pennsicdance: Repost of minutes of Pennsic Planning Meeting - LONG

[Julia E Smith]

I understand that most people are subscribed to Pennsic Dance now. 
Let's change the discussion over to here, so that SCA-Dance can return
to its more scholarly and less political disputes. ;-)

To begin, for anyone who wasn't on SCA-Dance, here's a summary of the
meeting at Pennsic:

For those of you who couldn't make it, who never found out the correct
time and place, or who simply weren't at Pennsic for this discussion,
let me offer apologies.  About 40 people got together Friday afternoon
before Great Court to share ideas and kick off a discussion about the
organization of dance next year.  The discussion is summarized below.

For those of you already bored with discussions of dance at next year's
Pennsic, rejoice!  We're about to move much of this discussion to a
second list formed expressly to discuss this issue.  So, with a little
luck, we won't be bogging this list down with organizational stuff.

The Tent:

The biggest and first item of business was the proposal that we have a
dance tent next year.  Both Dame Alys Catherine (the A&S coordinator)
and next year's autocrat are concerned that dance classes and dance in
the evening are meeting with increasing competition for space in the
barn.  As you know, we were displaced from the Barn by programming for
children, by the MDA auction, by an A&S display, and by courts from
Tuesday to Friday night.  The solution proposed to us is that a dance
tent will be provided for our use during the day and on what evenings we
might desire.  They understand that large events such as the Masked Ball
must still occur in the Barn, and that some classes might not be
appropriate for a tent either.  

So, the proposal (as presented by Matthew, who had spoken with Dame Alys
most recently) is that they will provide us a 40'x60' tent, which is the
size of the Performing Arts tent.  The locations proposed are where A&S
8 was located (across the road from the chiurgeons, on the corner of the
block where AEthelmearc royal was this year) or where A&S 1,2,&3 were
located (in the middle of the A&S and services block, next to
security).  Filip suggested another location that he and Catriona had
found: near the Loud Tent, between the battlefield and Reserved
parking.  Another suggestion was made that perhaps the Performing Arts
tent could be moved to one of the first two locations and our tent could
be placed where Performing Arts is now.

For some activities, a 40'x60' tent will clearly be adequate; for others
it may be small.  However, we anticipate that when the weather is good,
we can use the area around the tent, either by pulling the walls up, or
even by getting poles so that we can set the walls up as eaves.  Any of
these site will be lit by halogen lights.  It may be necessary to
provide additional light to some musicians so that they can read music;
additional light will not be necessary for dancing.

The Powers that Be propose to provide us with sand with which to level
out the uneven parts of the ground.  Filip proposed that we could do a
preliminary levelling at War Practice (held in May) and a final
levelling after Land Grab.  However, grave concerns were expressed about
the safety of dancing on such a surface.  Sion Andreas pointed out that
in England, there is a tradition of dancing on closely cut grass. 
However, there appears to be a concensus that we should at least examine
other possible floor coverings.

Several possible floor coverings were mentioned: a premade dance floor
from Grimms (such as might be used for weddings), carpet, the rubberized
material used to cover some playground areas, and even a constructed
wooden floor.  Filip and Andrei volunteered to begin investigating the
costs of such flooring materials.  At this moment, it appears that if we
put together an organized proposal for a floor treatment, some funding
might be forthcoming from the autocrat to support it.  However, it may
require fundraising within/by the dance community as well.  

Additional concerns about how a tent would be set up were discussed. 
The Powers that Be propose supplying us with chairs and/or benches, but
not risers or a stage.  Putting the musicians on a higher level makes
them easier to hear, so we may need to investigate possibilities for
such construction.  We may also need to worry about ensuring that our
noise goes in the direction of the dancers so as not to disturb others. 
The possiblity of putting up some sort of bandshell was discussed. 
Richenda du Jardin reported that she has already discussed with the
chiurgeons the possibility that they would provide us with a cooler for
water, making moving away from the accessible vending machines and camp
store a less serious concern. 

Dance Next Year:

Several concerns for dance next year were raised.  First, the question
of when dance will be held in which venue (tent and Barn) must be
considered.  Clearly, final decisions cannot be made until a decision is
made about the tent.  However, the possibility of two dance venues is a
great (exciting and intimidating) challenge.  The general consensus was
that in the evenings it is vital that the dance community not abandon
the Barn, but rather use it as the primary dance location, with
secondary events happening at the tent as desired.

Second, we agreed that it was vital that we have a "Pennsic Pile" of
dance music available next year.  The fact that the dance band didn't
have multiple copies of the same music in the same key made life quite
difficult.  We also need to make certain that the musicians have music
stands or some other way to set their music up.  Musicians expressed
their concern and interest in seeing these issues dealt with.

If we are going to have a dance tent, we must be sure that it remains
free for the use of dancers (and dance musicians).  Otherwise, we stand
to lose control of both the barn and our new facility.  To do that, we
must be certain that we fill that space.

It appears likely that the Masked Ball will continue to be early in the
week (either Monday or Tuesday), and probably after court.  On Thursday
and Friday, court continued well into the night, and it was only at the
last minute that the second court on Wednesday night was moved out of
the barn.  

Interest was expressed in organizing a Caroso ball next year.  If we
have the tent, it could well be an early evening event, rather than an
afternoon event.

Finally, it was determined that rather than bother everyone on SCA-dance
with pre-Pennsic planning, a separate e-mail list would be created. 
Filip has the list and should be setting up the list shortly.  On that
list, we will discuss (and hopefully resolve) these issues and others. 

After the formal meeting, a group of individuals went to look at the
various proposed sites.  None of them is perfect: each has considerable
noise pollution problems (some more during the day, others more at
night), none is totally flat, and each has competition for that space. 
However, while people differed in their preferred site, consensus seemed
to be that each site except the site where A&S 1,2&3 are (which has a
slight slope) would be suitable.

In service,

Juliana de Luna

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