Minutes 10/17/11

Columbia Traditional Music & Dance

Minutes for Business Meeting held on Tuesday, Oct 17, 2011

Submitted by Virginia Winn



Meeting was called to order at 7:53pm.


Attending were:

John Wetzel

Connie Robinnette

Judy Wells

Marguerite Frongillo

Virginia Winn

Fred Druseikis

Dianne Britton

Lucy Gordon

Tim Piesch

Absent were:

Kenny Greer was called but was unavailable

Mary Joe Wannamaker

Tim Sneed

Stephanie & Scott McCravy


The 08/30/11 Minutes were discussed, voted on, and approved.


Treasurer’s Report was discussed, voted on, and approved.

$1616 [bank balance, kitty, & money from October dance] minus $7.00 [reimbursement to Connie for telephone calls] equals $1609 [balance in bank and cash on hand].


Board Recruitment:

Because of his interest in becoming a Board member, Lucy & Virginia recommended Ben Coonrod as a new Board member. It was discussed, voted on, and approved. Lucy will contact Ben, let him know, and see if he still wants to serve.


Recruitment of Dancers:

The Outreach Committee asked all Board members to assist in recruiting new and/or experienced dancers to our Columbia dance. It was agreed that we are having a problem with turnover of new dancers, as well as retention of experienced dancers. A brainstorming session occurred.

•Connie will continue the FaceBook and Twitter accounts promoting the dances. She requested that we all acknowledge our intentions [coming/not coming, etc] on FB and to write comments when possible.

•Connie also wants us to share the Columbia Contra page with our own FB pages and post photos/comments before and after each dance.

•Marguerite will continue to promote our Contra dance via the International Folk Dance and the Scottish dance groups.

•Virginia handed out Columbia Contra business cards to all those present and asked that they keep some in their wallet to promote the dance. She also gave out promotional fliers as requested. She will print up some more of both.

•It was suggested that we contact yoga studios, exercise gyms, and church social groups.


Raising the level of the dance in Columbia:

•The 6:15pm pre-dance intermediate workshop has not been very well attended and we discussed ways to increase attendance because of the need to raise the level of our dances. It was suggested that we send out a separate notice for the earlier workshop stressing the fact it is to cover more advanced moves. We could contact the caller to see what moves they suggest for the evening.

• It was suggested that we also have a contra move taught during the break, [in addition to or instead of the folk dance, as time permitted] to try and raise the beginners’ level. This would be in addition to the 6:15 intermediate workshop.

•Fred mentioned that our dances need attention to both the level of the dancers, as well as the flow of the whole evening, in order to increase both the total number of dancers and the ratio of experienced to beginner dancers. We seem to lose a lot of people during break and so our use of the break should be to try and get folks to stay.

•It was agreed that if the callers don’t feel they can call more advanced dances, then we will not be able to retain the experienced dancers.


Co-dance with Lake Murray Contra Dance:

Lake Murray has expressed a desire to have a co-sponsored dance at their facility.

•Virginia has been corresponding with Susan Fort about this possibility since July 2011. Both parties agree that money is tight. The LMContra Hall can hold 2 lines of dancers at about 32-36 per line for a total of 64-72 people on the floor at any one time with additional room for people to sit. The Board discussed the pros/cons of having a joint dance and/or a joint workshop. The Board is leaning toward a one-day/night free social event with a pick-up band and pick-up caller that would be both a social and workshop combined event; people that wanted to see what playing in a contra band was like could join in; people who wanted to try calling could take their turn. Virginia will discuss this possibility with Susan and will get back to the Board in January.


Assist USC start a Student Contra dance:

Lucy and Virginia were broached by Jacob LeGrone [legrone@email.sc.edu, 980-428-6101] about the Columbia Contra sponsoring a new Student Contra Club at USC for the student body.

•The Board agreed that COTMD does not have the monetary liquidity to sponsor the new club but would be willing to assist where possible, i.e., giving a few demo dances to help teach students; Dianne said she may be willing to play free for one dance; see what materials CDSS has on starting a new contra dance and recorded music with calls; recommend Jacob contact both Clemson and Furman to see how they promote & manage their Contra dances. Lucy and Virginia will dialog with Jacob and report back to the Board in January.


Presidential Duties:

Dianne gave John the remaining letters from CDSS. John will complete a list of pertinent Presidential duties which he will supply Dianne. She will then develop a calendar which will automatically send out reminders to the President on a timely bases.


Next Board Meeting:

We will not have a Board meeting in November or December 2011. The next Board meeting will be Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at Virginia Winn’s home, 3025 Dalloz Road, Cola 29204, C: 803-760-5881.


Meeting was adjourned at 9:40pm.