Summary
Please arrive 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.
Time/Place
The dance is in the Community Hall of the Phinney Neighborhood Center. The center's address is 6532 Phinney Ave. N in Seattle, but the community hall is actually off of Dayton Ave., one block east. It's the brick building off the lower parking lot. For a map and directions, visit our web page... http://seattledance.org/contra/emerald.city.html and click on the "Map" link in the upper right hand corner.The dance runs from 7:30-10:00 with a brief break. There is a beginner's workshop at 7:00, which the caller leads. We ask that you arrive at 6:30 for setup and sound check. It's very difficult for the caller to be heard in our hall over the sound check. Our sound person often arrives early, so if you have complex sound needs, please consider arriving early to allow for sound check to end by 7:00.
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 80 and 100 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 $75 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 must 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.
For callers
We have a number of 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. We'd like the caller to try to make one or two announcements between each dance, rather than all at or after the break. 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.
Some tips for callers
Crowded conditions
While we make no guarantees about attendance, we often have a packed house. Please be prepared to call compact dances. Moves such as down the hall can be particularly unsuccessful. If you've programmed dances requiring a lot of space, be aware that you may need to adjust your program and/or your teaching.The floor has some interesting topography. There's a slight ridge running lengthwise about halfway down the hall. This means that there's sometimes a large gap between couples at that point, while the top and bottom of the sets are squashed. You may want to encourage the dancers to rectify this during moves such as long lines.Our hall is just barely wide enough for three lines, but not comfortably so. As a result, we have the opposite of the "center line" phenomenon common at some other dances. The center line is shorter, and crowded by the two outer lines. The outer lines widen out just beyond the end of the center line and this can sometimes cause "turbulence" and lead to confusion. Because of this, some of our regulars prefer not to dance in the center set, so the shortness of the line and turbulence are compounded by a higher percentage of new dancers.
Short evening
Note that our dance is somewhat shorter than a typical contra dance and we have a strict end time. This sometimes catches callers by surprise. You can probably call about 1-2 fewer dances than at a typical 3 hour dance. We also recommend running individual dances shorter than you might otherwise. Given the short evening, we don't recommend a hambo, schottische or other couple dance after the break. However, it's up to the caller and band. We do typically have a waltz at the end of the first and second sets.
Programming
We don't have hard and fast rules about programming, but our dancers tend to prefer contras to squares, mixers, English country, etc. We ask that you restrict yourself to two or three non-contra dances in an evening, and not to call back-to-back squares.
Ambiance
Our dancers are sometimes quite talkative and inattentive of the caller. Some callers take offense at this, but we consider it a sign of a healthy, social dance. However you choose to handle this, be forewarned.