<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi Amy,<div class="">Would you be willing to share your program set list for the Cows/Chickens dance? </div><div class="">I’m curious what kind of dances went so well. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks !</div><div class="">Claire Takemori (Campbell CA) </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">On Mon, Jul 31, 2017 at 12:59 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers<br class=""><<a href="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net" class="">callers@lists.sharedweight.net</a>> wrote:<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">Hi All,<br class=""><br class="">I recently had the opportunity to call a contra to a group of rank<br class=""></blockquote>beginners<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">in a difficult situation: outdoors, on sloping concrete, without<br class="">amplification for either myself or the band, to people not expecting a<br class="">dance, with a band mostly unfamiliar with either contra or fiddle tunes,<br class=""></blockquote>who<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">had no opportunity to practice or choose tunes. It was a staff party<br class=""></blockquote>with a<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">barnyard theme. Granted, this particular good of people is accustomed to<br class="">being spontaneous and silly at times, most are in their 20's, and it's a<br class="">liberal, accepting group.<br class=""><br class="">The organizers wanted to use the terms "cows" and "chickens" instead of<br class=""></blockquote>any<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">other usual terms for dancers. When they arrived at the party each person<br class="">chose a name tag with either a cow or a chicken on it. They didn't know<br class=""></blockquote>it,<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">but this determined which role they'd play in the dance. I arbitrarily<br class=""></blockquote>chose<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">to "put the chicken on the right, because the chicken is always right."<br class=""></blockquote>(I<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">keep chickens, and they ARE always right)<br class=""><br class="">There was not time for much of a lesson, either. It'd have been much<br class=""></blockquote>easier<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">if everyone had joined the dance at the beginning. All said, just about<br class="">everyone had a really great time, myself included. The band was hyped up<br class=""></blockquote>to<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">try another dance evening later in the week, though that never<br class=""></blockquote>materialized.<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><br class="">I never mentioned gender in any way. That part just seemed to not matter.<br class="">They were dancing with their friends. It didn't matter that they weren't<br class="">experts or even very good.<br class=""><br class="">I was heartened and encouraged to try something like this again, perhaps<br class="">with more widely used dancer terms.<br class=""><br class="">-Amy</blockquote></blockquote></div></body></html>