Summary
Please arrive early enough so that you can begin the sound check at 6:30 (or earlier if you anticipate a long sound setup.) The caller-led workshop is at 7:00, dance starts at 7:30. The dance ends at 10:00pm sharp. Please cater your program to the crowd, in terms of difficulty and dance type, to the shorter-than-most evening and to the often crowded hall. We need to keep a W-9 form on file for all performers. Please do not enter or exit the building using the doors on the Dayton side unless you have particularly difficult equipment/instruments to load via the stairs to the parking lot.
Place and time
The dance is in the Community Hall of the Phinney Neighborhood Center. The center's address is 6532 Phinney Avenue North in Seattle, but the Community Hall is actually off of Dayton Avenue, one block east. It's the brick building off the lower parking lot. Click here for a map and directions.The sound check begins at 6:30, so please arrive early enough so that you can set up and tune up prior to the sound check. Our sound person often arrives early, so if you have complex sound needs, please arrive early to allow for sound check to end by 7:00. It's very difficult for the caller to be heard in our hall over the sound check. There is a beginner's workshop at 7:00, which the caller leads. The dance runs from 7:30-10:00 with a brief break.
Sound and piano
We have a full sound system with two main speakers, two monitor speakers, three direct boxes, mixer, eq, a variety of mics, etc. You shouldn't need to supply anything, though if you want to bring your own direct box, mic, etc. that's fine. We have one music stand. We have a rotating schedule of sound people, so if you need to talk to the sound person, please ask us for the contact info of your sound person in advance. There is an acoustic piano (upright) on the stage. We keep the piano in good working condition and have it tuned once or twice annually as necessary.
What to expect
We typically get between 90 and 120 dancers, though we sometimes get more, and occasionally get fewer. The beginners workshop typically has between 4 and 15 people, and beginners often show up after the workshop. Most of the regular dancers are fairly competent, so you can use some more difficult material. However, on any given night, the number of beginners or less advanced dancers may be significant, so be prepared to back off to a simpler program, if necessary. On the other hand, our regulars are very good at integrating new dancers, so don't be alarmed even if we have a large batch of beginners arrive after the workshop.Admission is $8, with various discounts: senior, PNA, & SFS member at $7 and students at $5. First-time dancers get a coupon to attend a subsequent dance for free. Rent is $112.50 or $1.50/head for more than 75 people and our expenses (insurance, etc.) run about $40 per evening. We split the gate as follows: one cut to the caller, one cut to the sound person and up to four cuts to the band (depending on size.) This usually comes out to about $1/head for a 3 person band as long as we get more than 75 people. We may deviate slightly from this formula in the case of very large bands, traveling bands and/or callers, etc. but it should give an idea of what to expect. However, we make no pay guarantees.
What we expect
In order to maintain our non-profit status, we require that all performers fill out a W-9 form (which we will provide.) This form has no information besides your name, address and SSN. You only need to fill one out once, no matter how frequently you play for us (unless your address changes.) If you have one on file with the Seattle Folklore Society (SFS), we don't need one. We will not report any income unless the total income you receive from the SFS (including ECCD) in a single year is more than $600. Otherwise the form just sits in a filing cabinet collecting dust. The SFS privacy policy states that we won't share the information on this form with anyone (except to report income in the situation described above.) The equivalent form for international performers is the W-8.In order to maintain a good relationship with our neighbors and with the hall, and to be good neighbors, we must stop the dance at 10:00pm sharp. Furthermore, we must minimize use of the doors at the bottom of the stairs that lead out to Dayton Avenue. Unless you have unwieldy instruments or equipment, please load and unload via the doors up the stairs and out to the parking lot. Please refrain from playing music outside the hall after 10 pm.
For bands
Please check that we have your personnel correct on our band members list and let us know if we need to make any changes.Even better, the blurb we use for our publicity will be much more effective if you write it. You know yourselves better than we know you. Please send us a short description of your band.For callers
99% of your task is making sure that people are dancing and having fun. The remaining 1% consists of some announcements that we'd like made over the course of the evening. The only people making announcements should be the caller or us. If other people have announcements to make, they should ask the caller or us to make them. Please make one or two announcements between each dance, rather than all of them at one time. We want the dancers to dance, rather than standing around for 5 minutes of announcements. Again, the announcements are minor compared to ensuring that people enjoy themselves.Because of our agreement with the hall, we must end the dance promptly at 10:00. Please watch the time at the end of the evening and leave enough room for a last waltz that ends at 10 O'clock sharp.