[Organizers] Leading Contra Dances in non-english-speaking countries

John Sweeney via Organizers organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
Fri Mar 3 11:12:48 PST 2017


Hi Rebecca,

              I called for the first few of the recent contra series in
Paris.

 

              I called & taught in English as my French is not so good.  I
used standard English contra terminology.

 

              Some suggestions:

 

              One of the biggest enemies of comprehension is elision -
shortening two words into one.  The different between "can" and "can't" is
actually the vowel sound, but non-English speakers don't always get this;
they focus on whether they can hear the "t" or not, but it is often not
sounded.  So always say "can" and "can not" - making sure to leave a gap
between the two words.

 

              If you speak clearly, slowly, with every word pronounced
separately, and don't ever elide, then you will get a significant increase
in understanding.  If you are fast talker then this is a skill you need to
practice.

 

              We ran a two-hour workshop in the afternoon, then had an
hour's break for a shared meal, then ran a three hour dance in the evening.
I had a great band so that there were no challenges with the music.

 

              Don't assume you have to do all contras, or that all contras
have to have multiple swings.

 

              With a high percentage of beginners you will have lots of
challenges with people ending the swing on the wrong side, especially if
they change gender each dance.  Be prepared to teach the swing multiple
times, focussing on the ending. Teach that the joined hands are a pointer
and call "finish pointing at the other couple" or "finish pointing down the
hall".

 

              Do a lesson first focussing on eights, connection and swings.
Do a first dance like "Family Contra" with no swings so that they learn
about progressions.  Use Circle Mixers to teach moves; use Sicilian Circles
to avoid end effects.  Or anything else that provides fun and variety.

 

              Do lots of demos - a head mike is really useful.  Don't worry
about doing multiple walk-throughs if they need them.  Be patient if someone
is translating for the people nearby, but try to keep some control :)

 

              Use simple dances initially, but don't make the mistake of
slowing the music down - slower music is harder to dance to and not as much
fun.  Make sure everyone succeeds in the first few dances - stop the dance,
teach more and restart if you need to.  The initial objectives are to make
sure everyone has fun and to build their confidence.

 

              Let me know if you would like a copy of the dance programme
that I used for the first session.

 

              I hope that helps.

 

              This is an article I wrote for various publications:

 

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Contra Dancing Comes To Paris by John Sweeney

 

Laurette Tuckerman, an American living in Paris, had a dream; she wanted to
dance her beloved contra dances in Paris. Laurette met me at a contra dance
in London run by the London Barn Dance Company at Cecil Sharp House, and
once she knew I called contra dances, and lived a few minutes from the
Eurotunnel, she took the first steps in making her dream come true by
booking me to call in Paris.

We needed a small band that could play superb contra dance music, make an
amazing, uplifting room-filling sound, and fit in one car with Karen (my
wife) and me, plus all our PA and instruments.  Gareth and Linda, the
English Contra Dance Band, fitted the bill perfectly; even better, Gareth
offered to drive!

 

Laurette managed to book a superb hall in the American Church in Paris,
right on the banks of the Seine, with beautiful stained glass windows - you
can see the pictures if you search Facebook for "Paris contra dance" - for
May 31st 2014.

 

So, band, caller, venue, date all arranged! What else do you need?  Oh yes,
dancers!

 

Laurette embarked on a massive campaign contacting all the American
communities and dance communities of every type in Paris, together with
general advertising through any media she could access, including, of
course, the Internet.

 

The final piece of the jigsaw was funding; Laurette went dancing in America
and persuaded the Country Dance & Song Society to provide some money to help
cover some of the costs.  Everything was now in place and we waited for the
big day.

 

The plan was to run a two hour workshop in the afternoon, followed by a
buffet meal, then a contra dance in the evening.  The biggest challenge now
was to work out how much food her children and their friends should prepare
since Laurette had no idea whether we would get 20 people or 200 people!

 

Gareth and Linda stayed with us on the Friday night and we set off for the
Eurotunnel just before 7am.  The journey went smoothly; we even found a
parking space outside the church and had time to have lunch outside in the
sunshine!

 

Before we had the equipment set up people started arriving!  By 4pm we had
about 50 people to start the workshop.  Most people stayed for the evening
dance and more turned up just for the evening; in total about 80 people
attended one or both of the sessions.

 

The dancers were a complete mix of ages and dance skills; some were
Americans who had done some contra dancing, others were from the Parisian
Irish, English and Scottish country dancing groups with some dance skills
but no knowledge of contra, and of course lots of people who had never
danced before.  Though the majority were French they all had some knowledge
of English so I taught and called all the dances in English, with the aid of
demonstrations and occasional translations.

 

I had spent a lot of time planning the structure of the workshop; we started
with easy dances to introduce the first-timers to contra dance concepts and
basic moves, then built slowly on that foundation, adding more interesting
moves with each dance to spice things up.  We had more ladies than men, so
we used coloured sashes to make it easy for me to make sure everyone was in
the right place during the walk-throughs. 

 

By the end of the workshop all the dancers were coping well with Heys,
Ladies' Chains, Petronellas, Right & Left Throughs and Waves in simple
dances. After an excellent buffet we started the evening session.  Building
on the skills they gained from the workshop and with the help of the few
experienced contra dancers we were able to dance a wide range of great
dances such as Tica Tica Timing (diagonal 3/4 Circles, Ladies' Chains and
Petronellas), Trip to Lambertville (Tidal and Ocean Waves) and Butter
(Ladies' Chains and Heys).

 

The dancing was amazing! Karen danced every dance, helping the dancers get
the feel of good contra-dancing; she remarked that the dancers were growing
in enthusiasm and confidence throughout the day, and that by the middle of
the evening it was as good as a regular contra dance.

 

For variety I added some squares and circle mixers, then finished the
evening by repeating a couple of the dances from the workshop so that the
dancers could relax and enjoy the fabulous music.  Throughout the sessions
Linda & Gareth were smoking hot, filling the room with their wonderful music
and inspiring the dancers to put everything into their dancing. The
atmosphere was electric!

Laurette's dream had come true; she was contra dancing in Paris!  Everyone
agreed that it had been a great success and Laurette is already planning the
next one.

 

John & Karen Sweeney info at contrafusion.co.uk - please contact us if you want
any further details.

 

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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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