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Strategies for starting a dance?

• On college campuses start a club to get funding. Recruit friends, make announcements - classes, newspaper, dance groups, other clubs. Create a great elevator speech. Have the dance somewhere very visible where people will just wander by - and then come in because it is (ideally) free.
• Perform in public or at a dance event with different types of dance
• Try to get college to sponsor vans to local dance(s)
• If it's all young beginners (ex: college) do some fun easy kiddie contra-ishdances in addition to real contras. People want to have fun and not think the whole time.
• Make colorful poster (with crayons!)
• Advertise to school activities board as an "alcohol free event"!
• Move the town contra dance to within walking/biking distance of campus
• Organize a "field trip" to an established dance as a seed, make it regular and use the momentum to organize once a core group is "hooked"
• Pool resources/people from several nearby schools to have a bigger dance instead of several small ones.
• If a college club without a lot of experienced dancers, host other related/folk events to increase interest without the problem of a bad experienced to not-experienced ratio (ex: folk sing/shapenote, etc...)
• Make movie/culture references. Jane Austen, English folk (Morris, etc.)

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