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Just Dance!
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April 11, 1999 - Meeting Minutes
| Attendees: |
Ian! Allen, Jan Teevan, Jon Pierce, Kate Brennan,
Susan Alexandre, Lise Nickerson, Liza Daniel, Michéle Matte, Phoenix Winter, Jennifer
Deligiannis, Jorge Deligiannis, Andy Gabe, Volker Tilgner, Louis Radakir, Ananda Lavigne,
Ellie Barrington, Charlotte Vallierettorce |
| Next meeting: |
POTLUCK - May 16, 1999, 12:00 noon - 22 Oak St (just south of
Preston and Somerset West in the Italian quarter)
Jan 567-6262, Ian! 235-6216 |
| Facilitator: |
Jan Teevan |
| Vibes Monitor: |
Volker Tilgner |
| Minutes: |
Andy Gabe |
Agenda
- Meeting process 5 min
- Mission statement 15 min
- Ombudsman 10 min
- Financial 7 min
- Brainstorming for attendance 20 min
- Action plan (including poster discussion) 20 min
- Staffing volunteer positions 10 min
- Did this meeting work, did we accomplish what we wanted? 15 min
Previous Action Items
Name |
Action Item |
Status |
| Jorge |
Ensure that Just Dance is listed in the Ottawa Citizen |
Completed |
| Jon & Charlotte |
Create draft poster for group’s comments |
In progress |
| Ian & Jan |
Host April 11 potluck meeting |
Completed |
| All |
Contact friends, former attendees and founders for ideas, and
invite them to the potluck |
Completed |
Current Action Items
Name |
Action Item |
| Ian & Jan |
Host May 16 potluck meeting |
| Jon & Charlotte |
Complete poster |
| Michelle |
Translation of poster |
| All |
Distribute poster |
| Phoenix |
Update Xpress magazine with Just Dance events |
| Louis |
Go to Chelsea with Jorge to get on bank account |
| Andy |
Compile phone/e-mail list |
| Volker |
Generate copies of poster location list |
| ? |
Find visual for poster |
Status & Review
Since the financial situation is comfortable for now the main efforts to increase
attendance will be organized for the fall (after the summer break). A second meeting will
be held in May to finalize plans for these efforts. Some efforts will be made in the
meantime to encourage attendance for the remainder of the year. This will include
postering, Tone magazine & the Citizen.
General Discussion
Meeting process
 | Use a symbolic talking stick (allowing other time to speak) |
| Consensus decisions |
| Justify blocking concerns |
| Chair person & vibes monitor |
Mission statement
"Just Dance for me is not just dance!"
Just Dance is community. It's friendly & welcoming; a safe and healthy place to
dance. It's self-expression. It's not a meat market! It's alive; it is life. It's
music! A place to come together & share our dances. It’s fun! It's
non-competitive. A place you can spread your wings; be children; express your joy and your
pain. It's a friendly circle. It's a place to come alive; to be ourselves; to dance
beautiful; dance ugly; dance crazy; dance who we are.
OmbudsDancer
| Several people to ensure presence at each dance (a committee) |
| Identifiable (wear a hat or ribbon) |
| Announce at every circle so newcomers will know about them |
| People that you can talk to if you're not comfortable with anything |
| A greeter, friendly face, guard, peace keepers |
| Commitment to protect the space, hold back from dancing too intensely, be aware of the
mood |
| Mention in promotional material |
| Scratch pad for comments for people who don't like to talk |
| Call on others for help if necessary to approach the person, discuss with group if
necessary |
| Do not embarrass anyone in public |
Financial
When Jorge took over the finances in 1994 the balance was $66.
A typical year’s rent is approximately $1760.
The following figures are approximate.
| Year |
Revenue |
Advertising |
Other major purchases |
Year end balance |
| 94-95 |
$2759 |
$352 (Tone & flyers) |
$393 sub-woofer, cds, etc |
$341 |
| 95-96 |
$2542 |
$332 |
|
$771 |
| 96-97 |
$2615 |
$200 |
Not a lot of expenses |
$1504 |
| 97-98 |
$1741 |
|
$140 speaker repairs |
$1427 |
| 98-99 |
(?) |
none |
|
$1100 (current) |
We can afford to keep having dances for two years, but the trend is downward.
