>> knowledgeable coordinators.  In fact, for a small group of "geeks" 
>> where
>> everyone knows everyone else, levels convey no useful data.  The 
>> Second purpose
>> of levels to to grant recognition, or establish precedence.  Who's 
>> better than
>> who?  Who are the peons?  In the absence of any official recognition 
>> from
>> kingdom or barony, this recognition strokes egos and may help 
>> outsiders
>> recognize previously overlooked activity.  When there *is* "official"
>> recognition, guild ranks may easily be abused by those who seek 
>> alternative
>> paths to glory.  In the case of dance, activity at events should be 
>> self
>> evident.
>>
> I think that we originally went with the guild levels in an effort to 
> emulate Saltare, the Meridies' dance guild. The idea was to give 
> people goals to work toward within our guild, to give local groups an 
> idea of who might be called on to teach or help out (with a record of 
> their level of skill or knowledge with a list of particular dances 
> known), and to give us recognition when that might not be available at 
> a Kingdom level. I can't say this wasn't a bit of ego stroking, but it 
> was also part of the continuing effort to get dance recognized in 
> Ansteorra as a serious A&S field.
>
> But what works for one kingdom clearly doesn't work for all; at this 
> point, I'd say with no more interest than people have shown over 3 
> years, we should just give up on it. Alternately, we could give it one 
> more good try, and have all the local guild heads get all their guild 
> members to sign up in the next month - if we still don't get much 
> response, then give up.
>
> Elin