[Callers] Ralph Page Style

[Neal Schlein via Callers]

I would agree--giving a place to smoother, calmer, and inequal dances that
give people time to interact, chat, make eye contact, etc, instead of
forcing a rapidity of constant interaction.  It's not so much a matter of
music speed as choreographic selection.

He was also known to occasionally use patter when calling contras and
quadrilles.  Apparently the tradition historically existed in New England,
but was much less pronounced than elsewhere and has since virtually
vanished.

I forget the source from which I got that tidbit, but it very possibly was
Time to Dance by Richard Neville.  Or it could have been a letter in the
Lloyd Shaw Foundation Archive collection.  Not sure.

Neal

Neal Schlein
Youth Services Librarian, Mahomet Public Library


Currently reading: *The Different Girl* by Gordon Dahlquist
Currently learning: How to set up an automated email system.

On Tue, Oct 11, 2016 at 10:11 AM, Jeff Kaufman via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> I think they're trying to refer to the style of dancing that was
> popular before Larry Jennings-style "zesty contra".
>
> On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 4:21 AM, John Sweeney via Callers
> <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >         I was at a workshop recently where someone asked me if I liked
> "the
> > Ralph Page style" of contra dance.  They claimed that they had been told
> > that he wanted dances to be slower and calmer.
> >
> >         Is there a "Ralph Page style"?  If so what is it?
> >
> >         If he wanted the music slower, what speed did he want?  Did he
> want
> > it slower than the 130+bpm that square dancers used to use?  Or slower
> than
> > the 120bmp that is common now in contra?
> >
> >         Thanks.
> >
> > Happy dancing,
> > John
> >
> > John Sweeney, Dancer, England john at modernjive.com 01233 625 362
> > http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
> >
> >
> >
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