[Callers] Organizing open calling

[Dale Wilson via Callers]

Hi Chet,

Here in Saint Louis we have a monthly dance called "Callers' Choice"  We
use it as an opportunity to try new dances (either new to the caller or
newly written); to let new callers "get their feet wet" by calling to real
dancers in a friendly environment (After a while calling a dance to salt
and pepper shakers loses its charm); and to just mess around in general.

Almost always we have someone coordinating the evening (every now an then
no one volunteers and we wing it -- with mixed results.)  People who want
to call send their dances to the coordinator usually by Wednesday before
the Saturday dance) and the coordinator tries to organize a coherent
program using these dances.  This is also good practice for new callers who
need to learn to think about the entire evening rather than thinking about
single dances.

This has worked very well for us over the years, and we often hear from
dancers that Callers's Choice is "the most fun of any of the dances."
 That's probably because the dancers feel invested in making things work
--- particularly with new callers -- and we can all laugh together at the
occasional mishaps.

Speaking of mishaps I had one recently where I was scheduled to call two
dances.  The one I tried in the first half didn't work at all, so I ditched
it and went with Plan B (the other dance).  Then in the second half I got
up and said -- "I figured out what was wrong and we're going to try again."
  The response from crowd was amazingly positive (and the dance worked)

Dale

BTW although we normally pay our callers for Saint Louis dances, we don't
pay the callers at Callers' Choice.  We do pay the band (mostly.)




On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 1:04 PM, Chet Gray via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Hello, all,
>
> After losing monthly open-calling evenings to venue schedule conflicts
> last year, the local contra group where I live (Louisville, KY) are
> re-implementing them on 5th-week dances (so, about four or so times a
> year). I am "organizing caller" for the first of these, next Monday, and
> I'm wondering if any of y'all have advice on coordinating an evening of
> open-calling.
>
> The extent of organization for our previous open-calling dances had been,
> essentially, callers put their name on a list and everyone hopes it works
> out, and, while this was usually serendipitous fun, it often led to
> long-running dances (both individually and for the evening overall) and
> less-than-enjoyable experiences for newer dancers. When our board was
> discussing re-starting open calling, I had recently been at the Jan Jam
> (Champaign/Urbana, IL) after party, where Lauren Peckman had coordinated
> open calling, and where I'd had the best open-calling experience—as both a
> dancer and a caller—I'd ever encountered. I suggested to our board that,
> this time around, the evenings each have an "organizing caller" to help
> ensure overall program flow, coordinate callers/dances with an eye to
> complexity/energy/time, incorporate and assist novice callers, wrangle
> callers if need be for time limits, fill in gaps in the program, have
> back-pocket dances at the ready, etc.
>
> Lo, they asked me to take a go at coordinating. Suggest a change, be the
> change, I suppose. ^_^
>
> The open calling has been announced at our weekly dances leading up, and
> tonight (a week before) I'll be asking (but not requiring) prospective
> callers to talk to me to help me get an idea for how I can best help the
> evening flow.
>
> Any suggestions/anecdotes/warnings from my more-experienced fellows would
> be greatly appreciated.
>
> — Chet Gray
>
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