HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
Chair’s Report 2020-21, to the AGM, 4 December 2021
Trustees and Associates
I wish to begin by expressing my thanks and appreciation to the other Trustees and to all the Associates. Without their dedication and hard work the Society simply wouldn’t function. They give their time freely and enthusiastically and I am very grateful for their support. Considering that we are run entirely by volunteers, we achieve a huge range of activities and services.
We welcomed Lizzie Abusch as Treasurer and Hillary Burlock as an Associate. Lizzie was co-opted onto the Board of Trustees following the 2020 AGM.
The Trustees met several times on Zoom during the year.
I would like to give Anne Smithies my particular thanks for her diligence and commitment to HDS. She works hard behind the scenes as our Membership Secretary (see Secretary’s Report) but she is also involved in all our online events and activities. She manages our YouTube channel and social media presence and frequently posts on Facebook and other social media platforms to bring the work and activities of HDS to members’ and public notice. She performs a vital role in ensuring that we have a positive online presence. Without her HDS would not have reached the wide audience that it has. Anne also provides valuable technical and admin support for all our online events and trains others in using online systems.
Publications
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
The Publications Sub-Committee, chaired by Anne Daye, has been working hard commissioning and producing new items and managing the process of rationalising and digitising resources. The latest publication, A New Collection of Dances for Jane Austen, was published in Spring 2021 and has proved to be a bestseller. Several of our publications, which only previously existed in print format and are now out of print, have been prepared for digitising and can now be purchased from the HDS website as downloads. Work continues on a new release, Dances of the French Court, and we have also commissioned some new publications including A Baroque Primer and a recording of Dances by Isaac and Siris which are due to be launched in Spring 2022.
I particularly wish to thank Jan and Derek Guyatt for their dedication, commitment and hard work in managing publications and our online shop. They have worked tirelessly with Emily Bowen and David Parsons, adding publications to the online shop and ensuring that the shop functions in the way it should and that customers receive their orders in a timely manner. This has meant a huge amount of work behind the scenes.
Events and Activities
Face-to-Face activities
Sadly we had to postpone several of our in-person events due to the continued uncertainty. It was not possible to hold a Summer School in 2021 due to the uncertainties and the long planning period required. We are now well advanced with plans to hold a Summer School with a Regency dance focus at Bromsgrove School, West Midlands, 22-29 July 2022. A November weekend Renaissance and Baroque dance workshop with Ana Yepes was postponed again until 1-2 October 2022. We also decided not to go ahead with another booking for the Renaissance Ball at Lord Leycester’s Hospital in Warwick. The venue will be closed for a considerable time for a major refurbishment in 2022 but we are certainly hoping to be able to hold an event in this marvellous setting at some future date when things are less uncertain.
Online activities
A list of online activities can be found in the Secretary’s Report. As you will see, HDS has been very active online and people from all over the world attend our online events. We ran three online ‘La Belle Danse’ baroque dance notation weekend workshops in the Working With the Sources series. The format of this type of workshop worked well online. There was a mix of static activities and active participation by attendees throughout so that participants were not sitting at their screens for too long at a time. The monthly online lecture series continued throughout the period. These have proved very popular both live on the night and with viewing afterwards on
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
YouTube. We are now taking a short break from the online lectures but intend to resume in the Spring. Recently we held a successful weekend online Jane Austen Festival on Zoom, ‘An Assembly with Jane Austen: a celebration of dance, music and costume’, which was well attended and enthusiastically received by the attendees.
Of course, events don’t just happen. There is always a team of people working quietly in the background to ensure that things run smoothly. As we start to return to more in-person activities we will have to balance the organisational needs between these and online events as they all require people to plan, organise and run them.
HDS Website
We have not been able to progress as quickly as we had hoped in further developing the new website. Our priority has been in ensuring that the shop in particular and other aspects of the website are working effectively. We are extremely grateful to Emily Bowen and David Parsons for their many hours of hard work. Emily is now standing down from her role with the website and we are currently searching for someone with the skills to provide us with website maintenance, support and development.
HDS Journal
Thank you to David Parsons, Editor of the Journal, who maintains the Journal pages on the website. David adds new articles online and when there are a sufficient number they are compiled into a printed edition of the Journal and sent to members. David has added back copies of the Journal to the webpage and this provides a very valuable resource for researchers and those interested in historical dance.
HDS Newsletter
Ann Hinchliffe has been our Newsletter Editor for a number of years but is now standing down. We will all miss her good humour and diligence in tracking down copy and persuading people to write contributions. Happily, she will still be involved with HDS’s other activities so we will not lose her valuable input.
