October 9, 2023
Friends,
Thank you everyone for your support this year. Contra dance is alive and well in the Richmond area. Our 2023 attendance has been good considering the various challenges we have faced this year. Our fall calendar is fully booked and can be found at tadamsva.org/dances. As we get into the cooler season, we are returning to dancing twice a month, so it is a great time to get involved.
Volunteering
You can help TADAMS dances in more ways than I can describe. Two good ways to find your niche are by showing up early for a dance, or attending a monthly board meeting. Showing up early allows you to become familiar with the resources available at each location and what is needed to set up and take down. Attending a board meeting allows you to see what goes on organizationally, away from the dance hall.
Some of the tasks we need help with at a dance are: sound set-up, water coolers, door/flyer tables, chairs, stage, lighting and fans; occasionally manning the door table during the dance; taking down the items that were set up, and finally sweeping and taking out the trash.
Board Meetings are held 7:00-8:45 on the Monday evening following the last dance of the month and are posted on our calendar. You can attend in person or by Zoom. The next meeting will be Oct. 23 in the Twin Hickory Area Library conference room. Expect planning for Springforth Ball 2024 as well as discussions on talent for 2024 dances.
Springforth Ball
It is just 6 months away and brings its own opportunities for volunteering. During the dance weekend there will be a sign-up board and schedule for various set-up and clean-up tasks. Until then there are other things we could use help with:
Housing Hosts – Local community members volunteer to host out of town dancers and musicians in their homes. Matching potential hosts with guests is not guaranteed due to various factors including distance to the venue, allergies, availability and so on.
Housing Coordinator- Maintains a list of volunteer hosts and matches them to housing requests that come in.
Meal Coordinator – Coordinates the two community meals at Springforth Ball: Saturday potluck dinner and Sunday brunch. This role is mostly a clearing house to keep track of what people volunteer to bring and advise of what may be needed to balance the food choices. It also involves directing volunteers who sign up for set up and clean up.
Snack Coordinator – Procures and prepares snacks for dance breaks as well as Saturday box lunches.
Let us know what you can help with: tadamsvacontra@gmail.com
Price increases for 2024
Annual Memberships for 2024 will go up to $56. If you join for the fall Quarter of 2023 you would pay $11 for the remainder of 2023, and $56 for all of 2024, for a total of $67.
Benefits of membership include a $5 discount on regular Saturday or Sunday dances, as well as discounts for special dances such as Member Appreciation Dance (Oct. 25, free to all members) and nationally recognized bands (Nov. 5, Playing With Fyre).
The door price for 2024 regular dances will go up to $15 for Nonmembers, $10 for Members and Students, dancers 14 and younger are free.
Why are we raising prices? It was clear when we started dancing last summer that our existing pricing regime was outdated. Our rates could no longer cover the increase in rent and our reserves were declining. At the time, the board decided that rebuilding our community by dancing in a cautious but deliberate manner was more valuable than an immediate raise in prices.
Looking forward to 2024 we recognize that it is now necessary to increase revenue thereby offsetting rising expenses and increasing our ability to book a wider variety of talent.
Fortunately, this year, unexpected donations from friends and members replaced much of the income that we would have normally gained from our Springforth Ball dance weekend, and helped counter balance the increase cost of rent. Thanks to the generosity of these donors, we still have reserves to operate into 2024.
Thank you, everyone for your support of contra dancing in Richmond. If there is something you would like to see or feel you can contribute, please talk to a board member (Robert, Jeff, Lucie Virginia, Chris, Jim, or Gregg) or email us at tadamsvacontra@gmail.com.
Robert Linkous
President, Traditional American Dance and Music Society
