A Report from the Membership Development Committee

RSCDS Toronto Association

DANCING INTO THE 21ST CENTURY

An overview:

The Toronto Association of the RSCDS is facing a dramatic decline in membership, current numbers standing at half those of the 1980s. Over the past few years we have been losing about 50 members a year. With fewer members, the Association faces financial pressures in maintaining its activities. To reverse this trend, and to rebuild a flourishing Association, we must attract and keep large numbers of new dancers each year.

To accomplish this, we need to reassess some of our traditions and practices in the context of change since the Branch was chartered in 1957. Fifty years later the pace of people's lives, their expectations and opportunities for leisure, and demographics, are very different in Toronto. People do not have time for an extended apprenticeship before being welcomed as dancers.

In this report, the Membership Development Committee has focused on four primary areas, and highlighted several recommendations for each which we feel would be the most effective. Our membership survey yielded a wealth of further valuable suggestions. They are included in the Appendices as a resource for future discussion and action.

First of all, we need to raise the profile of SCD in the community. Friendliness, fitness and fun should be the elements of a more modern image for the Association. Using this new image, publicity and promotional materials could then be developed, distributed, and put into the hands of our current members, for them to use to interest potential dancers. Our membership survey showed that most of our current dancers started dancing because of friends or family. We need to make our members aware that growth is in their hands.

If our first challenge is to attract large numbers of new dancers, our second must be to provide for their progression into comfortable dancers who will take part in the Association's activities. This requires a shift away from the idea that a long apprenticeship is necessary before a dancer can participate in all of our activities. Instead we need to reassess our attitudes and practices to ensure this transition is supported. We need to create more events which quickly integrate new dancers. In the end though, it is the welcome, the encouragement, and the fun newcomers have with their fellow dancers which will determine whether they stay.

The third challenge is to recognize the often conflicting needs of diverse groups of dancers within the Association, from children to seniors, from beginners to very advanced dancers, and to provide dancing opportunities for all of them. Many suggestions for multi-level activities at social groups and monthly dances, and for new activities, are found in the Appendices. We could also better meet dancing needs if representatives of groups in each area of the GTA met annually to coordinate activities and to plan for growth in their area.

Last, but not least, we must encourage all dancers to join the RSCDS through the Toronto Association. Many dancers in Toronto take advantage of the activities offered by the Association without actually being members. Dancers must understand that without their financial support through membership fees, the Toronto Association will be unable to offer the full range of activities currently being provided.

Inspired teachers who teach well and who take an interest in individuals are a vital element in keeping dancing alive. In describing their teachers, dancers of all ages mentioned the words enthusiastic, supportive, kind and fun. Training and supporting new teachers is an essential part of membership development.

Enriching the life and activities of the Association makes membership more attractive. As dancers perceive the Association's value, they will be more likely to support its activities through membership.

A concerted effort to meet these challenges will result in a vibrant RSCDS Toronto Association leading dancers into the 21^st Century and beyond.

Kim Malcolmson Chair, Karen Freedman, Jean Hamilton, James Mallany, Ron Macnaughton, and Judy Williams