By Cheryl Danner
At the beginning of the year we sent out a feedback survey focused on Hopcats practice sessions, and we received a little over 30 responses. If you were one of those people, thank you! We wanted to share some of what we heard, and how we plan to ensure that Hopcats continues to meet the needs of our community. In the survey responses, there were some clear trends. One is that a lot of you all really like to sleep in on Sunday mornings. 💤 Five people mentioned “welcoming”, ten people mentioned “community,” and the clear message was that people value finding and being part of a welcoming community. ❤️
Unsurprisingly, there was a wide range of preferences for timing and location of practice. Multiple people gave a shoutout to the availability of free parking near the Multicultural Arts Center on Sundays. We see accessibility by car 🚗 and public transit 🚇 as a requirement for our regular practice venue. On timing, some people would prefer that practice start later, and some would prefer that it start earlier. Maybe this means we hit the sweet spot.
We are aware that some people have schedule conflicts on Sunday mornings that prevent them from attending. We are not intentionally excluding people who attend church or other dance classes on Sundays – this date/time/venue combination was what worked well for many people at the start of the Lindy Hopcats practice group. While we would love to dance with more people, changes to schedule (and likely venue) can exclude as many people as they include, and disrupt our momentum. As some survey respondents noted, consistency is key. We try to have practice every week but have to skip some weeks when our venue is unavailable. The date, time, and venue for practice will remain the same for the foreseeable future. However, ‼️ we have another project in the works that would have a different date/time/venue. Stay tuned for more information. 📻
While the practice time is remaining the same at 11 AM to 1 PM, we are trying out a slight change to the schedule so that our friends who have trouble getting there at the start of practice can join the warmup and exercise. The change is just a slight shift. The first 15 minutes of practice are now community time for socializing, free practice, social dancing, or whatever you need. The group warmup and exercise now start at 11:15 AM. ⏰
One of the areas where we would like to improve is communication. We want it to be clear when practice is happening and give you all a better idea of what to expect at practice. For basic scheduling information (“do we have practice?”), you can go to Lindy Hopcats and click on “Events” or check out the events list on the Swing Dancing in Boston Discord server. We also post the practice schedule for the month on Instagram and Facebook. If there’s any confusion, please reach out through any one of these channels. Beyond just the basic practice schedule, look for information on the topic and practice coaches for upcoming practices announced in Discord, Facebook, and Instagram.
One of the suggestions for during practice was to make it easier to identify the practice coach. 💡Nice suggestion – we've got some creative ideas for that (as usual). We want to remind everyone that our practice coaches are frequently open to scheduling private lessons, so if you have a good time with them during practice feel free to inquire. We also want to remind folks that if the group exercise ever feels overwhelming, you can always opt to work with our fantastic beginner coach of the day during that time.
Unstructured free practice time is fantastic because it gives you a chance to focus on whatever you want! But we understand that it's not always easy to find a practice partner. The great thing about Hopcats is that we're a community of folks who want to practice, so you're always welcome to approach people and ask to join if they're working on something you're interested in. We also plan to help folks out a bit more. After people share what they'd like to work on during introductions, we will facilitate forming groups based on common themes we heard. Of course, if at any point you would like help finding a practice partner or group, talk to the practice organizer and we will do our best to help you out. 🤝
Some other new things to help you get the most out of free practice time: we will have one or more tripods on-hand that you can use to record video of yourself 🎥, and when we have the theater space and are not hosting mini private lessons, the green room can be used for practicing routines.
Here are some aspects of our weekly practices that people enjoyed and we plan to continue.