pennsicdance: Real (as opposed to meta-) topics

[Nathan Kronenfeld]

I'd like to ignore the issue of location and timing for the moment, and drive
right to (what I believe to be) the heart of the matter - teaching organization
and methods.

I suspect the best place to start would be to discuss what has worked, and what
hasn't.  Since the latter is probably a well-nigh infinite list, let us go with
the former.

So, everyone, what have you seen, in terms of organization and method, in past
Pennsics, that you think has worked, and would be a shame not to do?

I've only been to four Pennsics now, but in terms of the organization of the
dancing, the best by far was the first.  There were a few things that I think
contributed to this:

	(1) There was an overall goal: teach all the dances that would be used
at the ball ahead of time.
	(2) There was a clear nightly goal.  The list of dances was broken up
*before-hand* into nightly lists of what *had* to get taught (though invariably
there was plenty of time for other things).
	(3) There was a clear leader each night, and it was a different person
each night.  People signed up (again, before-hand) to take charge of each night.
	(4) Each leader had a set of 2-4 other dance-masters who had volunteered
to help out that night, and on whom they could count for various things.

(3) and (4) together ended up meaning that the 3-5 teachers would trade off
teaching the easier dances, and for the harder ones, they would break up the
floor, each take a small number of sets, and teach them more individually.  3
gave a clear person for making the decision as to which to do (often partway
through a dance, when it proved to be causing too much confusion when taught en
masse), and 4 guaranteed enough to teach in small sets, as well as making sure
there was always a person free in the "easier" dances to give individual
attention to a set that was having particular problems.


Two more things: 

I thought we used to start earlier (while it was still a little light out -
around 8 or so).  I'm not sure whether starting later is a cause or an effect of
other problems.  Anyone have any thoughts?  

Lastly, "official" teaching used to end at midnight, with OOP dances only being
done after that (and there being much less organization that late).  Now, given
my bed times this past Pennsic, I can't be *sure* how things went in this
regard, but I got the impression that someone took over when they got there,
stayed very late, and when they left, nothing else much happened.  I have a
strong suspicion that, for various reasons (which I won't get into now, but will
if someone asks, or this becomes a serious topic of conversation), we are well
served to have an "unofficial" period each night, where anyone can take over and
do what they want, and where those of us who have been doing this far too long
take a step back and just participate.


Well, that's all for now.  I'm looking forward to hearing peoples ideas for what
has worked in the past.

			-Daniele di Padola

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