文章探讨了传统乡村舞会时间的变化趋势。作者通过对比2010-2019年和当前波士顿地区舞会的时间安排，发现舞会开始时间普遍提前，时长缩短。例如，过去常见的晚上8点开始的3小时舞会，现在多为7点半甚至更早开始，时长也缩短至2.5小时或更短。作者认为，更早的时间对家长和音乐家来说更方便，但较短的舞会时间也让人觉得准备工作和路途耗费的精力没有得到充分利用。文章还提及历史上的舞会曾晚至9点10分开始，并讨论了缩短舞会时间可能是应对出席人数下降的一种方式。

⏰ 传统舞会时间：过去，乡村舞会通常在晚上8点开始，持续3小时，但现在这一模式正在改变。

📉 舞会时间缩短：波士顿地区的舞会时间普遍提前且时长缩短，许多舞会提前至7点半甚至更早开始，时长缩短至2.5小时或更短。

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 早舞优势：更早的舞会时间对家长和音乐家更为方便，使得家庭参与成为可能，也方便了舞会结束后长途驾车回家。

⏳ 短舞弊端：舞会时间缩短意味着准备工作和路途耗费的精力没有得到充分利用，并且压缩了舞会的整体体验。

📉 出席率下降：缩短舞会时间可能是应对出席人数下降的一种策略，尽管体验可能不尽如人意。

Published on January 23, 2025 11:30 PM GMT

I think of a standard contra dance as running 8pm-11pm: three hours isa nice amount of time for dancing, and 8pm is late enough that dinnerisn't rushed. Looking over the 136 regular Free Raisins dances from 2010to 2019 matches my impression: 85% were 3hr, 62% started at 8pm, and51% did both.

I think this is out of date, however, and dances now tend to beearlier, shorter, or both. For example, in the Boston area theregular dances are:

BIDA 1st and 3rd Sundays: 7:30-10:30Concord 1st and 3rd Thursdays: 7:30-10:00
8:00-11:00 before moving from Medford to Concord in 2006.7:30-10:30 pre-covid, switching to 7:30-10:00 on reopening.
Concord 2nd and 4th Mondays: 7:30-10:30Arlington 2nd Sundays: 6:00-9:00Boston Open Contra: 4:00-6:30

And, as of this Sunday, BIDA now additionallyhas a 4:30-7:30 dance on 4th Sundays.

Similarly, while I don't have times written down for Kingfisher gigs the way Ido for Free Raisins ones, when I look over the last twenty regulargigs we've played I see eleven (55%) are 2.5hr or shorter, and fifteen(75%) started at 7:30 or earlier. Only one (the excellent Flying Shoes danceof Belfast ME) was 8-11.

I don't know what things looked like before I was old enough tonotice, but I did find a bit of history from Boston's Thursday dance:

On a cold Thursday night in February of 1978, dancers, Rod and RandyMiller, and Tod Whittemore were waiting in the lobby at the CambridgeYWCA for the aerobics class to end. At the stroke of 9pm we rushedinto the hall to set up the sound equipment and tune up, while thedancers changed out of their winter clothes. At 9:10 the firstThursday Night Dance began.

I don't think any dances start that late today, though it's alsopossible that 9:10 was something temporary due to difficulty finding aspot that was available at the right time?

Overall, I prefer the earlier times, which are easier for me bothas a parent and musician. I'm excited about bringing my kids to thenew 4:30-7:30 BIDA dances, and dances that end sooner are easier todrive a long way home after. I'm less excited about the shorterdances: it means the effort of getting to and from the dance, settingup the hall, etc is amortized over less time dancing, and it makes theoverall evening feel compressed. On the other hand, I do thinkshorter dances can be the best of a few bad options when handlingdeclining attendance: it's not a great experience trying to keep adance fun when it's 10:45 and you're having trouble scraping togetherenough people for a triplet.

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