[SCA-Dance] The Future of KWDS

[philipwhite at hotmail.com]

Howdy all!!

So, sounds like we are having a meeting Sunday August 2nd at 7pm in the dance tent so we can all talk about Known World Dance including where to hold it next as well as how often for it to be held. 

I'll vollunteer to moderate. 

I know the parties involved and have some experience with the process. 

Your Servant to Command,
~philip white





________________________

On 2009-07-22 10:17:35 -0500 "White, John" <white at drexel.edu> wrote:

> 
>> 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
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