Julie LW sent on October 13 2022
Dancing in Lansing, this Sat, Oct 15
Hi Friend- There is a contra dance this coming Saturday, Oct 15 in Lansing at The Central United Methodist Church- that’s 215 N. Capitol Ave. The band will be “Askin’ for Trouble” with Calling by Rick Szumski. New dancer intro at 6:30pm- dance is from 7pm-10.
We are going to try something different with pricing this week - and hopefully through the end of the year. Admission will be “Pay what you can” with $15 recommended The scale is from $6 to $20 - (though if you won the lottery and want to go higher, that is OK).
Sad to say, Covid19 is still with us. Local numbers appear to have reached a plateau, but are not falling very fast. Since this kind of dancing requires such close contact- not to mention breathing really close to your partner’s face, we are continuing the Covid precautions we used in the spring.
- Everyone must provide proof of full vaccination, photo ID and contact info. We hope that you have gotten at least one booster. If you were at either the Sept 17 dance or the Oct 5 dance, we are maintaining a list to help speed up the check in process
- Masks MUST be worn at all times, except when drinking water. Surgical masks are better than cloth masks. N95, or K95 are even better.
- Please don’t bring snacks to share. There will not be snacks at the dance
- If you are feeling off or SICK- DO NOT Come to the Dance.
The next dance in town will be Sat Nov 5- Caller will be Mike Clark with tunes by “The Banjo Tramps”. Same schedule as above
Did you ever think about how much money it takes to present one of our dances in Lansing?
Rent. $350 - (can be as much as $600 for special events) Band. $200 Caller. $50 Travel $25-100 Audio. $50 Ins. $75 TOTAL. $775
For the dance on Sept 17, presented by Looking Glass Music and Arts, we spent $255 over what we took in at the gate
The dance on Oct 5, presented by The Ten Pound Fiddle, we spent about $300 over the money we took in at that gate.
We can’t continue to spend $200-$300 dollars each time we present a dance. This is unsustainable. At some point - probably late in 2025 - we will run out of money. What do you think we should do to avoid this fate?
The easiest solution is- More Dancers. 75-85 people at each dance will bring in enough revenue to cover our costs. -Can you bring a friend to a dance in the next couple months?
-We could raise prices-
-though we decided to try this “pay what you can” option and see how it goes.
-Raise the membership fee?
-Maybe we should only do one dance a month instead of two.
-We could ask dancers, who are able to, to underwrite some part of the cost of a dance
Sort of like public radio or TV, “Tonight’s dance is brought to you by a generous donation
from X and Y”
-We could try some kind of fundraiser?
-We might be able to get some kind of grant- anybody able to help with writing a grant?
(And we know some folks have not come back to dancing because of the pandemic)
Thanks for any thoughts you’d care to share on solving this problem
Upcoming Dance Weekends
Don’t forget Ann Arbor is hosting Tree Town Stomp Oct 21 -23. You can register for the full weekend, or walk ins are welcome at any session. More info at https://aactmad.org/tree-town-stomp
Pittsburgh’s fall weekend is back and will be held Oct 28-30. more info at https://pittsburghcontra.org/fdw/
Julie LW