Not signed in (Sign In)

LiveSearch

Categories

  • News
  • Everything you need to know.
  • Recurring Events
  • Classes, venues, dances. Anything that swings on a weekly or monthl...
  • Special Events
  • Workshops, exchanges, invitationals, mini-exchanges. Whatever's hap...
  • Out of Town
  • Road trips, exchanges, and anything from anywhere that's not here.
  • Swing Instruction
  • Need to polish a few moves? Need to learn some moves to polish? Che...
  • Dance Talk
  • Music, moves, and inspiration. If it swings, talk about it here.
  • Meet 'n Greet
  • Stop by and introduce yourself. Get to know everyone. Just like a s...
  • [Almost] Anything Goes!
  • If there's life outside of swing, discuss it here.
  • Support
  • Bug reports, feature requests, all that.

Vanilla 1.1.5a is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

Welcome Guest!
Want to take part in these discussions? If you have an account, sign in now.
If you don't have an account, apply for one now.

Dance Talk: Course of Action

Bottom of Page

1 to 24 of 24

  1.  
  1.  

    After reading the history of the BYU Swing Kids I realized that the true potential of the swing club is huge! The numbers they had back in the day were very large... your weekly dances were bigger than many a lindy exchange. That could happen today.

    If someone were to make fliers (me? someone else?) would there be people out there willing to hand them out everywhere they went (I don't go to BYU)? Put them on bulliten boards? Has this been done recently? On a regular basis?

    I hear the swing club has lots of equipment including lighting and stuff. Is this true? What would it take to get the equipment to a dance? Could I help?

    Disclaimer: I don't go to BYU and don't really know what has or has not been done to promote the swing club. I don't mean to cause a stir or blame anyone for doing or not doing something. One person can only do so much and I certainly don't expect any one person to have done or to do everything. That would be just plain silly.

    •  
      CommentAuthorgeek4life
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2005
     

    300+ people in one night? That's about the same size as Denver Lindy Exchange :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o .

    •  
      CommentAuthorBuzz
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2005
     

    It's true. Swing Kids used to be by far the largest club on campus. When I was here in 2000, it was still pretty huge. I have seen things steadily decline (not blaming any past presidents or anybody in particular) and that's where I took over as SKC Prez.

    We (my awesome presidency and myself) have been trying to turn things around. I hope people have noticed that things are slowly starting to get better. We have had a pretty good turn out to a lot of our dances and have averaged around 80 dancers per dance (down from 300, I know, but still...)

    The problem with BYU is that we have a lot of turnover. I am no exception, in that I am expecting to leave Utah come this April. But still, I have been swing dancing all 4 years and have thoroughly enjoyed it. A large part of the problem is that we have people that will come 2 or 3 times and then never be seen or heard from again. The question I have asked myself is... what can I do to help these people stay? Any ideas?

    As far as the fliers go, we were going pretty strong at the start of the semester but I believe we have since backed off. I need to kick John (club PR guy) in the butt and get things moving again.

    Club lighting? I don't know, but I will find out. I will post a list of all the equipment that the club has. Anybody and everybody would be more than welcome to help out. What would it take? Pestering me and that's about it.

    popthestack:

    Disclaimer: I don't go to BYU and don't really know what has or has not been done to promote the swing club. I don't mean to cause a stir or blame anyone for doing or not doing something. One person can only do so much and I certainly don't expect any one person to have done or to do everything. That would be just plain silly.

    I hope people think that I am not the lamest president. I really am trying to do my best and very much appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, and offers to help. Nothin' but love for ya Pop.

  4.  
    Buzz:

    I hope people think that I am not the lamest president. I really am trying to do my best and very much appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, and offers to help. Nothin' but love for ya Pop.

    On the contrary, I think you're doing a good job!

    •  
      CommentAuthorgeek4life
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2005
     

    Have you tried reaching out to local community in Provo instead of just on BYU campus? College swing scene is very unstable and has big turnover rate. It's no big surprise there.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSpecialK
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2005 edited
     
    Buzz:

    The problem with BYU is that we have a lot of turnover. I am no exception, in that I am expecting to leave Utah come this April. But still, I have been swing dancing all 4 years and have thoroughly enjoyed it. A large part of the problem is that we have people that will come 2 or 3 times and then never be seen or heard from again. The question I have asked myself is... what can I do to help these people stay? Any ideas?

