[Callers] Fewer than 6 dancers - Ideas?

[Jerome Grisanti via Callers]

Jacqui,

I have called proper longways dances (without diagonals or out-of-minor-set
interactions) for two couples, switching active couples with every other
iteration but maintaining the same orientation in the room. Works well with
many English dances -- for example Softly Good Tummas -- because they are
proper. Improper is tougher. The idea is similar to Dale's calling party
orientation, but the mechanics are a bit different, and the one he
describes is better for improper dances.

My group (Maryville MO) is accustomed to smaller attendance, and thus ready
to switch to three-couple longways English when another couple shows up,
then into old-time squares when a fourth couple shows up. A fifth couple or
more puts us into longways duple minors. And always ready to mix it up with
a circle mixer.

--Jerome

Jerome Grisanti
660-528-0858
http://www.jeromegrisanti.com

"Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power
and magic in it." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

On Tue, Oct 4, 2016 at 2:09 PM, QuiAnn2 via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> I recently called at a contra dance where we had exactly 6 dancers for
> almost the entire evening (one joined us later but only occasionally
> danced). This was unexpected as they usually have attendance in the 12-20
> range. I was able to piece together a night of mixers, triplets, and
> oddball dances to make it work and the dancers were game for anything so it
> ended up being a fun night. But it got me thinking about what to do if only
> 4 dancers came to a dance (meaning even if I jumped in, we would only have
> 5 total dancers). In order to be better prepared for next time, I have a
> couple of questions.
>
> 1) Do you have any dances you can share that would work for 4 or 5
> dancers? Or also dances for 6 dancers that are not triplets (have plenty of
> triplets). I have already collected Do-Si-3 and Haste to the Divorce, both
> of which I modified so that they would not progress.
> 2) Could a whole evening (3 hours) of dance be put together for just 4-5
> dancers?
> 3) What preparation can be done by me in advance to help with this
> situation? It’s possible to talk with the organizer in advance about
> canceling the dance if only 4 or 5 dancers show up, however, this
> particular dance is a 75 minute drive one-way and I’d prefer to avoid the
> round trip if there won’t be enough dancers. For various reasons, any dance
> promoting that I do myself would be largely ineffective for this particular
> dance.
>
> Would love to hear about any ideas you can share. Thanks!
>
> Jacqui Grennan
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>
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