YDW 2013
YDW 2013 took place in September 2013 at Kinhaven Music School, Weston, VT. Exact dates are not recorded.
Talent
2013 brought a fantastic and bodacious lineup of musicians and callers to the dance floor.
The Mean Lids
Playing for contras
The Mean Lids — Miriam Larson, Ben Smith, and Matt Turino — are a contra dance band from Illinois, making music as awesome as the hats they wear.
The Jig Lords
Playing for English dancing
The Jig Lords — Brad Battey, Kendall Rogers, and Marnen Laibow-Koser — presided over some fine music, not restricted merely to jigs.
Sarah VanNorstrand
Calling contras
Sarah VanNorstrand enchanted dancers with her mellifluous voice during contra dances.
Dan Blim
Calling English
Dan Blim, master of the English dancing destiny, took dancers on a rollercoaster of amazingness.
Phase X
Friday night techno contra and sound
Phase X — Christopher Jacoby and Ross Harriss — provided a rollicking techno contra Friday night, matching the wavelength to the frequency. They also handled sound for the entire weekend, making the other performers sound great.
T-Shirt
Dark brown with a cream/white design — a tree and two dancers, “Youth Dance Weekend” in grunge lettering. The same artist designed both the 2013 and 2014 shirts (the 2014 version is the orange colorway of the same composition). A second printing was offered after the event.
Charts & Graphs
Demographic, payment, and waitlist data from YDW 2013 were collected and are available in the site’s resources archive.
Charts & Graphs
Demographic, Payment, and Waitlist Data (2013)
As is now tradition, Saturday evening included a Charts & Graphs session. 2013 attendance: n = 157 (prior years n ≈ 155).
Where are we all from?
Massachusetts always sends the most people to YDW, but in 2013 the geographical distribution shifted west — away from Boston toward the Pioneer Valley and I-91 corridor. More attendees came from NYC and southern states (NC, SC, VA, TN, KY) than in prior years, while mid-Atlantic registrations (MD, DC, PA, NJ) leveled off or dropped. Among flyers, Logan Airport was preferred over Manchester even for people traveling from further away, likely because rides from Boston were easier to arrange.
How many times have you been to YDW?
- 65 people (41%) were at YDW for the first time in 2013
- 9 people had attended every single YDW (only 2 were committee members)
- From 2009–2013, an average of 46.5% of attendees were newcomers (2008 excluded — everyone was new that year)
- A chi-square test confirmed the distribution of attendance frequencies is significantly non-random (χ² = 79.6, df = 5, p < 0.001), driven largely by the high first-timer percentage
Age distribution
The overall age distribution was remarkably stable across 2011, 2012, and 2013, but showed a slight positive trend in mean age year over year.
Payment data
The pay-what-you-can system succeeded again — the average payment came in just over the at-cost price. Thanks to generous attendees, YDW met its financial goals.
Waitlist
More people were admitted off the waitlist in 2013, and sooner, than in any prior year. While ~30 people remained on the waitlist at event time, those were all post-lottery sign-ups — every person who registered during the initial lottery period was ultimately offered a spot. Reasons for faster waitlist movement: more last-minute cancellations as the event approached, and more people declining offered spots.
(Chart images from the original post are no longer available.)
Committee
Mog (Magdalen Zander), Sarah Pilzer, Max Newman, Mary Wesley, Julia Nickles, and Alex Sturbaum.
Pricing
- Minimum: $90 (paid in two parts under the new lottery system)
- $25 deposit at lottery signup
- $65 balance due after selection
- At-cost: ~$120
First year using the lottery for registration.