    I meant to say something last week about the first concern. Joining swing kids isn't easy.

    1. You have the high bar to entry of an initial payment of $15 dollars. Not everyone wants to pay that much if they aren't planning on coming every week.

    2. The bigger concern is social implications. If you come to the dance and meet people and make friends, you'll probably come back. If you only dance a couple of times, and nobody asks you after that you won't come back. (I've had people tell me they didn't feel welcome). Honestly I didn't feel welcome for a while, but I didn't want to sit home Saturday night, so I kept coming.

    3. Learning Lindy isn't easy. Some people don't have, or want to invest the time in learning it

    Will finish this later

    •  
      CommentAuthortraci
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2005
     
    SpecialK:

    1. You have the high bar to entry of an initial payment of $15 dollars. Not everyone wants to pay that much if they aren't planning on coming every week.

    Dang it! Sorry Traci, I pushed the Edit button instead of the Quote button. Traci originally said something about coupons for people who come to beginner lessons and that there's not much we can do about the social aspect except assinging somebody a 'buddy'

    •  
      CommentAuthorBuzz
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2005
     
    SpecialK:

    1. You have the high bar to entry of an initial payment of $15 dollars. Not everyone wants to pay that much if they aren't planning on coming every week.

    Ok... I agree that $15 is a lot. But I have two things to say about that. First, if you only want to get yourself a membership, it's $12. And let's face it, $12 is not that much. That's like going to the MAC twice. For an entire semester! That's not THAT bad.

    However, [sarcasm]I recognize that not everybody is as rich as I[/sarcasm] and that is why we have gone through the trouble of authorizing every dance as a 'fund raiser' so that we could charge a $3 admission or $5 per couple.

    SpecialK:

    2. The bigger concern is social implications. If you come to the dance and meet people and make friends, you'll probably come back. If you only dance a couple of times, and nobody asks you after that you won't come back. (I've had people tell me they didn't feel welcome). Honestly I didn't feel welcome for a while, but I didn't want to sit home Saturday night, so I kept coming.

    This reminds me of the mission, lol, when converts said nobody would talk to them at church. For me, I didn't expect everybody to come up and make friends with me. I thought that if I wanted to make friends, I would be the one to have take the initiative. I was, after all, the new guy. But that's just me, and I know that I am an odd duck.

    •  
      CommentAuthorbobthecow
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2005
     
    traci:
    SpecialK:

    1. You have the high bar to entry of an initial payment of $15 dollars. Not everyone wants to pay that much if they aren't planning on coming every week.

    Dang it! Sorry Traci, I pushed the Edit button instead of the Quote button. Traci originally said something about coupons for people who come to beginner lessons and that there's not much we can do about the social aspect except assinging somebody a 'buddy'

    buzz. do we need to revoke your edit privileges?

    •  
      CommentAuthorgeek4life
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2005
     

    Buzz, you're fired! I want your resignation paper on my desk by 8am tomorrow morning.

    •  
      CommentAuthorgeek4life
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2005
     
    Buzz:

    This reminds me of the mission, lol, when converts said nobody would talk to them at church. For me, I didn't expect everybody to come up and make friends with me. I thought that if I wanted to make friends, I would be the one to have take the initiative. I was, after all, the new guy. But that's just me, and I know that I am an odd duck.

    No kidding. Everybody needs to take the initiative if they want to make friends or wants to learn how to dance. They can't expect handouts and freebies all the time.

    They think they have it tough? Now imagine yourself a newbie and [insert some ethnic background here] and go swing dancing at BYU where 99.99% of the dancers are caucasians. Don't they have a segregated dancing area for dark people in BYU?

    •  
      CommentAuthorSpecialK
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2005
     
    Buzz:

    I hope people think that I am not the lamest president. I really am trying to do my best and very much appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, and offers to help.

    Camilla (who I knew before she became the Wilk room Nazi) had the nerve to say, "You need to get a president who has his stuff together," as she kicked us out of the Wilk Saturday night. When I told her Buzz had a room reserved in the KMB which was closed she said he should have asked scheduling if the building was open, even though they let him schedule the room.

