Pandemic Pandemonium in Pitch Party Procedures

Journal to Joy, Maga Gandaia (c) Ella Mesma

DanceGRiST had a Dancers Pitch Party in December. It was open to anyone involved in DanceGRiST. We played a game, then people pitched their ideas to an illustrious panel of three.

I was thrilled that three of the four people I invited could attend. Drago Indjic of OxQuant, Peter Lovatt and Richard Harris agreed to be judges. Each judge is a multifaceted and successful individual. Each has a different perspective on dance and  entrepreneurialism. Each has a background that brought huge insight into play. I would have loved to have been in on their discussions. I was running the party so could not.

OxQuant donated £200 on Drago’s instigation. An old school friend’s donation of £50 meant that the budget stretched to a party game prize. I decided on DanceGRiST Member Ella Mesma’s beautiful book; Journal to Joy.

Kwesi Johnson won the OxQuant prize of £200, Rory Lemon the Member’s Prize of £50 and Nefeli Tsiouti the competition.

Then it all got sticky.

Like most people, I have struggled throughout the pandemic. ‘Normal’ coronavirus delays were exacerbated by my mother’s stroke and subsequent dementia, my own disabilities, the long-covid-related resignation of my business partner (she still has not recovered) and the death of three people close to me. I’m not the only one in the story to lose loved ones. Their losses are their own stories. However, these losses and the corona-normal weirdness of delays made everything later than would normally be acceptable. I only managed to get contracts exchanged and the prize money to the recipients today.

The book never arrived and I am still waiting for logos. Adding to the complexity, I suffered a personal paucity of funds  when my one remining client cancelled a contract because of the uncertainty in the US. Edit; eventually I was able to retrieve the book and send it to Nefeli again. It still hasn’t reached her. The client business is not recoverable.

Meanwhile I am waiting for better quality pitch videos from some of the participants. They will be used to promote DanceGRiST and our pitch party next year.

All this happened despite careful contingency planning. Such is life in these new Coronavirus times. I’ll try to bear it in mind when I next get frustrated. It’s easy to forget that times and deadlines are so different now.

In time I expect we’ll sort things out.

I’ll be talking more about my reasons for doing this, and what DanceGRiST is doing when we start promoting next year’s Pitch Party.