Facing the facts
Schools Development Officer
Chairman Stewart Adam opened the co nference, atte nd ed by representatives from 29 Scottish branches. Th e atm osphere was chee rful despite members having to face up to so me unpalatable facts .
Ruth Beattie spoke of various initi atives at national leve l wh ich sho uld provide an opportu nity for us to become in vo lved: the national priorities in ed ucation hi ghli ght the importance of spo rt. music, da nce and drama ; the need to Session 1: SCD in tackle obes ity - the active schools program me; the 'Arts Scotland Today Ruth's main fo r All' review Dr Alasta ir Macfadyen opened point was th at to fulfil its task of the first session with amusing promoting SCD in schools the pertinent anecdotes and John Wilkinson , Anita Mackenzie, Irene Bennett and Linda Gaul RSCDS needs a Schools smiling - and freezing! comme nt on the past and Development Officer to cocu rrent situati on in Scotland . ordin ate the work we already do and to expand that further with Some negat ive reporting in the med ia had not helped the ca use official approaches to relevant aut horiti es and orga ni sations . of SCD and he co mm ended the Manageme nt Board fo r supporti ng the Conference . Quoting J F Kennedy he warned Dancing for Young Adults aga in st "comfortable inacti on ." Sinclair Barbour run s a very successfu l group of teenage dancers Jimmie Hill then spoke of the need to be pro-active and gave in Thornhill , a village in the Borders. He offered some very va ri ous instances where SCD and the RSCDS were no longer in interesting pointers: hold classes for boys for the first couple of the public eye. He also felt that there was a danger that Scottish weeks before asking the gi rl s along; use quite complex dances to issues had been and were being overl ooked within the Society. keep minds active; slip in the technique - never sta rt with it; use The same message as Alastair had given ca me across - 'dignified yo ung mu sicia ns where possible and arrange demonstrations , silence is no use' - we must start the long fi ght back to raise th e festivals and trips abroad . In hi s seni or class of 50 on ly 15 are profile of SCD in Scotland . over the age of 24! His message on working with young people From the ensu ing group discussions the main oin t made was "understa nd them , involve them , make it fun and acti ve." that t he priority shou ld be to get more people dancing rather There was genera l support for the idea of a Schools Development than increasing RSCDS membership . Too often branches we re Officer though some felt that a Publi c Relations Officer might be co nce rn ed with orga ni sing events for their ex ist ing membership. more important. Branches should be encouraged to hold family More dancers are needed before we can have more members! ni ghts, to train more young teachers and inter-branch cooperation should be the norm. Above all , li sten to what young Session 2: Schools and young people people are saying! Sue Porter, Youth Director, gave an ove rview of th e situation, explai ning that in so me area s SCD is part of the primary school Session 3: Promotions and marketing curriculum ; in other areas dance is an extra -m ural activity with Thi s session.chaired by Irene Bennett, took the form of a panel permanent staff or RSCDS teachers taking classes. Sue believes discussion with Anita Mackenzie, Linda Gaul and John Wilkinson . that a SCD programme for schools should be developed on a The initial presentation was made by Anita, who first spoke of the national basis. Many branches have classes fo r school-aged differences between promoting a product or service you were childre n, though on ly a few run dances for them . There are ve ry happy with by adverti sing and ho ldin g special events and active SCD groups in five o f the Scottish universities . Sue urged market ing which takes yo u right back to the resea rch stage. Do we us to work with and enco urage them . need to spend more on promotion or do we need to update what we're trying to achi eve, to re-define and re-present what we are The Fife Model o fferin g? Her proposal was a I 0-point marketing plan for the Irene Bennett explai ned that every November the teachers from RSCDS. the visiting PE service orga ni se a non-competitive fest iva l whi ch I . Re-define wfiat we want to acfiieve for SCD in Scotland . is open to all primary and specia l schools in Fife. She astounded 2. Consolidate tfie support of ou r existing membership . the co nference when she sa id that some 130 o f th e 146 primaries 3. Researcfi new target groups and wfiat tfiey want . take part each year with up to 12,000 children attending over a 4. Set target-group priorities , sucfi as beginners or young people, say, period of I 0 days At each venue and fo r each session an RSCDS for tfie next 2 years representative atte nds. 5. Prepare special programmes for tfiese groups and invest money in planning and promoting activities . The Ayrshire Model The 3 Ayrshire branches work with the loca l ed ucat ion autho riti es to orga ni se Days of Dance. Th e branches provide in stru ct ions fo r dances, a CD of music, and offer to help teachers with preparation for the events. Helen Frame reported that on average 1,700 children take part each year.
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6. Modernise our name, our image and perception of ou rselves, and our Society to appeal to tfie groups identified .
7.
Employ a marketing professional at HO to work witfi tfie brancfies at a national level.
8. Have a fiigfi profile laun cfi of tfie campaign .
