Getting Back in the Saddle
News from Square Dance Land.
It’s been so long since I’ve worked my square dance blog, I almost forgot my password.
I’ve got a lot of things to write about that happened over the summer (and from the spring too), but I’m going to go back and fill in as I can. I’ll try to stay current with what’s going on in square dance land today, and go back to fill in (from memory) stuff that’s been going on.
I’m not a marketing guru, but I’m a big fan of one. Seth Godin has become sort of a folk hero to me. I’ve been reading his books and following his blogs and I believe him to be brilliant.
If you want to find out yourself, his blog can be found at:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com
His blog today was about the the pursuit of the Olympics and how people bend over backwards to get them into their city. It turns out that nearly every city that has ever hosted an Olympics has regretted it financially. Seth’s question of the day: How little patience would you have for the International Olympic Committee and their politics if they didn’t have a show people wanted to watch?
Seth goes on to make some valuable comments about marketing and how given the size of the Olympic Games how commercializing it is more like strip mining. (There’s not much skill needed due to the enormity of it all.)
However, my take on his post made me consider his question in a different light.
Related to square dance land, I’d like to rephrase his question.
How little patience would you have for your square dance club’s politics if they didn’t host an event you wanted to attend?
Based on declining numbers of square dancers, I’d argue that people are having less and less patience for such politics. Our numbers are down. They were down from their hayday when I started dancing in the 1990s, but I’ve seen them dwindle more and more every year. It’s depressing.
With the smaller numbers, a few clubs have seen their politics become condensed. Several have folded under the strain.
I feel that there are a number of reforms that have to take place to increase the popularity of square dancing. However, with the best of reforms, it will be for naught if we can’t eliminate the poison that is politics.
Time will tell.
Until next time, (which I hope is soon) keep dancing!
Hey, square dancing, I love it, been doing it for about 30 years and just love it. More people should learn to square dance. A great way to meet people, have fun, lose weight, have a great time. It should be promoted more and maybe if the movie stars would do it and promote it or the President and First Lady would do it as part of a healthy lifestyle and good way to get exercise, it would catch on. It is a terrific, fun thing to do. Lots of festivals and parties and special dances and so much fun.