[SCA-Dance] The Future of KWDS

[White, John]

> Hi all,
> 
> On the question of annual vs bi-annual, there is another option that
> just came to mind.  How about if KWDS continued to be bi-annual but in
> between, we added regional dance symposiums.  The advantage to
> "regional" ones would be that perhaps there would not need to be the
> big book and issues of political bureaucracy.  It would also mean that
> some of the events that already happen, like Crystal ball, could be
> designated regional since, in a sense, they already serve that purpose.
> I'm sure other kingdoms have big dance events too.  I guess the
> difference is that perhaps autocrats could make plans for out of
> kingdom guests or extend 1 day events into 2 or 3.  I'm not likely to
> travel half way across the country for a 1 day event, but might if it
> were 3.
> 
> Just my 2 cents
> Deonna
> 
Topic 1 - a different way to do KWDS annually:

To my mind, there's a large difference between a Crystal Ball or a Terp, and a KWDS.
This is only conceptual, mind, as I haven't been to either of these events, though I
have been to some East Kingdom "big dance events".  The smaller events tend to be
focused around dancing - some being little more than a big ball in the evening, with
something to entertain folks who arrived during the day - rather than learning about
dancing.  While the "symposium" part of KWDS means that, while dancing happens at it,
it is 'about' learning about dance.  In fact, in Hamilton I only attended one of the
four balls (for various, some uncontrollable, reasons) and none of the "dance-till-
you-drop" overnight stuff.

As such, while it might be nice just to travel to Terp or Crystal Ball to dance with
different folks, it doesn't really fill the space of a symposium ... at least, at the
moment.  

>From the other side - creating regional symposiums - the work involved in getting the
rooms at a cost that is affordable, organizing classes, etc, is not likely to be vastly
different from holding a full KWDS (as opposed to a *KDS (whatever Kingdom Dance Symposium))
except perhaps in scale, and if the idea is to draw from as many travelers as one can in the
known world, then even the scale isn't any different.  Why not just bite the bullet and
call it a KWDS?

Topic 2 - is going annual selfish, and why:

In a volunteer organization, it is usually a bad idea to squash the desire to do something,
because eventually people will stop desiring to do that thing.  We've got multiple people
or groups who want to hold a KWDS - why do we want to stop them?  Because I can't possibly
go to all of them?  That's really not a valid reason.  Because the people running them will
burn out?  Also not really valid, since no one is likely to get a chance to re-bid any time
soon.  Because the people attending them will burn out?  Of all of these, this might be the
only valid one, but then again, as people have said, other KW*S events manage to run yearly.
Pennsic runs yearly, as do the other wars (Gulf, Lillies, Estrella, etc) that draw from 
outside their kingdoms.  Crystal Ball and Terp run annually, drawing people from all over.
Maybe the mix of attendees will change, and maybe that won't be a bad thing - new blood 
should always be welcome!

No one is getting a merit badge for attending every single KWDS.  Sometimes you have to
decide that going to Hawai'I, or Ireland, or Disney World, is more important this year.
But if your 50th birthday happens to fall on a KWDS year, and your family wants to help 
you celebrate by taking you to Italy, and KWDS is in Ohio - would you rather miss Ohio
for Phoenix the next year, or have to wait two years for Atlanta?

Sometimes having a plethora of choices really isn't a bad thing.

I'll see folks at the Pennsic meeting ...

    \\Dafydd C