[Callers] Dance logs and record-keeping

Wed Mar 7 19:10:21 PST 2018

I keep a log for my own records of my programs and observations (about the
evening, sequence of dances, my teaching, etc.) -- sure, it helps me not
repeat myself when I call two local dances in the same month, but mreh,
only other callers or a very small handful of dancers would notice me
repeating a dance or two in a situation like that. Mostly I use this record
to force myself to reflect on my calling, which is super value for finding
both things that are working well and things that I could improve on.

On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 1:02 PM, Donald Perley via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Our dance format features multiple callers in an evening.  I recall
> one week we had 2 of the callers call the same dance (different names
> for the same
> dance) and very few of the dancers noticed.  As mentioned, different
> music (especially tempo and time signature) can make it feel like a
> different dance.
>
> On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 10:28 PM, Mac Mckeever via Callers
> <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> 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.
> >
> > I do not even keep track of what dances I have called.  I start off fresh
> > when planning a program.  If I called somewhere and they ask me back next
> > year - no one will notice if a couple dances are the same. It probably
> means
> > they were really good ones.
> >
> > I agree that a different band, etc can make the same dance feel very
> > different and that a lot of dances are very similar.  It bothers me more
> > when a caller programs an evening with several dances that all feel the
> > same.
> >
> > Mac McKeever
> > St Louis
> >
> >
> > On Tuesday, March 6, 2018, 8:22:25 PM CST, Winston, Alan P. via Callers
> > <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Oddly enough, I was just in Seattle at the end of February and had a
> > conversation about this with Lindsey Dono, who told me to my surprise
> that
> > dancers at Lake City, at least, will complain about getting the same
> dance
> > two weeks in a row, and said that there *was* a log kept of dances called
> > locally.
> >
> > So, Amy, I suggest checking with Lindsey and see if the effort is already
> > under way.
> >
> > In the SF Bay Area, I think our dance populations kinda slop around, so
> that
> > while a core of people may go to the central Bay Area dances (SF,
> Berkeley,
> > Palo Alto), East Bay people may also go to North Bay dances (San Rafael,
> > Petaluma) and North Bay people may go to Berkeley or SF but not usually
> Palo
> > Alto, while Monterey Bay people (Monterey, Santa Cruz) go to those dances
> > and some come up to Palo Alto, and some South Bay people (Palo Alto, San
> > Jose, etc) go to Santa Cruz or Monterey.  The result is that every dancer
> > does the dances that are called at the dances they happen to go to, it
> would
> > be a huge coordinating effort to keep all the dances at different dance
> > series with somewhat-overlapping attendance separate, and nobody but
> callers
> > seems to care anyway.
> >
> > For me personally, different band, different tune set pretty much equals
> > different dance even with the same figures - but also dances that are 3/4
> > the same figures as other dances feel like the same dances anyway.
> >
> > -- Alan
> >
> > On 3/6/2018 6:07 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers wrote:
> >
> > Huh! I never thought of that for the dance we run. I keep a file of each
> gig
> > and the dances I called at each. I also write on each dance card the date
> > and location of each time I've called it, so I don't repeat myself too
> > often.
> >
> > There's a record of contra dances called at Northwest Folklife Festival.
> I
> > don't know how far back it goes.
> >
> > I'll talk to my fellow organizers about starting this at Emerald City
> Contra
> > Dance.
> >
> > -Amy
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 6, 2018, 5:42 PM Kalia Kliban via Callers
> > <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> >
> > Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which dances have been
> > called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance
> > community but vanishingly rare in the contra community.  Why is that?
> > They're really helpful for incoming callers, and it's probably nice for
> > the dancers not to keep getting the same dances week after week.
> >
> > I've only ever known of one contra series that kept a log, and it's
> > probably because I suggested it when they started out (the Queer Contra
> > series in Oakland, CA).  Are there any contra organizers out there who
> > maintain a dance log?  Those of you who do, how do you get the dance
> > lists from the callers?  The Oakland series had a little book on the
> > stage and the callers would write their programs down as they went or at
> > the end of the night.
> >
> > Part of it comes down to record-keeping on the part of the callers.  I
> > keep a personal log of all the dances I've called so I can avoid
> > repeating myself when I return to a given venue.  That makes it easy for
> > me to produce a set list after the fact if an organizer wants to fill in
> > a gap in the log.  Fellow contra callers, do you all keep records of
> > what you call, and if you don't, how do you avoid repeating yourself or
> > remember what worked well (or not) the last time you called at a
> > particular place?
> >
> > If you work with something like Caller's Companion, do you update the
> > program list with what you actually danced as opposed to what you
> > programmed?
> >
> > Just curious about other people's process on this.
> >
> > Kalia in Sebastopol, CA
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