| This year would have been worse if we'd kept advertising in Tone ($300) |
| The Tone ads & less volunteering from core group were the problems |
| Jorge was not coming as much anymore. Others also. The Tone ad was also dropped because
there wasn’t enough money coming in to cover it. This year we ran an ad for 3 months,
but it didn't help. |
Brainstorming for attendance
Facilities:
| Some people don’t come anymore because they don’t like the location |
| Trying to get a break on the rent was suggested; some suggested the rent is quite
reasonable. (We also have a storage locker at the location for free!) |
| Raise the fee to $5 |
| Sliding scale for people who can't afford it. |
| Dance Network studio is small, not accessible, and parking is a problem |
| Arts court - we did one session there, but they are also not wheel chair accessible |
| Neighbourhood |
| Community centres - multi-cultural events, didn't seem to be interested. High rent. |
| Room is too cold |
Format of evening:
| In any kind of group, you'll have a bunch of people who will always stay, but there are
always people who leave - we need to bring new people in to replace them. |
| What about optional circle in the outer room |
| Circle should come first |
| Workshops: |
| Cut out the workshops, since the attendance is low |
| Is 8:00 the workshop? When does the workshop end? |
| Workshops going over time - people coming for only dance |
| Starting late is a problem, now the workshop is not even starting at 8:00! |
| What to do with children during the workshop? |
| Workshops earlier |
| Hold the dance before the workshop |
| Old format of having workshop & drumming before the circle was helping with
attendance (Jorge) |
| Workshop teachers - how do they feel, are they getting paid enough (so far it's good
feedback from teachers) |
| How to pay the teacher & not mix it in with the rent |
| Drumming: |
| don't pay fee if they're going to drum? |
| Jorge thinks they stopped coming because there weren't enough people coming. There were
some people coming from Stone Angel. |
| Some of them drummed all night, which bugs some people. |
| Phoenix will ask some people she knows. |
| Used to be 10:50-11:15 after the circle. Circle at 10:30 |
| They don't have to pay. |
| Music: |
| Do we have music for young people? |
| It's OK for there to be a dance with music for people with our kind of taste |
| There are teenagers who like & need this kind of place to go |
| Do we want to have someone who pays more attention to the music (a few cds have gone
missing) |
| Variety of music very important. Really like dancing to slow music. This may have
effected the attendance. |
| Add a music requests category to a suggestion form |
| We could expand our own musical vocabularies |
| We don't share the same music with teenagers |
| Once a year we could have a rave! |
Calendar:
| Every other week, - 1st and 3rd of each |
| Have it once a month |
| If the dates were standardized - a lot of the publicity would no longer be necessary |
Publicity:
| Membership activation |
| Phone tree |
| Mailing/e-mail list |
| Flyers can be passed around at Just Dance |
| Membership fees? |
| Publicize need for volunteers |
| Free publicity |
| Healthy restaurants |
| Libraries |
| Dance teachers |
| Festivals |
| Community centres |
| Website |
| CBC dance reporter |
| Radio arts calendar |
| Community newspapers |
| Has the Citizen ever done a feature? Could get quite a lot of feature coverage by just
putting out the word |
| Another source of people is from the other boogies - when people are travelling. |
| Network of liturgical dance groups |
| Dance Network newsletter always includes Just Dance schedule as long as someone calls |
| Paid publicity |
| May want to consider becoming members of Arts Council? $50? Membership fee gets you in
their newsletter which reaches a lot of people |
| Poster |
| Pamphlet |
| Newsletter |
| Miscellaneous |
| If dates were standardized, standard publications could then be issued with the weeks
included |
| Who is the membership of just dance? Define target audience |
| Young people, multicultural may not interested in going |
| Do we want to tap into other groups? |
| Even DNE has trouble attracting older teenagers |
| We've lost a lot of families |
| Good welcome committee |
| Ballet & modern dancers might be interested |
| No recurring conflicting events with Dance Network |
| People get lost! Put a map on the website |
| Poster discussion |
To include:
| Come as you are, comfortable |
| Energetic visual |
| Use old logo |
| Adjectives, come! casual! exciting! playful! Come otherwise you'll miss half of your
life!! |
| Enthusiastic interjections |
| Map |
Action plan
Jon, Charlotte & Michelle will complete the posters, and various people
will distribute them. Jorge has a list of places to distribute them.
Phoenix will keep X-Press magazine updated, and Jorge has sent the schedule in to the
Citizen.
The above efforts will be made to attract more attendees for the spring (until the last
dance in June), and the main effort will be planned for the fall. Another meeting date has
been set (see above).
Staffing volunteer positions
| Name |
Back-up |
Ongoing task |
| Raymond |
Jennifer |
Organize workshops |
| Ian |
Louis |
Opening & closing |
| Susan, Charlotte |
Jan |
Welcoming committee (put up signs, sandwich board) |
| Jan, Ananda, Phoenix |
Jorge |
OmbudsDancers |
| Louis |
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Contact phone number 233-8033 |
| Jorge |
Louis |
Pay the rent |
| Jorge |
Jan |
Interface with landlord |
| Jorge |
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Financial management |
| Ian |
Louis |
Sound equipment |
| Liza |
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Lights (will get lightbulbs) |
| Jon |
Jan |
Supplies: toilet paper, balloons, first aid kit, garbage bags |
| Liza |
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Money collection (find ways to encourage & differentiate
workshop donations) |
| Liza |
Ian |
Bank deposit, notify Jorge |
| Jon |
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Newsletter |
| Ian |
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Web Master |
| Andy |
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Minutes |
Did this meeting work, did we accomplish what we wanted?
| I’ve never seen so much cooperation in a meeting before! |
| It would’ve been nice if we’d been able to have more of an action plan. We
kept getting back into brainstorming. |
| What a nice bunch of people! |
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