Fifteen Years Aboard

Jeff Kaufman, known online as jefftk, is stepping down from the board of the Boston Intergenerational Dance Advocates (BIDA) after 16 years of involvement, marking the end of an era for one of Boston's key contra dance organizations. His retrospective blog post details BIDA's dramatic evolution from a small, once-a-month niche dance trying to fill gaps in the local scene to becoming Boston's main contra dance. This growth is quantified by a shift from roughly 10 to about 28 dances annually, fueled by moving from 1x/month to 3x/month scheduling and the creation of the established Beantown Stomp weekend, which now attracts attendees from across the country.

Kaufman highlights several transformative changes. The most significant is the full adoption of gender-free calling and role freedom, which has fundamentally changed the dance culture, moving away from rigid, fault-assigning role structures to a more inclusive environment where anyone can dance any role with any partner. Demographically, the dance has successfully inverted its audience; where it was once over 50% baby boomers, it is now estimated at fewer than 10%, having achieved its long-standing goal of attracting a millennial-and-younger crowd. Organizationally, BIDA has matured from an informal collective with no president to a structured entity with specific roles, paid hall managers, and a financially healthy model that includes attendance-based bonuses, making it one of the best-paying dances for musicians in the country.