    Somehow Buzz, we're going to have to find a president who's omniscient if not omnipotent before the club can reach it's true potential. I'm afraid you're superhuman efforts in never sleeping as you seek to run the club, and maybe even graduate on the side, aren't good enough.

    •  
      CommentAuthorBuzz
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2005
     
    bobthecow:

    buzz. do we need to revoke your edit privileges?

    I shall put my nose in the corner as punishment for my heinous crimes

    •  
      CommentAuthortraci
    • CommentTimeNov 30th 2005
     

    dern it! my response was incredibly verbose and long-winded. i won't repeat it (since I can't remember), but buzz's summary was fairly good. buzz, since you were fired from prez, you are now hired as my editor when i get verbose and long-winded. but only if you ask me first . [Emoticon not found]

    •  
      CommentAuthorBuzz
    • CommentTimeDec 1st 2005
     

    Well, I have found all of our equipment, but I have yet to post a comprehensive list. I am checking everything right now and will have that finished soon... hopefully.

    Anyway, we do have quite a bit of lighting it appears and Bucket and Ian have offered to decorate the KMB for our closing social. So if anybody is interested in helping them out, they should be doing it right after our showcase from 5-6pm. If people are interested in doing this continually, we will look into either getting a new presidency position or asking volunteers on a week-by-week basis.

  16.  

    shoulda checked this earlier. not that i would have been able to help anyway. i'll be available randomly to help!

    oh and I liked the christmas lights at the closing social! it made it more exciting!

    •  
      CommentAuthorgeek4life
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2005
     

    The steal dance where the lead steals the follow next to him was fun. Buzz, you should do that more often.

    •  
      CommentAuthorbobthecow
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2005
     

    we could make this a new years resolution... dances bigger than the colorado lindy exchange.

    •  
      CommentAuthorgeek4life
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2005
     

    It's ok to dream.

    •  
      CommentAuthorbobthecow
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2005
     

    it's all been done before.

    •  
      CommentAuthorBuzz
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2005
     

    My resolutions:

    Only have BYU threaten to disband SKC 4 times (rather than the 5 times this semester)

    Dances bigger than the Denver Lindy Exchange.

    Convert the pope.

    Baptize the world.

    Get married.

    (Ordered from most probable to least)

    •  
      CommentAuthorcalifornia
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2005
     

    Some notes I've noticed about the decline:

    1. I think a big part of the decline is just that people aren't enamored with Swing the way they used to be; it was a pretty big deal around here up until a few years ago (whether or not it was real Swing). Salsa/Latin is now the big craze, far as I can tell.

    2. A lot of people I've talked to don't even know that the "Swing Kids" club is a dance organization. They seem to think that we watch the movie "Swing Kids" all the time or listen to jazz music or something. Back when we were the largest club on campus, everybody pretty much knew who we were and what we did.

    3. Not to be inflammatory, but the swing team isn't exactly our "best foot" to put forward all of the time. Most of our visual publicity consists of dancers that don't exactly make people envious or eager to learn. If we're going to showcase something for the masses, it should really be a little more refined (no offense intended toward any individuals).

    Hey, why did BYU threaten to disband? I didn't hear about that...

    •  
      CommentAuthorSpecialK
    • CommentTimeDec 7th 2005
     

    One thing that we have done well lately is consistency. If people know there is a dance *every* Saturday night in the KMB at 8PM, they'll feel free to come. If they happen to come and nobody is there, and there isn't a large sign saying "Swing Dance: 270 RB", they'll be miffed and not likely to try coming again (SKC for the uninitiated doesn't say Swing Dancing). Even if I'm buried in homework, I try to make the second half of the dance and frequently make my plans this way.

    We need to get the word out that we have an up to date web site where people can confirm the location of the dance by checking there or having BYU INFO (422-INFO) do it for them. ( How hard is it for an Admin to change the dance location on the website if we get bumped like the two times it happened this semester?)

    Of course then there are the people who say, oh, I'll just come next week . . .

    •  
      CommentAuthorBuzz
    • CommentTimeDec 7th 2005
     
    SpecialK:

    ( How hard is it for an Admin to change the dance location on the website if we get bumped like the two times it happened this semester?)

    It's a matter of seconds. Really easy.

1 to 24 of 24

  1.  
Add your comments
 
Back to Discussions Top of Page