[Callers] Dance logs and record-keeping

[John W Gintell]

> On Mar 6, 2018, at 11:23 PM, Kalia Kliban via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> 
> On 3/6/2018 7:28 PM, Mac Mckeever via Callers wrote:
>> This seems to me to be a lot of effort with very little benefit.  There are thousands of dances and each caller has their own approach to programming.  It is rare for a dance to be called two nights in a row.  When I do see that happening I often ask other dancers around me if they remember it - and no one ever has.
>> How would the next caller get access to this info? The logistics would seem difficult and unnecessary.
> 
> The way our local English dances do this is that the series programmer sends the current log to the next caller on deck, who can then consider the log or not, as they choose.  It's not a big deal.  I run the Sebastopol dance, and I either write down the programs myself if I'm at the dance or contact the caller afterward to get their list.  Simple Excel spreadsheet to keep track.  Easy.
> 
> If I'm coming to call for a community I've never worked with before, seeing a list of the dances they've done gives me a good idea of the general level of the group.  It's a useful tool.
> 
> Kalia in Sebastopol 

For our English dance in Jamaica Plain, the caller writes the dance name on a whiteboard in front of the hall after each dance. At the end of the dance we transcribe it into  book, I take a photo of the board and enter it in a database at home - and then post on our web page two lists,  one sorted by night, and one sorted by dance name. (If I am not there someone else sends me the info).I sometimes have to adjust the spellings - or deal with the “the” in the name so the sorting by dance name is OK. This record goes back to January 2010.

              http://lcfd.org/bgfe/