The Members Email News goes out fortnightly to members and is a compilation of events, activities and news items about historical dance and related activities. Contributions are always welcome and we rely on you to keep us informed.
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
Organisation
Thank you to our Treasurer, Lizzie Abusch, who together with Steve Collins spent much time implementing Gift Aid. We are now able to claim back tax on membership subscriptions for UK tax payers which gives us some additional income. If you are a UK tax payer and haven’t already completed the Gift Aid form please consider doing so as it does not cost you anything extra. Lizzie has also been busy introducing new accounting software which makes it easier to manage our finances, and has found solutions to difficult issues involving post-Brexit rules.
The Society received generous donations of £500 from Liz Russell and £100 from Robin and Maureen Lambie. Sadly, Liz Russell passed away earlier in the year.
Finally, we very much appreciate the support of you, our members. Membership numbers have remained steady throughout the pandemic and we rely on you to maintain a dynamic and thriving organisation. Thank you for your continued support.
Lynne Spicer November 2021
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
The Historical Dance Society Charity Number: 1178919
NOVEMBER 2021
At the year-end 30[th] September, the Society’s assets were £38,270. Our total income was £8016 and our total payments were £10,754.
This is a reduction of £2754 from the previous year. This is discussed later under Reserves and Deficits.
There were no known long-term liabilities at year-end and the Society is run entirely by volunteers and does not perform Fund Raising.
TRUSTEE FEES AND EXPENSES
This year, a total of £244 was paid to Trustees. Of this £200 was payment for event talks and project costs and the rest, reimbursement for travel. These payments are reviewed and considered justified under the Society’s guidelines and constitution. SUBSCRIPTIONS
There has been a drop in revenue when compared with the previous year, of £695. The assumption would be that there has been a significant loss of members, but this is not the case. Numbers have held up and therefore the decrease reflects in particular the large number of
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
members paying by 5-yearly subscriptions which have been accounted for as lump sums in previous years and have inflated and deflated the income.
DONATIONS
We received our first payment of a Gift Aid claim this year and this is now set up so we can continue to keep doing so. Thank you very much for everyone who has signed up.
We received a very generous donation of £500 from Liz Russell and we were very sad to learn that she passed away. We have ring-fenced this money for designation whilst the Trustees decide on a suitable use and one we think she would have approved of.
BOOKS AND RECORDINGS
Including purchases from Vimeo, books and recordings made a surplus of £1804. This however is from website sales and does not consider project spending which can take several years of sales to break-even.
EVENTS
Despite the pandemic we held several successful events – these were the Playford Festival and three Baroque workshops, all held via Zoom. Profits from Playford came to £719 and £384 from the Workshops.
CORE COSTS
Our core costs were £633 and this covered running costs of the website WebCollect our membership software, Zoom and insurance.
PROJECTS
A total this year of £2285 was spent on The New Collection of Dances for Jane Austen which went on sale in March and is the website bestseller.
A further £2600 was invested in the production of Dances of the French Court and £2070 on La Belle Dance. These will be released in 2022.
RESERVES AND DEFICITS
The Society has an established reserves policy in consideration of the potential risks from its activities of £30,000.
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
The financial position of the Society has held up well compared to last year. There has been a rise in revenue generated although we still made a loss. As the aim of events is break-even their cancellation hasn’t unduly damaged the Society and the lectures and events have kept the Society buoyant and visible. However, over the past four years we have seen a reduction in our assets from £50,202 to £38,827. Whilst we do exist to spend our income on pursuing our aims, reserves are difficult to build and we have a consistent pattern of paying out more that we earn. It’s this, therefore, that we will be looking at to address in the coming months.
