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Generally, I expect to call 9-12 dances in a regular evening
contra/community dance venue. With 10-11 being the greatest majority
of the gigs.<br>
<br>
I usually prepare a program with 10-11 dances, but of course once
the evening begins, things can change, sometimes quite radically.<br>
<br>
The length of each dance -- really depends on the choreography of
that dance and the crowd and the music and the time of night (and a
few other judgements as well). The first and second dances can be
slightly longer than normal to reinforce the moves and help get
newcomers adjusted to the progression and responding to the calls.
Or they can be shorter than normal to accommodate the flow of new
folks as they walk into the hall.<br>
<br>
And then there is the music, which I consider greatly as part of my
judgements. If a band is in a groove, I'll want to continue their
flow and thus continue the dance for a couple of extra times. Also,
the common use of three tunes (rather than two or one) for a dance
makes it a real judgement call, since sometimes a band may play the
first tune longer than normal, so my choice is to cut off the third
tune earlier than the band may like or allow the dance to go a bit
longer. Of course, that also depends on a lot, including the
actually tune being played and what the band is doing with it and
the nature of the dancers. Conversely, if an old-time band plays one
tune for each dance, I'll usually make those dances a bit shorter,
especially for a firm contra crowd where the dancers may get bored
with one tune that has no changes in texture or modulation. <br>
<br>
Woody<br>
<br>
<hr size="2" width="100%">On 4/26/2015 9:31 PM, Jack Mitchell via
Callers wrote:<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:968B7BDFC5E76538.3045C557-8E38-4805-8BB4-E4B60DDCC1B1@mail.outlook.com"
type="cite">
<div>For me, it really depends on the size and energy level of the
dance. For a larger dance with lots of energy, I will run
around 15 min per slot...so 3-4 minutes to get a new partner,
3-4 min to walk thru and 8 or so minutes to dance (around 16
times through the tune). Square and mixers run shorter
frequently, doing a square and a mixer means that I get an extra
dance in overall. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Smaller dances, or dances where some of the dancers have
problems with stamena, I tend to run shorter -- frequently more
like 10 minute slots. Have gotten 10-12 dances in a 2.5 hr
(including break) dance. Have a friend who called 14 dances in
a 2 hour dance because the band was an old time band and was
just playing one tune per dance, the same way every time
through, so she just ran all the dances much shorter. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>My goal is generally to get people down the hall and partway
back during the dance for a single progression dance. YMMV</div>
<div>
<div class="acompli_signature"><br>
Jack Mitchell</div>
<br>
<hr size="2" width="100%"></div>
On Sun, Apr 26, 2015 at 5:54 PM -0700, "Maia McCormick via
Callers" <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net" target="_blank">callers@lists.sharedweight.net</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<div class="gmail_quote"> <br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="3D"ltr"">
<div dir="ltr">Just polling the masses here--how long do you
generally run your dances (in times through the dance,
time take, couples going up and back, etc.)? How many
dances do you generally manage to fit into a 3-hour contra
evening? I've heard different wisdom from different folks
and am curious to add some more data points!
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div>Maia<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</blockquote>
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