My NSDC report was Re: [Squaredancing] National Convention

[Heinz D. Trost]

Bruce,

> I was just wondering who won the bid for 2009.  If anybody on here is 
> back from the National in Portland please let us know who won.

well, this time everybody could read in the program book who was bidding 
for 2009:
Long Beach, CA


BTW:

1. Final registration at the 54th in Portland: 8007 people

2. Fortunately in Portland all halls were real halls, no sound conflicts 
between the halls. Also for the seminar rooms: No sound conflicts 
between seminar rooms. This was much better than at the 53rd NSDC last year.

3. replaceing the singles hall through several "solo-corners" in the 
larger halls worked well.

4. Education seminars and panels were mostly overcrowded.

5. On Friday morning there were a few short takes about the convention 
at breakfast T.V on channel 8

6. The voluntary staff did a very well job, nevertheless there were 
additional voluntairs needen through the whole convention.

7. International hospitality team (Ginny and her staff) was very active, 
supportive and helpful. There also were food, coffee, tea, giveaways and 
doorprices. Romm was decorated nice. (At an NSDC the International 
hospitality is needed as a place to relax and feel a bit like home for 
us International attendees. In Portland it was done very well.
Thank you so much!

8. As expected: The hall where A 1 was danced (just double size of a 
seminar room) was too small, it was overcrowded by people who would like 
to dance A 1 all the time. Often A1 dancers sit out somewhere because 
there wasn`t enough space to dance A 1. Same time the hall where 
Challenge was called (ar. double size of the  hall with the A1-schedule) 
most time was filled one third or the half.

9. Huge problems were with the floor of the small halls in the seminar 
area (scheduled for: contra, clinics, youth, clogging, A 1, C,etc.) and 
with all of the round dance halls:
The carpet in these halls/rooms was so thick and soft, that the applied 
wooden panels (which also looked to be thinner than at other NSDCs I 
attended) sank into the carpet, so the edges bent and dancers 
struggled/plunged. At the dance rooms of the seminar area (except the 
room for clogging) then the wooden panels were removed after the first 
dance hours and accidents. At the round dance halls only the dance part 
of the (double sized) hall phase III-IV got an additional black 
(plastic?) lay-over floor, the phase II-III and phase V-VI halls had to 
dance on the problematic wooden panels.
Too bad: It was announced that on Saturday evening all four round dance 
halls should be one huge dance floor (like it was done so well at the 
"Golden Ball" at 50th NSDC in Anaheim, CA). But depending on the 
different floor situation (old, bad wooden panel floor at both ends and 
around the center of the schedueled huge hall, danceable black overlay 
in the center) through the evening program instead of one huge floor 
they just removed the doors between the halls, so there were three dance 
floors danceing to one of the stages.

10. "Plus with rounds" was scheduled in hall E, which was located beside 
the vendors hall, far away from the other big dance halls. And so most 
time there only were a very few number of squares, often I saw just two 
or three squares there, while the big dance halls (Mainstream with 
rounds, Plus, A-2) which were much closer located to the entrance of the 
Convention Center were filled at least well.

11. Also sad: The only hall which was visible from people of the street, 
located in the dried ice-rink in the middle of the Lloyds center 
shopping mall was crowded from dancer only once: When the outside 
dancers parade took a few hundred dancers from the Convention Center to 
the Lloyds center on Friday early afternoon. At most other times through 
the Convention (the ice-rink was scheduled Thursday till Saturday from 
10am till 10 pm with Mainstream (each hour 50 minutes MS, followed by 
10 minutes rounds, and included daily 45minutes clogging)) there were 
only ar. six squares. This nevertheless there was the fare-free and 
clean Max tram to connect Convention Center and Lloyds Center.

12. The A-1 hall, where A 2 was scheduled was much to large for the 
number of squares, too.

13. The round dance introduction this time was scheduled in the seminar 
area on Friday afternoon. So it was done on that thick and soft carpet. 
The room was much too small for the high number of dancers who tried to 
attend the RD intro. The presenter started with waltz, he quickly 
introduced to figures done from varsouviane and skirt skater position 
which usually arent taught in a regular actually phase II RD class,- and 
then he switched to 2-step up to double hitch which he sold with its 
former outdated name "hitch 6". This all in less than 90 minutes.
The sad thing: After this RD intro I talked with several dancers who 
never tried to dance rounds before and I always got the answer that this 
RD intro was much too heavy for them and with a "I tried now, but sorry, 
Round dance is not my thing!" or so they left the room frustated.

Was nice to meet a lot of dancers again.

Just my two cents,
Heinz
Heinz D. Trost
Stuttgart, Germany