Lizzie Abusch, Treasurer 28[th] November 2021
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts AlPT5 AND PAYMETrN5 2020121 2020121 2019120 InconE ewditu 2020121 2019120 Vdixtry SwAca5 bscriptI Donation5 Gft Aid 1.830 519 255 2.525 Subsoiptiors lthrKlsl 90 Acllthl45 Books a1 OrdIrrfjS EFDSS sae of Pubs Collatroron 2,810 90 2,078 pwKlltsTr Books r1rffJs EFDSS le of Pubs cdia)Orn0n 1.006 1,388 A Nthy Cc41&don of Danc& forla)e P115 Mav 21 Aust To bepublIs 22 La BdIeD To be publlsw 22 ofthe French Q A Colllxtton of DCeS forlane Publis Mav 2 Aust To be publist La Bdle DaKe To be DublSsW Daffts of Frwth Q 2,285 2.070 2,600 15 225 v511)p$ PlaOord FGUwdl JrnYv5cI 2020 frh0o1 2019 Hlgh Ldgh Halsway Fabrito Cwoso Eliz&)Ethw 1,134 1,217 119 ps plOrd FtI1 Sumyxhod 2020 SUKhorI 2019 Hlgh Ldgh Halsway MaTr)r Fabrito Caroso Eekend eiiz)ethan 750 498 1,142 5.699 6.189 91 4.509 320 909 2,626 4.032 391 1,859 ITK1 CO costs PublicltyaTh ConYYMJnic*ooq Repawts for cancdIati Repawywt of brldgirvJ loan Etsna liaison Teachws. MLNC and pubs rwrch Miscdlarw 963 ITaNI CO(£ts 633 1,521 PLblicifv Jxy (ormlCatlonS RepaTts for wcdlation5 awTWt of brtdgiNJ loan ExtThl liaison Teacha5. mlC and pubs res&Kh Mlscdlar 112 1,323 161 800 66 328 io T(tsl RECEipf5 8016 17.691 T(tsl PAYENr5 10.754 20.727 ao HSPC OJF Charity Fund Dq)ostAccourt 5.609 32,661 Bal from last 41,008 Add total rEfeDts frDm ab 8.016 Le5S tot fiDm ab 10.754 Bala& eThl 3010912021 38.270 IOTAL c•# to 2021.22 38.270
HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
Secretary’s Report for the Year 2020-2021 Richard Smithies November 2021
Membership
The Society currently has 110 members including 16 international members from 10 Countries.
Only six members have not renewed, but as in 2020 we have gained new members from overseas and others have rejoined which is very heartening. Web Collect continues to work well thanks entirely to the hard work of our Membership Secretary, Anne Smithies, which has enabled The Society to keep its members informed of the many things it is doing.
Membership continues to support the activities of HDS so I would encourage everyone to continue their membership.
Online Presence
Our online presence has continued through this year. This has only been made possible by the tireless efforts of a number of members; associates and speakers to whom we are all grateful.
Speakers for Lockdown Lectures
B Hoffmann-Cabenda & Dr E Zöllner
H Burlock
A Hinchliffe
C Ewart
A Shmakova and E Solenikova
H Dennison
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
Dr A Daye C Turocy T MacKenzie
N Kershaw
Online Workshops
La Belle Danse: Baroque Court & Theatre Dance in Beauchamp-Feuïllet Notation - French collections and sources Workshop 1: Tutor: R Barros
Workshop 2: Tutor: P Waite
La Belle Dance: Rameau's Modifications on Beauchamp-Feuïllet Dance Notation.
Tutor: C Turocy
An Assembly for Jane Austen Festival (November 27 & 28)
Lecturers
Dr A Daye N Kershaw
L Curzon
M and I Thomson
S de Guardiola
P Cooper S Gosk J Walton A Thompson
The Global Reach of HDS
1. Face Book
11 Events were posted
1,698 Followers
2. Twitter
421 Followers
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
3. YouTube
HDS has three Channels
A. The Historical Dance Society
Subscribers 1919
Views 137,213
Watch Time 2600 hours
Most watched videos
The Galliard 35,859 views Branle de l’Official 20,957 La Volta 19,224
B. Lockdown Lectures Channel
Subscribers 309
Views 6656
Watch Time 754 hours
Most watched videos
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"Baroque Dance Notation: Deciphering Feuillet - Beachamp Notation of the Anthony L'Abbe's minuet performed by Mrs Santlow”: Speaker: Dr Alena Schmakova 1084 views
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“The English Dancing Master” Speaker: Ann Hinchliffe 572 views
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“A Political Arena: Re-evaluating the Georgian Ballroom” Speaker: Hillary Burlock 516 views
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
C. Virtual Revels Tutorials
Subscribers 95 Views 2,800 Watch Time 89 hours
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts
Most watched videos
Coranto Dance Instructions (Teaching Video): Dance Instructor H Young 537 La Volta (Teaching Video): Dance Instructor: B Hoffmann-Cabenda 351
Trustees Meetings
The Trustees have met on Zoom at regular intervals throughout the year.
The Journal
D Parsons Editor reports :
We have published one research article on-line since the last AGM (Mistresses of Dancing-schools in Edinburgh, 1755 to 1814 by Olive Baldwin and Thelma Wilson), and have received one research article that is going through the review and editorial process and one additional short item. When these are completed, we will have sufficient material to publish a print issue in 2021.
We thank D Parsons for his continuing diligence and hard work in editing The Journal.
Newsletter
Yet again I pay tribute to A Hinchliffe for her tireless effort in producing the Newsletter, always packed with lively and informative articles.
Richard Smithies
Secretary
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HDS YR 20-21 Trustees annual reports and accounts 14